Scrivener's Error

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Scrivener's Error	Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting.

30 March 2010

link to: 11:29 [GMT-6]

Embracing Chametz

In defiance of (part of) my ancestry, I'm baking bread today... bread made with beer and yeast. The lamb for dinner last night was yummy, and quite rare.

From the department of point/counterpoint, we have a fascinating glimpse at what "arts funding" means to artists playing against the story of an artist who escaped starvation... and the ultimate form of censorship. All of this leads to a deeper question of political economy: What is the economic value of "leisure," and is that a necessary and/or productive part of society aside from any internal payments generated?
Yet more nonsense about enriched e-books... which is going to be a moving target until there is real, category-specific feedback on both what readers want and what the dominant technological platform in that category can support. It reminds me a great deal of the 1980s/1990s "textbook profits are from ancillaries" meme. There aren't a whole lot of people in trade fiction who think they can learn a damned thing from the textbook market, and in a sense they're right: The data one gathers is noncomparable. The questions, though...
Two different review essays on James Shapiro's latest book on the authorship of Shakespeare's works provide a fascinating glimpse into why the controversy continues by themselves. At The Economist, the review focuses on the controversy as just another conspiracy theory, followed by the traditional debunking. At The Chronicle of Higher Education, the review focuses on the controversy as a cultural phenomenon in which the various alternatives are more alike than different, particularly in their methods.
Substitute a few names and the year, and this story about the arrests of the domestic funadmendalist christian terrorists in Michigan (auf Deutsch) reads eerily like one about the Red Army Faction at the height of its media powers.
Trudeau is on a roll...
Here's an excellent summary of the Newzbin decision from my colleague Dr Phillips. It's an interesting decision that — although under UK, not US, law — answers the question "What if Napster had only been an index?" with a resounding "the 'red flag' theory of inducing infringement applies to all of an ISP's safe harbors, if the evidence is sufficient." It's not put in terms of the DMCA safe harbors (remember, UK law), but it discusses the relevant DMCA categories in a way that makes plain that the High Court was thinking of exactly that.

The bottom line is that US-based sites relying on the DMCA's indexing safe harbor (17 U.S.C. § 512(d)) need to show some awareness of "red flags," too; and that is definitely going to be a problem for some of the more-notorious pirates.

Labels: arts, copyright, culture, internet, miscellany, politics, publishing

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Sausages?

Internet link sausages, as frequently appear here, are gathered from uninspected meaty internet products and byproducts via processes you really, really don't want to observe; spiced with my own secret, snarky, sarcastic blend; quite possibly extended with sawdust or other indigestibles; and stuffed into your monitor (instead of either real or artificial casings). They're sort of like "link salad" or "pot pourri" or "miscellaneous musings" (or, for that matter, "making law"), but far more disturbing.

I am not responsible for any changes to your lipid counts or blood pressure from consuming these sausages... nor for your monitor if you insist on covering them with mash or sauce.

Archives

Warped Weft

Now live at the new site. I have arranged some of the more infamous threads that have appeared here by unravelling them from the blawg tapestry (and hopefully eliminating some of the sillier typos). Sometimes, the threads have been slightly reordered for clarity.

Links of Interest

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Writer Beware and the Writer Beware Blog provide essential knowledge for writers who don't want to be ripped off
Writing-World.com published by the former managing editor of the now-defunct Inklings
Agent Research & Evaluation provides both free and paid analyses of literary agents
US Copyright Office, including both registration forms and records and quite a bit of other helpful information
Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) allows searches of granted, pending, and some rejected trademark registrations
US Supreme Court Opinions from the current and past couple of terms
Law Library of Congress includes statutes for free
The Public Library of Law can help you find the law... but not use it in court, as many of its resources are not in proper form and do not provide all of the citation information needed in court papers
Legal, free e-books are available through Online Books (University of Pennsylvania) and Shakespeare (MIT)
Legal, free music is available through
- ClassicCat.net (what kind of music do you think you'll find here?)
- Music.Download.com (long-awaited successor to MP3.com)
- Janis Ian (artist)
- John McCutcheon (artist)

Other Blawgs, Blogs, and Journals

These may be of interest; I do not necessarily agree with opinions expressed in them, although the reasoning and writing are almost always first-rate (and represent a standard seldom, if ever, achieved in "mainstream" journalism). I'm picky, and have eclectic tastes, so don't expect a comprehensive listing.

A blawg is sort of like a blog on legal issues, but usually has a lot more links to outside resources (other than other blogs) than does a typical blog. Scrivener's Error is a blawg, not just a blog. You can find other blawgs at < ? law blogs # >.

How Appealing is aimed at appellate lawyers and legal news in general. If you care about the state of the law, start here — Howard's commentary is far better balanced, better informed, and better considered than any of the media outlets. To concentrate on the Supreme Court, don't forget SCOTUSBlog.
Some academics' blawgs with a variety of political (and doctrinal) viewpoints:
- Professor Anthony Arend (Georgetown Law)
- Professor Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA Law) (aka "The Perfesser")
- Professor Jack Balkin (Yale Law)
- Professor Dennis Crouch (Missouri Law) (better known as Patently-O)
- Professor Michael Froomkin (University of Miami Law)
- Professor Eric Goldman (Santa Clara University Law)
- Professor Rick Hasen (Loyola-LA Law)
- Professor Brian Leiter (U of Chicago Law/Philosophy)
- Professor Lawrence Lessig (Stanford Law)
- Professor Michael Madison (Pitt Law)
- Professor Rebecca Tushnet (Georgetown Law)
BoingBoing, by speculative fiction writer (and 'net activist) Cory Doctorow, is quite hostile to copyright enforcement efforts, particularly regarding file-sharing
The main European IP blawg of interest remains the UK-based IPKat, on a variety of intellectual property issues, with some overlap (with a less Eurocentric view) at IPFinance
Cyberlaw (Stanford) has its agenda grounded firmly in the so-called "digital commons," which might make a bit more sense if any of the advocates of that viewpoint understood diddly-squat about population ecology
The American Constitution Society blawg is a purportedly "liberal" counterweight to the so-called "Federalist Society" (which, despite its claims, should be called "Tory Society") that has yet to establish much coherence... but maybe that's all to the good.

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