Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Is It Time to Update the Blog Software?

Posted on November 17, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

In the last three weeks the blog has been under escalating attack by comment spammers. I'm killing it as fast as I can, but it's taking its toll. Meanwhile, because the blog is so large, the rebuilds are timing out routinely. I've employed a number of tricks to deal with this, but they take time too, and at some point they will stop working. It's starting to feel like it's time to update or to change software or close comments (which I would hate to do).

MT 3.1x has problems with legacy plugins. At least five of the non-essential but cute ones I use won't work with it. I have also read that some users have trouble with the MT-Blacklist function in 3.1. That would just make comment spam matters worse.

So I could go to WordPress, where I suppose I belong, but the conversion seems far from trivial. I want links to the blog to keep working, for one thing.

The problem is that between work and our massive home remodeling project hitting a critical period I don't really have infinite time to devote to this.

Advice welcome.

(Incidentally, I could be off line much of today, as I'll be in Tallahassee for a 2-day meeting of the Florida Supreme Court's committee on privacy and court records. In all probability you will see the spam mount up, unless I can get into Tallahassee's digital canopy.)

Posted in Discourse.net | 9 Comments

I Go Kozo

Posted on November 17, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Kozo v. Vending Machine. The film that leaves you hungry for more. (spotted via lawprof Ann Bartow)

PS. I suppose that not many readers of this blog remember the electoral slogon I go Pogo? It was mostly before my time too, but I remember enjoing reading about it when I was a kid in the late '60s or early '70s.

Posted in Completely Different | 4 Comments

If You Have To Think That Hard Maybe You’re Not Doing It Right

Posted on November 16, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Yet another reason I'm glad I'm happily married: I have no part, or even interest, in this debate.

Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

English Humor or Smart Marketing

Posted on November 16, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

I clipped this ad from a British newspaper during my recent trip to the UK. Rare Classic? Save £1000 on the cost of buying a computer? I'm still wondering if they were serious, and if so how many they sold.

Posted in UK | 3 Comments

Safire Sunset

Posted on November 16, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Wonkette, even more than Talking Points Memo, has the definitive response to the news that tired William Safire is going to retire. I presume the language column gig is going too.

Posted in The Media | 1 Comment

CFP 2005 Wants You

Posted on November 16, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

The Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference 2005, has just issued its Call for Proposals.

A key part of my becoming an Internet lawyer was attending an early CFP..maybe CFP 3?…in '92? '93?…could it really be that long ago?…in order to figure out the lay of the land. I had a computer background, and a legal background, but they were fully compartmentalized parts of my history, and I had only recently thought about putting them together. (I'm certain that the idea of 'computer law' was never breathed in my hearing during three years at Yale Law School.) I wanted to know what the state of the art was. I happened upon an announcement for CFP, it sounded interesting, so with some trepidation I went.

There were a few lawyers there, but not many. Most of them seemed (forgive me, whoever you were) to be talking nonsense, or to be very uninformed about how the technologies actually worked. There was one very noticeable exception, however: Stewart Baker, then General Counsel of the NSA. He was technically clued up, he knew his law. And I disagreed with him. So I came away with the feeling that I could play in that league.

On the other hand, there were loads of technologists, and cypherpunks, and some cops, and they were all pretty interesting. I learned a great deal from them. And for several years I kept going back; one year I even found myself on the program committee.

If you want an introduction to hot issues in the intersection of, well, Computers, Freedom and Privacy, then CFP can't be beat. It's pretty good for intermediates too; experts will enjoy the hallway conversations which tend to be great fun.

A variety of circumstances, some beyond my control, have kept me away from CFP for the last few years. And once again, the combination of distance (it's hard to find a place big enough to hold a CFP that is farther from Miami and still in the lower 48) and the number of classes I'd have to cancel to go may cause me to miss it again this year. Which makes me nostalgic.

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Posted in Talks & Conferences | 3 Comments