Author Archive | David Post

Some of you may be interested in an online symposium that was recently held (and in which I participated) at the Concurring Opinions blog, focused on Danielle Citron’s recently-published paper on “Cyber Civil Rights.” Citron’s point (from the Abstract of her paper) is: Today’s cyber attack groups update a history of anonymous mobs coming together […]

Like many law professors these days, I’ve watched in dismay as many graduating students find that the jobs they thought were waiting for them after graduation are no longer there, either eliminated entirely or deferred into the uncertain future. [I’m dismayed on a personal level — as a social and economic phenomenon, this retrenchment might […]

I’m in Boise, Idaho, of all places, at the moment, getting ready for a talk tomorrow (Jefferson’s moose, the Internet, and all that), and I’m just wandering around and wondering about something (and I’ve found that when I’m wondering about something, VC readers can sometimes help me out). Has the Internet been the fastest-growing thing […]

A while back I posted a commentary about the two judges in Wilkes-Barre PA who sentenced several thousand kids to time in the local detention center in exchange for $2.6 million in kickbacks from the operator of the detention facility. I wrote: Maybe it’s just because I am a parent with two kids of my […]

In case the upload doesn’t work well enough for you to read the text, here’s a link. The final panel reads: “And Thomas Jefferson, to prove to an 18th century French naturalist that the New World’s life forms were not inferior to those of the Old World, selected the moose to defend the honor of […]

So it turns out that Sen. Kerry’s read my book about Jefferson’s moose and the Net [see the last few paragraphs of this speech he gave to the Nat’l Cable and Telecommunications Association] [reprinted here]. Kerry, Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, said: “I don’t intend to display a stuffed […]

The folks over at Public Citizen have just released what looks like a very useful guide to avoiding libel/defamation liability (and libel/defamation litigation) for “bloggers and non-profit organizations.” It’s a good idea, and nicely executed. Public Citizen, though unabashedly of the “left,” has done some terrific work over the last decade in an area that […]

As a follow-on to the discussion here about Richard Stallman’s recent talk about reforming copyright law, and his objections to my use of the terms “free software” and “open source software” interchangeably, Stallman sent me the following message (which I reproduce here with his permission, and indeed at his request): “I see you posted part […]

I’ll be giving a talk at 4:30 this afternoon, along with paleontologist Tom Demarre of the San Diego Natural History Museum, at the Thomas Jefferson Law School in San Diego. The genesis of this event is pretty wild. About a week after I published my book — which is really all about Jefferson’s seemingly mad […]

Just for the record, in a response to my earlier posting about free software and copyright law, Richard Stallman sent me the following: I am disappointed that you describe my work as “open source”, because I disagree with that camp and I constantly struggle against the misinformation which labels my work that way. You might […]

The U.N.’s Human Rights Council has passed a Resolution, put forward by a coalition of Muslim nations, condemning the “defamation of religions.” The resolution urges states to provide “protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general,” and “deplores the use of printed, […]

Yesterday I attended a talk given by Richard Stallman here at Temple, on copyright law’s increasing dis-utility (and Stallman’s proposals for reform of that law). Stallman, needless to say, is a fascinating character. He’s already a major figure in the history of computing and computers, and it may turn out that he’s a major figure […]

If any VC-ers are in the neighborhood and so inclined, I’m giving a book talk today over at Harvard Law School at 5 PM, and you’re more than welcome to drop by. DavidP

A good while ago here on the VC (in 2003, to be precise) I introduced (and subsequently named) the “Tinkerbell Effect” (and its close cousin, the “Reverse Tinkerbell Effect”). A Tinkerbell occurs when some phenomenon is more likely to become true simply as a consequence of more people believing it to be true; a Reverse […]

Any New York-area VCers interested in coming to a book talk I’m giving at NYLS are welcome to drop by; info is here. And we’re having a book launch party afterwards at the 169 Bar 169 East Broadway, NYC, NY 10002 Cross Streets: Rutgers St and East Broadway (Essex & Canal street is close enough) […]