Kids, Animals, And JD

I'm very excited to be guest blogging this week for The Industry Standard, even if I do have a tough act to follow. My first post follows up on something I mentioned here previously, Reed Smith University, and interviews some of the people involved in making that happen.

Grokking Grokster

Want to really get a blawger on a roll? Writing a headline or story that superficially, inaccurately, or sensationalistically looks at a legal decision will do it every time. C.E. Petit explains why much of the news coverage of yesterday's decision in the Grokster case fails to tell the whole story:

So, then, where does this leave us? It does not, contrary to headlines that I have already seen, mean that "file-sharing software is legal." It means that the plaintiff record companies didn't (not necessarily couldn't?just didn't) establish intent in the same way as was done in Napster. It also creates an extremely fine line between providing a tool used to infringe, which is subject to apparently more-searching analysis, and providing a forum used to infringe, as the record indicates Napster and AOL did, or at least did enough to require a jury to make a definitive determination.

[...]

Judge Thomas's emphasis on "market forces" at the end of his opinion points out the real solution to piracy: Making piracy economically unattractive by providing high-quality, easily accessible intangibles at a price that makes the perceived cost and inconvenience associated with downloading, storing, proofing, etc. "too much" for the potential audience. In other words, don't repeat the mistakes of Prohibition and the "War on Drugs": go after the demand side, not the supply.

Read the whole thing. Then read why he thinks rumors of a Circuit split are greatly exaggerated. Writing (or opposing) the petition for certiorari? I hope you're reading C.E.'s blawg.

"Atrocities" Is Right

But at least he has a sense of humor about it: "[Tony Long's] previous atrocity against the cult of technology was inserting a hyphen in 'e-mail.'" [Via Doc]

From Your Blog To My Hips

Good thing it wasn't Dunkin' Donuts. Ordered last Friday (thanks, bOingbOing!), arrived today. Great transition item for when the sling is getting cramped but walking is a distant fantasy. So what if you feel like a moving van driver? It works.

HippyChick has swell shoes too. Which reminds me... (warning: things only of conceivable — and at best marginal — interest to new parents ahead):

• It's been nearly 9 months and I'm still flummoxed by the thick, fluffy padding they put in new baby shoes. Toss it? Use it to pad too-big shoes until they fit? Sew a pillow? Bear in mind, the inquiry in my case is mostly academic.


• Do those Hyland's tablets work for anyone, or are they just baby's first candy hit?

I'm Hip

Stuffing Included

Clean And Jerk

Very Big Day For P2P

Grokster affirmed: Cory. John. Howard. Donna. Ernest. Fred.

Now it's either down to the users or up to the Supremes (or both).