RSS FeedUS EPA issues endangerment finding for GHGs
Yesterday, the US EPA finally issued administrative findings with respect to greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide. While coinciding with the commencement of the climate conference in Copenhagen, this finding has been anticipated since the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v EPA – in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA did in fact have the authority to regulate GHGs under the U.S. Clean Air Act.
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Words of Wisdom in Exam Time
We’ll be slowing down now for the exam period.
Here are a couple quotes by Henri Nouwen from Laura Bergus to get you through these exams and keep things in perspective:
When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we slowly come to the erroneous conviction that life is one large scoreboard where someone is listing the points to measure our worth. And before we are fully aware of it, we have sold our soul to the many grade-givers.
We are important because someone considers us indispensable.
…When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identification, then we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance than as friends with whom we share the gifts of life.
SOCAN goes after Vancouver transit buskers
It seems that SOCAN has finally decided to take a piece of the incredibly rich Vancouver transit busker pie, and has informed the Vancouver transit authority of their intent to enforce SOCAN tariffs for buskers.
The Vancouver transit authority says those tariffs could drive the cost of a Translink busker licence as high as $1,500.
SOCAN, short for the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, is a collective society whose job it is to “make sure [members] get paid for the public performance and communication to the public of their music.” SOCAN does this by negotiating new royalty tariffs with the Copyright Board of Canada, and making licences available to “customers” interested in legally playing music in public.
Pretty much everything you can think of is covered by a SOCAN-negotiated tariff, outside of “Showers, Singing in, One or more other users of bathroom” and “Campfires, Guy with guitar, Compensated with beer from cooler.” My personal favourite existing tariff has to be tariff 3C, the pole-dancing tariff, but there are many, many more depressingly bean-counted avenues of creative expression listed on the SOCAN tariffs page. The Vancouver buskers are likely covered under “3A Live Music” or (more hilariously) 10A Strolling Musicians and Buskers; Recorded Music.
Charging a royalty fee every time the unicycling juggler blares “Life Is A Highway” may sound absurd to some, but it’s definitely the law. However, it seems clear that most (if not all) buskers in this program would find ponying up $1,500 for a licence to be a challenge. In fact, TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said that with such a big jump in licencing fees, “We’re probably faced with possibly having to cancel the program.” So no performance space for buskers, no busker program at all… and no royalty fees for SOCAN. Brilliant.
It’s true that artists deserve to be compensated for their work, and it’s also true that the current state of Canadian copyright law encourages a royalty fee system. But after reading about SOCAN’s approach to this – “that businesses that allow musical performance on their premises obey the law” – coupled with Translink’s approach to SOCAN’s demands (passing the cost along to the buskers) makes me wonder if anyone wanted to make this work in the first place.
In the event that the Vancouver busker project isn’t canceled, I just hope SOCAN accepts payment in loose change.
Ron Livingston Sues Wikipedia over Orientation
The most recent controversy around Wikipedia, and there are plenty to come I’m sure, surrounds Ron Livingston, an actor in Office Space who starred briefly in Sex in the City. Well it’s Livingston’s sex, or rather his sexual orientation, that is at the center of a current dispute with Wikipedia.
Livingston married Rosmarie DeWitt last month, and yet his Wikipedia entry has been repeatedly vandalized to say that he is gay and living with a Lee Dennison. He also claims that the same individual made Facebook pages for himself and Dennison and showed the the two in a relationship together.
TMZ states,
Livingston is suing for libel, invasion of privacy and for using his name and likeness without his permission.
Unlike blogs, which go through minimal editing and scrutiny, Wikipedia has a vigorous review process which includes questioning sources and the neutrality of a point of view. The system seems to have worked, as the references to Livingston’s sexuality were repeatedly omitted. The problem is that the reference was repeatedly re-entered.
Wikipedia does have controls for this as well, including how to deal with vandals and locking pages that have repeat problems. We don’t know if this occurred yet, but Livingston could have contacted a Wikipedia editor to invoke these stronger protection mechanisms. Any court reviewing the case should closely scrutinize the options that were available.
Blogs face a more difficult challenge. We often try to ensure our accuracy by linking to our sources, and searching as best we can for conflicting opinions. But especially in the field of law, information does change with new legal development and judicial decisions. Posts are really only valid for the time-stamp when they are published.We do not benefit from the continuous and ongoing scrutiny of editors the way Wikipedia does.
For this reason, I rely on my readership to inform me when information needs to be updated. In fact bloggers often depend on that, and most of us are usually willing to make necessary changes. In case of litigation, we might find sanctuary under the evolving ‘public interest responsible journalism defence‘ described in the 2007 Ontario case of Cusson v. Ottawa Citizen and the 2006 House of Lord’s decision, Jameel v. Wall Street Journal Europe.
The wonderful thing about Wikipedia for the purposes of litigation is that everything is meticulously documented on the revision history and the talk page, including when and what changes were made, by whom, and the corresponding IP addresses. Issues surrounding the pending litigation are even raised on the talk page among the editors, including the location of the IP addresses making the changes, and news stories about the issue.
One of the IP addresses involved in the Livingston changes also made similar revisions on December 2, 2009 to the page of Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum of the royal family of Dubai, adding,
…as well as president for UAE LGBT conference as he is a known homosexual!.
Not that there is anything wrong with that. But there’s no need to add personal information to Wiki entries, especially if they cannot be substantiated with an independent source, and may cause the person involves some personal harm.
In cases where the control features described above do not work, it may be appropriate to pursue litigation, possibly including the site in order to compel them to provide further information.
But the best strategy for celebrities, corporations, politicians and professionals, as I told a group of marketing professionals at a seminar earlier this week, is to mitigate any adverse impact by establishing a social media strategy yourself.
Podcast: UWO Arrest and Campus Police Use of Force (Episode 24)
In October of this year, Irnes Zeljkovic was arrested at the University of Western Ontario by the UWO Campus Police. The arrest was caught on tape by at least two bystanders, who posted videos of the arrest to YouTube. In the videos, the six officers appear to strike Zeljkovic repeatedly with fists, knees, and a metal baton. The incident has raised questions about whether the Campus Police used excessive force in the arrest. The University has now hired a former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner to review the incident.
On today’s show, Omar Ha-Redeye discusses the Zeljkovic arrest with Phillip Millar and Ryan Venables. Millar is an associate with Cohen Highley LLP in London and is counsel to Irnes Zeljkovic. He is also a former Crown prosecutor and served in the Canadian Forces. Venables is a former police constable and currently a first-year law student at the University of Western Ontario.
Law is Cool Nominated in the Canadian Blog Awards
Law is Cool has once again been nominated in the Canadian Blog Awards. This year, we have been nominated in five categories including Best Blog Overall, Best Blog Post, Best Group Blog, Best Podcast, and Best Professional Life Blog. The preliminary round of voting concludes on December 12th, and the final round of voting takes place from December 13th to 19th. If you enjoy the podcast, please take a moment to vote for Law is Cool.
Ancient Iraqi Property Law Exam
This riddle actually goes back to the Sumerian civilization, translated from ancient cuneiform:
Three ox drivers from Adab were thirsty: one owned the ox, the other owned the cow and the other owned the wagon’s load.
The owner of the ox refused to get water because he feared his ox would be eaten by a lion;
the owner of the cow refused because he thought his cow might wander off into the desert;
the owner of the wagon refused because he feared his load would be stolen.So they all went.
In their absence the ox made love to the cow which gave birth to a calf which ate the wagon’s load.
Problem: Who owns the calf?
Abbreviated rendition via Reema’s My Random Thoughts, who places it at 1200 BCE (though that would definitely be post-Sumerian).
The original has several lines missing, so we don’t really know the Sumerians’ answer to this. Good thing you’re not being tested.
I Never Knew Hustlers Confessed in Stereo
Over 13 years ago Jeru Da Damaja warned wannabe gangsters in Wrath of the Math,
I never knew hustlers, confessed in stereo.
Or on video,
get caught you’ll know who turned State’s Evidence,
murder weapon, confession and fingerprints.
Mama always said watch what comes out your mouth.
Tight case for the DA from here to down South.
Knowledge wisdom understanding like King Solomon’s wealth.
You’re a player but only because you be playin yourself.
Jah-Youth Sutton probably wasn’t paying attention in 1996 as a 7-year old out in Jersey when this track first broke.
He probably should have when he posted a video on YouTube, where he was laughing at a mother crying at the morgue, talking about his hollow tip bullets, and threatening presumed rival gangs while extensively pointing gang signs at the camera.
Sutton was out on bail for the alleged murder of Darius Powell, 20, pistol-whipping him to death when in 2006, when he was only 17.
Circuit Judge Kenneth R. Melvin was not impressed during sentencing yesterday. Sutton was given 25 years’ active time, 18 years suspended, and 10 years’ supervised probation.
Let’s hope his supervision includes his YouTube channel.
Maricopa County Officer Refuses to Apologize
By now, regular readers are very familiar with this ongoing saga out of Maricopa County, Arizona: it all began back in October when, during a sentencing hearing, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Officer Adam Stoddard stepped up behind defence attorney Joanne Cuccia, searched through her file, and retrieved a document – all while she was making arguments and her back was turned.
In a highly anticipated decision, Judge Gary Donohoe later ruled Stoddard had not acted with reasonable justification, despite the officer’s argument that his suspicion had been triggered by his glimpse of certain “keywords.” He had also argued that a heightened state of alert was required due to incidents where defence attorneys had helped smuggle contraband and other items to their defendants. Nevertheless, Judge Donohoe had rejected these arguments and had ordered Stoddard to publicly apologize before December 1, or face jail time.
Last night, Stoddard did indeed hold a news conference. At 8:30 pm, down to the very end of Judge Donohoe’s deadline, a defiant Stoddard refused the judge’s order.
