Imagine a defendant in a child pornography case has two computers in his home. Each computer contains twenty images of child pornography. Has the defendant committed one single crime of possessing forty images? Or has he committed two crimes of possessing twenty images each? Alternatively, has the defendant committed forty distinct crimes of possession? Put […]
Archive | July, 2012
My Mother Would Be So Proud
There’s nothing like winning an award to get the blood flowing in the veins … So I’m pleased to report that my “Moose” book has garnered another obscure award — the “Nyan Cat”** award, for given for outstanding achievement in disinformation, web myths and general web based idiocy. I’m in good company, sharing the award […]
Notice and Opportunity to Challenge Evidence Collection Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act: What’s the Best Rule?
One of the major differences between traditional criminal investigations and network surveillance investigations is that network investigations generally require lots of lawyers and lots of court orders. In traditional criminal investigations, lawyers and judges play a relatively minor role. The cops run the show, and lawyers and judges mostly get involved only if a warrant […]
The Hacker Protection Act of 2012
The latest draft cybersecurity bill contains information sharing provisions that were heavily negotiated between the Obama administration and privacy groups. This effort at compromise has yielded the usual ambiguous praise from privacy groups. The Electronic Frontier Foundation pronounced itself “pleased” but then complained that the measure still “contains broad language around the ability for companies […]
And Whose Fault Was That?, or, Ignore the Streisand Effect at Your Your Client’s Peril
To review the bidding in the Dietrich matter, two teenage boys were prosecuted in juvenile court for sexually assaulting a teenage girl, the judge apparently imposed a gag order barring people — including the girl — from revealing the names of the assailants, when the assailants accepted a plea bargain, the girl was angry about […]
Contempt Motion Withdrawn, Gag Order Barring Sex Assault Victim from Naming Her Juvenile Attackers Still in Place
The Courier-Journal (Louisville) reports: Defense attorneys for two boys who pleaded guilty to assaulting a 17-year-old Savannah Dietrich have withdrawn their motion that she be held in contempt for tweeting the names of her attackers in defiance of a court order…. Emily Farrar-Crockett, deputy division chief of the public defender’s juvenile division and one of […]
Non-U.S.-Citizen/Non-U.S.-Resident Civilian Contractors Working Outside U.S. Don’t Have Fifth and Sixth Amendment Rights
So holds United States v. Ali (U.S. Ct. App. Armed Forces July 18, 2012), concluding that such a contractor could be tried by a court martial, even though he wasn’t a member of the armed forces. An excerpt (some paragraph breaks reshuffled): Mr. Alaa Mohammad Ali, a foreign national working as a civilian contractor in […]
Monday Bear Blogging
There’s no real rush hour in Yellowstone National Park, but there can be traffic. Most often the commuters that cause these traffic jams are bison (which have a tendency to cross roads whenever and wherever they please). But others cause trouble too, such as these two fellas we saw Sunday.
The Dark Side of Privacy
[UPDATE: The contempt motion has been withdrawn, though the gag order remains.] The Courier-Journal (Louisville) reports: Frustrated by what she felt was a lenient plea bargain for two teens who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her and circulating pictures of the incident, a Louisville 17-year-old lashed out on Twitter. “There you go, lock me up,” […]
New Lawyer Salaries and the Creation of the Bimodal Salary Distribution, 1991 to 2011
The NALP Bulletin has a really fascinating essay on the history of the salary distribution of new lawyers from 1991 to 2011. It’s only three pages long, and it’s worth a close look: It has very interesting stats on the history of the bimodal distribution of entry-level salaries. The essay explains that back in 1991 […]
Don’t turn Aurora killer into celebrity
That’s the title of my article yesterday in USA Today, suggesting how the media can try to cover the crime in a way that does not increase the risk of a copycat effect. Also on USA Today, I participated in a Web Chat with a pair of representatives of the Brady Campaign, available here. A […]
District Court Dismisses Lawsuit Brought By Former Students Against Cooley Law for Misleading Job Stats
The opinion is Macdonald v. Cooley, and it was handed down today by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. An excerpt: The crux of Plaintiffs’ complaint . . . comes from an “Employment Report and SalarySurvey” (“Employment Report”) that Cooley provides to prospective and current students. Plaintiffs allege that Cooley “blatantly […]
Georgia Law Banning the Carrying of Guns to Church, Unless One Notifies and Gets Permission from Church Management
Today’s GeorgiaCarry.org v. Georgia (11th Cir. July 20, 2012) upholds the ban against a challenge under the Free Exercise Clause and the Second Amendment. An excerpt (some paragraph breaks added): [A.] In 2010, the Georgia legislature, apparently concerned that the carrying of [knives and handguns] and long guns would likely present an unreasonable risk of […]
“Journalists Beware: Shell Arctic Hoax Signals Move from Subtle Spin to Activist Deception”
Poynter.Org reports on how hoaxes have recently been getting especially elaborate and effective at duping journalists. At least one mainstream organization — Greenpeace — has used one recently as part of its own ideological campaign. As if journalists weren’t already confounded enough by the misdirection of spin machines and talking points, they now risk being […]
Federal Court Strikes Down N.Y. City Bus Policy That Bans “Demean[ing]” Speech About Religions, Racial Groups, Etc.
The policy banned exterior bus ads that supposedly “demean an individual or group on account of ‘race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation,’” and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority cited the policy in refusing to run this ad: “Elaborating on the basis for rejecting the AFDI Ad, [the MTA […]