Newsweek has an interesting story about extortionists threatening to knock down online gambling web sites unless they pay the extortionists a fee to “fix the problem.” (Hat Tip: Vice Squad) This is a small part of a bigger trend; Internet extortion is an international growth business. Thanks to the Internet, anyone located anywhere in the […]
Author Archive | Orin Kerr
If You Are a Minor,
taking nude pictures of yourself and e-mailing them to your boyfriend is a really really bad idea. (Thanks to The Curmudgeonly Clerk for the link.) Unfortunately, I don’t have time to get into the very interesting legal questions raised by the prosecution, but the Clerk has some thoughts on this that are worth checking out.
Daniel Okrent on Liberal Bias at the NYT:
This is not exactly news, but it’s interesting coming from the paper’s own Public Editor. Some excerpts: Is the New York Times a liberal newspaper? Of course it is. . . . I’ll get to the politics-and-policy issues this fall (I want to watch the campaign coverage before I conclude anything), but for now my concern is […]
CIA and Bin Laden’s Inner Circle:
The Washington Post has a very interesting artice today on CIA efforts to infiltrate and destroy Osama Bin Laden’s leadership circle. Some excerpts: The CIA has intelligence agents inside Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network — as it did before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — but they are not within the terrorist leader’s inner […]
Civil Liberties and the 9/11 Report:
NPR’s All Things Considered has a 4-minute segment available here. I make a brief appearance around the 2:10 mark.
Terrorism and the Supreme Court:
Here’s a trivia question for readers interested in the Supreme Court and the legal system’s response to terrorism. In what year did the following passage appear in a Supreme Court opinion? We cannot avoid taking judicial notice that crimes such as airplane hijacking, kidnaping, and mass terrorist activity constitute a serious and increasing danger to […]
TIPS FOR HOW TO BECOME A LAW PROFESSOR:
Brian Leiter offers some advice on entering the law teaching market and links to his helpful essay on the topic. IHS also has a good booklet on this posted on the web, Law School and Beyond: The IHS Guide to Careers in Legal Academia. Although the IHS booklet was designed to help those with libertarian […]
“Terror in the Skies” and the Carrot Top Connection:
The Syrian band behind Annie Jacobsen’s story seems to have been discovered. Either this is a really, really clever disguise, or the band is legit. Thanks to Elliot Fladen for the link.
Blakely and the Selection of Lower Court Judges:
Over at TNR Online, Will Baude draws a connection between the lower court reaction to Blakely v. Washington and the ideology of lower court judges. According to Will, Blakely has caused an upheaval in the lower courts in part because lower court judges are ideologically sympathetic to the case and want to construe it broadly. […]
ACLU Summer Surveillance Campaign:
The ACLU has a pretty funny Flash movie up on its website about surveillance; the basic idea is to imagine what it would be like if you called up to order a pizza and the person on the other line knew lots and lots of information about you. It’s a clever idea, but there is […]
Interesting New Criminal Law Case:
Does tipping off a friend that he is going to be arrested constitute intentionally interfering with the official duties of an officer? A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit says yes, at least given the facts of the case before it and the language of the regulation in question. I’m not sure which side is […]
The Engligh Language Needs A Word
for when advocates on both sides of an ongoing debate switch rhetorical positions, and yet they insist on decrying the inconsistency of their opponents while overlooking their own inconsistency. You can see it in politics whenever there is a change in power. Advocates from the party that loses power switch to the standard what-you-say-when-you’re-the-opposition arguments, […]
“Terror in the Skies” and the Power of the Blogosphere:
Anyone want to place bets on whether the pressure of the blogosphere will shed light on the Terror in the Skies article I linked to earlier today? Instapundit linked to it today at 5:22 pm, and it has now reached Andrew Sullivan, Little Green Footballs, Hugh Hewitt, here, and no doubt lots and lots of […]
Airplane Hijacking Dry Runs?:
I’m not sure what to make of this story, as I am unfamiliar with its source. Maybe it’s bogus, or much ado about nothing. On the other hand, maybe it’s not. Thanks to Instapundit for the link.
Thief Apprehended:
Citizens of McLean, Virginia can relax. A local thief, who had stolen lawn ornaments from several properties in McLean and was captured in the act on video tape last week, has finally been caught. No charges are going to be filed against the bandit, who goes by the name “Magnum,” presumably because Magnum is a […]