I’ve had a feeling of impending doom all day as if I have forgotten something important, but I know I have gone through everything.
Weird.
Interesting Case
First I have heard of this:
A case testing the meaning of the so-called “innocent infringer’s” defense to the Copyright Act’s minimum $750-per-music-track fine has landed at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case the justices were asked to review Wednesday concerns a federal appeals court’s February decision ordering a university student to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $27,750 ($750 a track) for file sharing 37 songs when she was a high school cheerleader. That decision reversed a Texas federal judge who had ordered defendant Whitney Harper to pay $7,400 ($200 per song).
The lower court, without a trial, had granted her the innocent infringer’s exemption to the Copyright Act’s minimum fine, because the teen claimed she didn’t know she was violating copyrights. She said she thought file sharing was akin to internet radio streaming.
The appeals court, however, said she was not eligible for such a defense, even though she was between 14 and 16 years old when the infringing activity occurred on LimeWire. The reason, the court concluded, is that the Copyright Act precludes such a defense if the legitimate CDs of the music in question carry copyright notices.
“Harper cannot rely on her purported legal naivety,” the New Orleans–based appeals court ruled, 3-0.
Does anyone know more about this?
And in general, has the “I didn’t know it was illegal” defense ever worked in any case? I imagine it might be the kind of thing that would cause prosecutors to go for a lesser charge or for the court to apply leniency in sentencing, but has it ever been successfully used as a defense. Sorry if this is common knowledge among lawyers, but I just don’t know.
Assaults on census workers
There are a lot of census workers out there, so I don’t now how bad a number this is (via):
More than 113 census takers have been the victims of assaults or attacks this month, the U.S. Census Bureau said late Wednesday.
In response to inquiries by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Census Director Robert Groves said the bureau’s temporary workers knocking on doors to collect information have faced 29 threats involving a gun, four robberies and three instances of being held against their will or carjacked.
But given that crime is down nationwide since 2000, this is striking:
Bureau officials said the overall pattern and types of incidents are similar to the 2000 census, but cautioned this year’s figures are already much higher than ten years ago and include a mix of news accounts and formal reports to the bureau’s safety office.
What I do know is that this some of these attacks were perpetrated by liberal plants and those that weren’t were the natural consequence of a government that acts against the will of its citizens.
Ipad, magazine articles, etc.
I picked up an iPad yesterday and I have to say it is really great for reading long magazine articles.
Although I think the conclusions he draws are fundamentally wrong, this TNR piece on trials for political leaders was fantastic overall. I often find with pieces like this that, while the historical analysis is thorough and even brilliant, the “lessons” for today are almost invariably heavy-handed and simplistic. Still, very much worth a read.
Update. I forgot to mention that this is an open thread.
Update. Michael Walzer, who wrote the TNR piece I linked to, certainly wrote some batshit crazy “lefties are fifth columnists” type stuff after 9/11. It’s amazing how little that kind of idiocy affects anyone’s reputation.
Open Thread
Sadly, one mojito turned into two, and then things went south. Fortunately, I lived to tell the tale, and what a sad tale it was- the diviest of dive bars and lots of bad judgment were involved.
I’ve fed Tunch, and I’ve walked Lily, and I hope to FSM they let me sleep in until at least 8 am tomorrow.
Wednesday Night Open Thread
Somehow or another I really tweaked my shoulder today, so to ease the physical pain and the mental anguish I just created reading the stupidity at memeorandum, I’m drinking a mojito the size of Tunch. I do have to say that at memeorandum, I found myself in complete agreement with Greg Sargent– it is time for Sestak to shit or get off the pot in regards to the job offer controversy he created.
In other news, I picked up a “pineapple tomato” plant that I found intriguing and will add it to the garden, as well as a beautiful geranium that had not yet bloomed, which I think I will just put on Tunch’s ledge with the jade plant and the bird’s nest fern.
Fish gotta swim
This is awesome (h/t Mike Kay):
Republicans were very pleased with their technological sophistication as they introduced the Web site, America Speaking Out a ceremony at the Newseum. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who created the program, said that to get software for the site, “I personally traveled to Washington state and discovered a Microsoft program that helped NASA map the moon.”
Using lunar software is appropriate, because the early responses to the Republicans’ request for ideas are pretty far out:
“End Child Labor Laws,” suggests one helpful participant. “We coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories.”
“How about if Congress actually do thier job and VET or Usurper in Chief, Obama is NOT a Natural Born Citizen in any way,” recommends another. “That fake so called birth certificate is useless.”
“A ‘teacher’ told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish!” a third complains. “And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story.”
My favorite by far is the fish thing.
I just signed up for an account.
Update. More gold standardism than I would have expected. I don’t think these are all spoofs.
Update. In honor of the late, great blogs4brownback, I’m promoting this one.
Update. They seem to have deleted most of the ideas. Sad.
Update. It’s back up with all the ideas and responses intact.