Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

YouTube Has Regional Controls

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Someone I met recently recommended I listen to the Scissor Sisters so I went to YouTube to get some sense of what their music was like.

I was very surprised to find that I could not play the video for a song called Laura. All I got was a message saying

The uploader has not made this video available in your country.
Sorry about that.

Try playing it yourself, and you you get content, please let me know where you are, what platform you are using, and how the song is.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-0d3cjgfLg

YouTube/Google is not only within its rights to do this, it may even be a legal requirement in some cases, but I see it as a further harbinger of the socially costly fragmentation of the Internet.

Posted in Kultcha, Law: Copyright and DMCA | 3 Comments

Have I Seen This Horror Movie Before?

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

“Newt Gingrich, is, of course, unelectable” says (to pick just one example) TalkLeft in “Great News For Dems: Newt On The Rise”.

This because Newt Gingrich seems to be trending up quickly and very substantially in South Carolina, while Romney is collapsing in South Carolina and nationally too.

Thing is, I remember when we said Ronald Reagan was unelectable.

Posted in 2012 Election | Comments Off on Have I Seen This Horror Movie Before?

DNC Hits the Softball

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Even the DNC can make fun of Mitt Romney on the issue of taxes and his tax returns.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBLtc1vmN7I

Given what a softball Mitt lobbed at them, basically hanging himself, I wish they had hit it out of the park, but this still pretty good. The steel drum version of ‘America the Beautiful’ at the end is an inspired touch.

Posted in 2012 Election | Comments Off on DNC Hits the Softball

Colbert, the Man for Our Times

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

The Stephen Colbert surreality roadshow continues.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_99bERg0o1U

Herman Cain makes a cameo.

Posted in 2012 Election | Comments Off on Colbert, the Man for Our Times

Pacemaker Recipient Wants Source Code to Know What’s in Her Body

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Interesting issue:

Lawyer Karen Sandler’s heart condition means she needs a pacemaker-defibrillator to avoid sudden death, so she has one simple question: what software does it run?

Yet it turns out that it’s impossible for her to see and understand the technology that’s being installed into her own body and upon which her life depends. Regulatory authorities don’t see or review the software either.

Despite the Australian provenance of the “Cyborg lawyer demands software source” story, this is the same Karen Sandler who is executive director of the GNOME Foundation, lives in New York, and has http://punkrocklawyer.com/.

Spotted via Slashdot.

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA, Sufficiently Advanced Technology | Comments Off on Pacemaker Recipient Wants Source Code to Know What’s in Her Body

Asking Works

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

The phone rang. “It’s Elizabeth Warren,” my wife said.

I assumed it was a recording.

It was not a recording. It was the candidate herself, charming and at once folksy and erudite, asking for help on her campaign.

How could I refuse?

Posted in 2012 Election | 3 Comments