Special note for the GW Law Community

Fully recognizing how weird it is to use a worldwide forum for a message targeting about 1500 kids, here’s a special message for the GW Law community:  I’m on the e-board of the Cyberlaw Students Association, and we want you.

So if you’re a GW Law student and interested in cyberlaw, come to our meeting on Wednesday. There’s free food in it for you.

A Performer’s Tribute to Teddy Kennedy

Hello again.  I’ve been writing a lot since my last post, but no draft has quite percolated up to postworthy.  One or two of them will soon.  For now, I want to quickly re-post Universal Hub’s video of a man paying tribute to Senator Kennedy as his motorcade passed the Roxbury Crossing station on Mission Hill:

Thanks to UHub for posting this and Steve McCarthy for capturing this moment.  A Boston historian could spill gallons of ink on the imagery and subtext here, but I’d rather let the video speak for itself.

Rest in peace, Teddy.

Welcome Back, Folks

After finals effectively destroyed any chance of keeping up with my feeds, I turned on my RSS reader for the first time in a couple weeks. I was met with over 4000 items. There’s no way I’ll be able to give these a full treatment (and to pile these all together makes for pretty scattered reading), but here are a few highlights:

• Perez Hilton responds to a negative ad by the National Organization for Marriage (of the horrible “Gathering Storm” ad fame) by sending them a near-frivolous DMCA Takedown notice. Sorry, Perez: this isn’t cool even when I agree with your message.
• My buddy Greg Whitney is featured in an Emerson student’s profile of Boston’s own Louie (better known as The Tricycle Man). Seeing this made me miss Boston more than anything else during finals week.
  Thanks to Bostonist and Ms. RDP for the scoop.
• Swineophobia hit close to home this week. My Alma Mater Northeastern opted to forgo with handshakes for commencement. I don’t think the Garden counts as a “small confined space” to avoid under VP Biden’s analysis.
• Early reports from the iTunes Music Store’s new variable pricing system are not favorable. Digital Music News reports that revenues are down, and consumers are increasingly leaving iTunes in favor of other alternatives.
• The Boston Globe did a nice profile of Justice Souter’s hometown of Weare, NH. I was a little surprised to find that Justice Souter lives relatively close to my house. He lives a few dozen miles due north of me, straight up Rt. 13 (which turns into NH Rt. 77 in Milford). To help understand his (and to an extent, my) upbringing: equidistant from our towns is Peterborough, NH, best known as the town credited as the inspiration for Grover’s Corners in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. I feel a deep affinity for that play, and the towns in the Monadnock region that it celebrates. I have a feeling he does too. While I’ll miss reading Souter’s opinions, I’m sure he’ll enjoy his return to our figurative neighborhood.
• On a related SCOTUS note, Justice Scalia’s opinions on the “privacy right” (which GWU Law Professor Dan Solove characterizes here) were tested when Fordham University Professor asked his legal privacy class to create a dossier on Scalia. Scalia responded with gusto.
• EFF’s Hugh D’Andrade gives the Obama White House partial credit for licensing photos taken by White House photographer Pete Souza under a Creative Commons Attribution license, but suggests the fairly obvious: shouldn’t these, as government works, be in the public domain?
• Japanese designer surgical face masks. Now I’ve seen everything.
• Iron & Wine are (is?) going to release a 2CD/3LP collection of rarities and outtakes called Around The Well on May 19th, spanning the entirety of Sam Beam’s career. This week we have new St. Vincent and Akron/Family for your listening pleasure.
• Wired’s marks for Obama’s first 100 days: Copyright, D; Cyber Security, C; Science, A-; Net Neutrality, B+; Transparency, B-; Privacy, D-. Saddens me to say, but I have to agree on most of these marks. But let’s not forget that he’s getting damn close to an A on virtually everything else.
• Tripod.com co-founder Ethan Zuckerman wrote a lovely and humorous eulogy for Geocities, which officially closed last week.
• Is A&R dead? Music Think Tank poses the question, and the comments are generally in favor of the rarified profession. (I for one still prefer my old sensei Dave’s joke on the subject: “How many A&R guys does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” “I don’t know. What do you think?”)
• A lot of people complained that the  White House photo op of Air Force One over NYC could easily have been done in a matter of an hour or two on Photoshop. Scott Kelby demonstrated, creating a rather lovely shot that could have saved us over $300,000.
• And for the finale: in March of 2007 WFMU posted 79 versions of Gershon Kingsley’s “Popcorn.” Using the EchoNest API Paul Lemere was stitched them all together into a 12 minute anthem. I’m very glad I didn’t find this until after finals, as I would have listened to only this, and that probably would have done my brain in. Paul Lemere – A Big Kettle of Echo Nest Popcorn
  

I hope to be back to more regular schedule now that my 1L year is over and the summer has begun. I make my return to Boston tomorrow; can’t wait to see you all. And to my new DC friends: congrats and thanks on a wonderful year, and I hope to see a lot of you up here or down there soon.

Quick words on Sony v. Tenenbaum

The case of Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbuam has been quite the legal curiosity for those of us who follow the RIAA lawsuits. There’s lots to learn from a case like this, not necessarily in terms of its professionalism or legal practice standards (those that know far more than me say this is a far cry from a hallmark case), but in the actions of its cast of characters. This lawsuit, one way or another, has brought in every legal mind in this field, on both sides of the issue. And everyone is writing about it. A lot. I suspect that this will be the case people will remember when the story of the RIAA lawsuits gets written up some years from now.

Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law Professor and longtime legal guru, now heads the case for the defense. He also founded and does extensive work at the Berkman Center at Harvard. I will be working this summer at Berkman. I know a lot of you have asked me to write on this case, and while that does a whole lot to inflate my ego, I think it would be better in light of my perceived conflict of interest to instead link out to others for now. I’ll bring you news as it comes forth, but for now I leave the discussion to others. Thanks for understanding.

Here’s who I have been reading to stay abreast of this:

- Recording Industry vs. The People (Ray Beckerman)
- Joel Fights Back
- eon (Charles Nesson)
- CyberOne
- Copyrights & Campaigns (Ben Sheffner)
- Excess Copyright (Howard Knopf)
- Twitter user CopyrightLaw (Michael Scott)
- Corante Copyfight blog (Alan Wexelblat)
- Slashdot YRO
- Groklaw

Journals!

(insert Myst joke here)

One of the cornerstone secondary sources in our legal system is the law journal. Articles in law journals are frequently cited as persuasive authority in interpretations of the law in both papers and court opinions alike, and can be tremendous catalysts for developing legal thought and policy.

Every major law school has a journal, and it may surprise some to find that these journals are actually run by law students. Naturally, the pressure is tremendous and the stakes are high for law journals to state the law accurately and make persuasive arguments in interpretation, so schools do not let every student who expresses interest to join, as they might a school newspaper. Law schools invite first year students onto the boards of their journals though a rigorous competition held sometime during the 1L year. It just so happens that for my school that competition is this weekend.

Of course, it’s not like editors of law journals ever go on to do good things.

This is why I haven’t been writing here all week, and why you won’t see me here until at least after Monday. So have a good one, and I’ll be back sometime next week (when we get our well-earned spring break).

Cheers.

The Albums Getting Me Through Law School, Introduction

I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time.

A lot of you readers these days are fellow students of law at GW (Go Colonials, or something…). So I don’t need to tell you how hard law school can be, or how much time we spend reading, preparing for class (or now as it’s mid-November, finals). For those of you not in law school and not a member of our noble profession, you might have some offhand familiarity with the subject through books like One-L or movies like The Paper Chase:

or, for that matter, Legally Blonde:

Now, this does not reflect reality – at least not at this school, and from what I hear not at that old one up by the Charles River, either. Our teachers are not fiends out to get us, but actually incredibly nice and warm people (not to mention brilliant minds). But this is a fairly good representation of a law student’s fundamental fears. We try not to embarrass ourselves in class, out of respect for our professors (whom we respect quite highly) and our peers (who like the pace of class to be swift, not stagnant in hesitation). As a consequence – and truthfully the reason why we are here and paying so much money – we study very, very hard. We try to never fall behind in reading, at the expense of social activity and the slacking off we all enjoyed as undergrads. Although we settle into more of a gentle routine as the months progress, we never take the time to pause and reflect that what we call a “gentle routine” today was “absurdly hard working” only a few months ago. When you spend all day running, you start to think that jogging is taking it easy.

Now we all have our mechanisms for dealing with this heavy workload. Some of us institute a regimen of exercise, some of us make a point to go out every Thursday night and drink, some of us start movie watching groups (or, as my friends do, call every Sunday night West Wing night, and pile into a friend’s room for a couple hours). For me, the thing that is carrying me through the hundreds of pages I read on any given week and hours I spend preparing for class is, no surprise, music. Listening to music and writing here are how I fill the hours I don’t spend in solitude at the library.

But, as you might expect, it has to be the right music, and not just the music that I really like. For example, I will drive for hours on end listening to London Calling, but I can’t focus on reading while Strummer and Jones are in my ear. I get too distracted. I want to play guitar or dance about or something. So I need albums that will get me into a little groove, just enough to tap my feet or rock in my chair, while not pulling me away from subject matter jurisdiction, equitable estoppel, mens rea for homicides, or negligent tortfeasors. So, less London Calling and more Sandinista!. I like the former more, but I can study better with the latter.

I’m going to start sharing these albums here, for a few reasons. First, they are all amazing albums and come with a very hearty recommendation. These are not just good albums to study with, but also good albums in general. Second, for my law school friends, maybe this will help you out with your work, too. I hope it does. And third, these are good study albums in general, for whatever it is you do these days. Be it working with blood diseases at a Cambridge biotech firm, troubleshooting the IT of the United Nations, hyping up the infectiously distracting content over at Gamesville, zipping photo lenses across the country from a secret basement headquarters, sabotaging the movie-watching plans of patrons in the video section of bookstore, assessing research grants in air quality for the government, studying music and public health in New Orleans, fixing bikes, studying digital audio synthesis, or leading environmental revolutions (and not the other kind, I think) in certain peninsular countries in Asia – everyone needs some good study music. So I hope these can help you out, too.

So the first installment, coming your way shortly, is what I’m listening to right now. Stay tuned.

Off the grid for a spell.

(a gray wolf, from Flickr user dobak)

Hey folks,

I’m always amazed how my website activity is reflected in my readership.

It’s a fascinating study – my longer, thought heavy posts receive more comments and greater google-search hits, but random “huh.” posts always trigger more aggregate and individual traffic and more traffic from people emailing my links (yes, I can see that [only as far as your email client, not individual address]. So can every website. You should know that as a consumer.). I had my fourth all-time highest view count on Sunday, but three days letter with no posts I’ve fallen way off the map on traffic.

Sadly, that trend will continue. I’m off radar for a few days, and potentially through the election. I’ll try and put something up for the weekend (more for my own sanity than for yours, I’ll selfishly admit). As of now I’ve got a lot of real-world work to do and of course Halloween to consider. In the interim I think my buddy Oscar is going to do a special Halloween post that will certainly be quality. I’ll link to that when it comes around.

Until then, dig Listening Post’s recap of all of the great derivative music coming from an already-derivative song: M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes.” And I use derivative in the language of copyright law (as in a work that uses the work of others), not as an insult to Ms. Arulpragasm’s abilities.

See you when the memos are done,
- andy

The Clash – Straight To Hell

Thanks, WordPress.

I’m feeling a little proud today. WordPress has me as one of their Top 100 “Growing Blogs” in their Blogs of the Day roundup. I came in at #10, right after this pretty sweet travel blog by a photographer named Mitchell, and right after a blog dedicated to deconstructing all the glitches and cheats in Disney’s Club Penguin MMORPG4kids.

So thanks, everybody. Sorry I won’t be around to write more today, but I’ve got a memo to write on some endangered wolves. Cheers.

A Copyright Announcement, With Guitars

The Kleptones – Question

Starting today, I am a full-time law student.

While I don’t think my experience will be as devastating as The Paper Chase or even Legally Blonde, the time requirements will mean that lots of extra-curricular will be replaced, including, most likely, frequent contribution to this blog. I have made a promise to myself to keep writing, but I’m holding to a once-a-week commitment, as opposed to my previous constant stream of rants. I hope you all understand, and I’m sure there are no shortage of other things to read.

That said, I have an open challenge left unanswered from last week, and I want to take the time to go over it.

Waxing Nostalgic, or “Andy being Andy.”

(the mural at Bay State Foods, aka “The Russians.” A strange title, given the Peruvian ownership.)

My time in Boston has come to a close. I have vacated my humble Brookline apartment for the potential glamor of Washington DC. Moving always brings out a clutter of emotions, and while I have done the September shuffle my fair share of times in the Hub, leaving entirely is especially tough.

I’ve slept in the same dorm that birthed Napster on Hemenway Street. I shared a very, very small bedroom with Colin and Oscar (thankfully, one after the other) in a lovely brick-walled nook at St. Stephen and Mass Ave. I sweated it out in a very cramped apartment with the floodlights of Fenway creeping in the window on Peterborough, saved by close proximity of El Pelón. And for two years, when not on tour or otherwise traveling, I’ve called the peculiar haven of college students amidst the Brookline families, known to most as “The Empire,” my home.

We’ve seen some crazy things in the past five years. I could rattle off a list, but I’m sure I’d miss something important (the filming of The Departed, the gigantic snowstorm in January 2005, Kerry’s Copley Square presidential rally, and all of the Marathons are worth mentioning). While I’m not a large sports enthusiast compared to many Bostonians, as a lifelong Mass resident the Red Sox run deep in my blood, and the 2003, 2004, and 2007 Red Sox weaved a beautiful common thread in my Boston experience.

If the Sox are my thread, then Manny Ramirez serves as my framing. His arrival in the spring of 2001 was about when I started thinking seriously about where I was going to college, and Boston schools stayed at the top of the list through the next two years. I got my license shortly thereafter, and while I spent most of my time in Gardner or Fitchburg, I always looked forward to the occasional trips to Boston with a van full of kids. Once at Northeastern I was naturally at the heart of it, surrounded by Red Sox fandom. The Sox in ‘03 was how I met most of my friends freshman year, as we piled into one suite to watch the whole series build up, screaming at the TV when Grady left Pedro in the game. 2004 had us pouring out into the streets, celebrating well into the morning (I remember watching Fox25 at 5AM and seeing my street from the helicopter camera). By 2007 I had left the college parts of town, but still walked from Coolidge to Kenmore and back, high-fiving passersby, when we swept the Rockies. Between these high-water marks were the low points: the departure of Theo Epstein (only to have him return shortly thereafter), the 5-game Boston Massacre at the hands of the Yankees in 2006, and of course, the departures of our once-lauded heroes: Nomah, Pedro, D-Lowe, Nixon, and now Manny.

I do not want to sound obsessed, and indeed many, many great moments happened without the Sox as a centerpiece (most of my friends actually don’t care that much about baseball), but living in Boston means they’re never too far away: on the radio or TV in the other room, on the baseball cap of your friend, or amidst curse words under your breath when you attempt to board a train passing Kenmore around 6:30 on a weeknight.

And now, a little more than a week after Manny’s departure, I’ve left my city. I do not doubt I will return many times, and would never rule out living here again, but for the next few years the majority of my time will be in law textbooks at George Washington University. I know that I’ll never fully leave, but for now I’ve traded Bostonist for DCist (I’m keeping Universal Hub, though). There will be good times in DC; I am certain. But I will most certainly Boston, and all those who snark their days through in it. I’ll miss Newbury Comics, The Coolidge Corner Theatre, JP Licks, Deep Ellum, Little Stevie’s, The Russians, Nuggets, and, yes, Fenway Park.

But don’t worry, Red Sox, I’ll only watch the Washington Nationals occasionally, merely for amusement. You’re still in a whole other league.