Long Strange Trip

Tauzin, not Valenti, huh? Interesting. The L.A. Times was just commenting Friday how the recent ban on screener DVDs for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had become "a referendum on the 82-year-old Valenti's Hollywood power." ("New 'Screener' Policy Fails to Quiet Valenti's Critics")

Antitrust And The Broadcast Flag

Blogging in absentia, David Giacalone passes along some timely links:

1. The American Antitrust Institute, "A red flag for the broadcast flag:"
   

   
   

   The scope of the regulations the program producers are asking for is enormous. Their proposal requires detailed rules on the manufacture and design of DTV receivers and other devices. It requires that the outputs on such devices be strictly controlled and tamper-proof. And it would make illegal the importation into the U.S. or the possession of devices that do not comply with the regulations and provide penalties for consumers who attempt to circumvent them. [...]

   
   

   The problem is that the broadcast flag proposal aims at delegating to the private companies that own the copy protection technologies the power to make and re-make the rules for how DTV signals should be handled by consumer devices. Through their rules, these companies have already decided how consumers should be permitted to handle even non-broadcast video.

   
   

   
   


2. The joint statement of Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge, and the American Antitrust Institute, opposing the Broadcast Flag scheme: "The attempt to try and fast-track this through an agency process, while it hasn't wholly silenced consumers, has diminished their voices in a manner that's ultimately going to affect the way that they enjoy TV and their consumer electronics devices, and even the ways they use their computers." (Those links again to speak your mind: EFF; Digital Consumer.)


3. The American Antitrust Institute's guide to Intellectual Property and the Antitrust Laws. We have David to thank for this excellent resource, as he is the volunteer editor.

Unexpected Visitor

It's a little tough to make out, but that's a turkey perched on top of the hedge in our yard. It was just passing through; wandered by the bedroom window (gobbling the whole way), gave the premises a thorough check, then hopped next door to terrorize the neighbor's dog. Seems they're not completely unheard of in Orange County, CA, but I can assure you this was fairly mind-blowing. Wisely, it cleared out well before I could start thinking about dinner.

Today's New Blawg

Channah, a law student in southern California, writes the hedgehogblog [via the Blawg Ring] and describes what it has looked like around here for the last few days:

But today's fire is worse. There were little snowflake sized pieces of ash falling everywhere...downtown, hollywood, the valley...everywhere.

it looks like snow.

pretty...but annoying and sad, thinking that the ash could have been someone's family photo album, or that 100 year old oak that once gave respite from the southern california sun.

Channah has lots more to say about law school, it's just tough to divert my attention from the surreal atmospheric effects we've experienced this weekend with the fires. Here's what they did to this morning's sunrise.

Open Thread On Blawging

I know I should have posted this on Friday to hopefully get it read by two or three of my ten loyal readers (who all have much better things to do on the weekend), but Work Happens, so here we are. On Monday I'm scheduled to speak to our L.A. office associates about sundry stuff, including weblog authoring. I'll probably post something incredibly eloquent and insightful here during the talk for demo purposes. Since I'll be emphasizing the interactivity this medium offers and the many ways this can enhance professional development and client service, I'd love to hear from you in the comments. If you could talk to a roomful of eager (well, at least half awake) young lawyers about weblogs, what pearls of wisdom would you cast their way? Try to keep the invective to a minimum...