"I Have Seen The Future, And It Blogs"
Geoffrey Nunberg's observations about language and culture almost always make me smirk, or consider, or both. He is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's "Fresh Air." Sadly, by the time I inhale "Fresh Air" it often has gone somewhat stale. (While my computer downloads the broadcasts each day courtesy of Audible, it can take awhile before they get added to what I'm listening to in the car as I commute.) This morning I caught up with a show from last December, where Nunberg put blogging in historical perspective alongside George and Wheedon Grossmith ("Diary of a Nobody") and Anais Nin, among others. Nunberg likens the "accretion of diurnal detail" in blogs to "what the novel was trying to achieve when eighteenth-century writers cobbled it together out of subliterary genres like personal letters, journals, and newspapers, with the idea of reproducing the inner and outer experience that makes up daily life." He wonders whether "anything as interesting" as the novel could "grow up in the intimate anonymity of cyberspace." Personally, collectively, I think it already has.

(Nunberg's other "Fresh Air" commentaries are collected here on his site.)

Tell Your Friends
Thomas Pacheco needs our help and people want to give it - so spread the word. Several friends we met for dinner last night will be checking out the site today, and the Little River Inn will be displaying Thomas's art and promoting the site in its lobby.

More re the Constitution and Fair Use
Not everyone agrees with Ed Stroligo regarding the lack of Constitutional underpinnings of the fair use doctrine. The defense is arguing a Constitutional (First Amendment) basis for fair use in the ElcomSoft/Sklyarov case currently pending before Judge Whyte in the Northern District of California. (See also Ernie the Attorney's discussion of the case and overarching digital rights issues.)

-Later: Still pending for decision before Judge Whyte is the defense's Motion to Dismiss based on its argument that the DMCA violates the First Amendment. [llrx]

Straight Talk About Fair Use
Ed Stroligo at Overclockers.com posted commentary yesterday that points out the distinction betweeen a Constitutional right and a legal one, as he characterizes the "fair use" exception permitting certain uses of copyrighted material. "In short, you have no constitutional right to convenience," writes Ed, in an interesting discussion of the Reimerdes case. [Thanks, Sabrina.]

April Fool
In an abrupt about-face that has fattened the coffers of academia, LawMeme announced its new appointment as Voice of the Copyright Industry.

Equally foolish: the Iowa law firm of Beckman & Hirsch has installed a Web cam in its reception room, according to the ABA Journal. A member of the firm says it helps him gauge a client's mood before they meet. And, that it helps him track down his partner when he slips out to an empty desk in the camera's line of sight to get some uninterrupted work done. (Access to the camera's feed is password-protected and encrypted, so no, we can't all enjoy these fascinating images...)