That George Partington

In case you were wondering about how WorldCom was clued enough to generate this -- Blogging: Electronic Postings And Links Bring Vital Information To The Surface -- and just who was the primum mobile within the organization, Jeneane explains and comments. I second those emotions, and Hot Damn, it's been exhilarating connecting by phone this week with Jeneane and Chris. Just as it was pure joy to meet up with Frank and Mrs. Frank last month. It's high irony, as Chris has deliciously pointed out, that it takes a global Internet backbone and technology I can never hope to fully grasp to ultimately connect people in the most low tech of ways. I'm more fired up about that one thing, and the promise it holds for individuals, business and society, than anything else that comes to mind right now. (Except maybe the fact I'm about to enjoy a few days' vacation and catch seriously up on my reading. A close second.)

Declare Your Judicial Candidacy Electronically

Judicial candidates in the State of Washington (which elects its jurists) may submit their ballot information electronically at the Washington Courts Web site. A similar system exists for those who would serve in the state legislature. [Via The Daily Journal]

I am all for combating bureaucratic red tape with technology, and simply would urge those in charge to be sure and share the more unusual submissions.

Can I Get A Little (Declaratory) Relief?

So asks the ACLU on behalf of Ben Edelman in the U.S. District Court, Massachusetts (great looking courthouse, btw) concerning Edelman's potentially DMCA-barred plans to discover and make known the "block list" used by the N2H2 Internet filtering software. Donna Wentworth and Declan McCullagh have this well covered with discussion, commentary and links (here, here and here), and Donna's interview with Ben Edelman is well worth the read.

Donna notes it can be a long, hard road before a DMCA challenge like this may result in legal precedent, and Ben points out the differences between "extracting and analyzing an encrypted block list" and "extracting an encrypted movie from a DVD." This reminded me to check the status of another DMCA declaratory relief action pending here in California and discussed here and many elsewheres back in April. The 321 Studios case against MGM et al. (complaint here) reportedly was scheduled for hearing on the defendants' motion to dismiss before Judge Susan Illston (more here) tomorrow, according to a 321 Studios 6/14/02 Press Release. However, Judge Illston's calendar does not agree and I see no recent related news(?).

Split The Circuit Hearing Statements

The statements of the witnesses at Tuesday's hearing before the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property are now available here. Howard has more here (and an unrelated but not to be missed and perfectly contextualized Ice-T quote here).

That'd Be It

Next time anyone asks me why I went to law school, practice law and/or give a ding-dang about any of this stuff -- and you'd be surprised (or maybe not) how often lawyers get grilled on these points -- I'm skipping the usual routine and pointing them here: rip-roarin' Barbie law. (Thanks, Howard!)