Judges, Law School Professors, and Policymakers: Why They Don’t Care What The Other Thinks
I read William Patry's blog regularly (and should link to it more often), but his post on Judge Posner's newest book "How Judges Think" is truly insightful. He builds on Posner's deconstruction of the relationship between judges and law school professors and adds legislators to the mix. The final product is an interesting description of the community and power structures surrounding each (judges, professors, and legislators) and why the tend to talk past each other. It is a great read [...]
U.S. military tries to work out rules for cyber warfare
According to the Associated Press, “U.S. military officials seeking to boost the nation's cyberwarfare capabilities are looking beyond defending the Internet: They are developing ways to launch virtual attacks on enemies. But first the military will have to figure out the proper boundaries. ‘What do we consider to be an act of war in cyberspace?’ asked Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr., who heads the Air Force's cyberoperations command. ‘The military is not going to tend to do that (use [...]
Top cop warns that e-crime is most significant criminal threat facing the UK
The Register reports that “one of Britain's top cops has said that e-crime is the most significant criminal threat facing the UK, and that the government is failing to respond effectively. Chief Constable Ian Johnston, Head of Crime at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and boss of the British Transport Police, was speaking at the Microsoft UK Public Sector Law Enforcement Conference this morning in Reading. […] The chief constable gave it as his opinion that the fight [...]
Seems We Got Mr. Espiner’s Knickers in a Twist
ZDNet UK's knowledgeable security blogger, Tom Espiner, has posted a piece about the responses of ACT and Red Hat to ISO's recent approval of OOXML as an open standard for electronic documents. Tom seems to take the position of Red Hat as the right honest gospel, not wasting a single keystroke contextualizing or questioning the company's assertions or analysis. When it came to our point of view, however, his loquaciousness took over. He decided to characterize what ACT's positions are, [...]
Competition from Angel Investors makes VCs creative
Wired writes that, “when it comes to the Internet, venture capitalists are facing the toughest investing environment in recent history. As companies become cheaper to launch, fewer entrepreneurs need the kind of cash infusions that VCs provide. And angel investors are encroaching on VCs' turf by throwing more money at early-stage companies; in 2006, angels pumped a total of $26 billion into 51,000 startups, up from $18 billion in 2003. At the same time, large companies are snapping up Web [...]
Scratched Your Christmas Game Disc? Get a Replacement.
It is April now and that means the 90 day store return policy on Christmas merchandise just expired. So, if your game or movie disc is damaged now, are you out of luck? Nope, not necessarily. I think it may surprise most consumers to know that many entertainment companies have a "replacement" policy that covers merchandise even after the 90 day store return policy has expired. Companies with such a policy include: Microsoft (Replacement Program ) , Activision (replacement) , [...]