picture taking in wilmington

We've written a little bit here about the people who were having their pictures taken by the police at certain street corners in Wilmington. Many people expressed outrage that the police would photograph people who weren't being arrested, possibly to intimidate them some time in the future. I've had a few people ask me what the people in the neighborhoods in Wilmington might think about the police activities there. Norman Lockman presents the answer to that question in an editorial entitled Neighbors don't object to drug sweep.

K-12 online

In thirteen states, it is now possible to send your child to school online. While these schools seem to be growing in popularity, they are attracting law suits, in addition to students. In Pennsylvania, a suit has been filed by 32 school districts to deny state funds to one cyber-chartered school. The Pennsylvania School Board Association is also involved in a suit against such online schools. They have a white paper about the subject, and a copy of their class action complaint online, as well as links to other cyber school litigation.

online subscription music services

I think that this article on online subscription music services hits the nail on the head when they describe what people want to see out of such a service: Compelling and innovative features that make the experience of visiting exciting and unique. The trick isn't just to make music available online, it's to make people want to return on a regular basis. There are many features such a service could use that could make such a visit worth making.

enforcing cyberstalking laws

All but six states have added laws making stalking online a crime. Yet, these laws haven't had the opportunity to be enforced, even though the activity they were meant to protect against has been happening. In Illinois this week, one of the first trials for cyberstalking will take place.

congress in new york

This week, Congress will meet at Federal Hall in Manhattan. It's the first time the body has met in New York City in 202 years. CBSnews.com has an article which focuses on what transpired during their last visit to the Big Apple, called Congress Returns To Its Roots.

If you find your curiosity piqued by their reports of that time, when the United States was still in its infancy, the Library of Congress has a wealth of materials from that time period, including the Journal of William Maclay mentioned in the CBS article. The Journal is very readable:

The very principles which actuated Dr. Rush and myself when we puffed John Adams in the papers and brought him forward for Vice-President will probably make him President. We knew his vanity, and hoped by laying hold of it to render him useful among the New England men in our scheme of bringing Congress to Pennsylvania. But his pride, obstinacy, and folly are equal to his vanity, and, although it is a common observation that fools are the tools of knaves--and I am certain weak men are often brought forward with such views--yet John Adams has served to illustrate two points at least with me, viz., that a fool is the most unmanageable of all brutes, and that flattery is the most irksome of all service.

June 23d.--Attended at the Hall a little after ten. Came into the Senate chamber. There was nobody here but Mr. Adams. He was in the great chair. When I came in he left it; came and sat near me until he read a newspaper; shifted to the chair next to me; began a discourse on the subject of Pennsylvania. Said they were "the best republicans in the Union. Their adoption was unequivocal. This could not be said of Boston, New York, or Virginia." Surely there was a meaning in this. I replied that we had, no doubt, our faults; but certainly the virtues of plainness, industry, and frugality would be allowed to us in some degree; that Federalism was general, but there was a general abhorrence of the pomp and splendid expense of government, especially everything which bordered on royalty. Several members came in and joined us.

It's great that we have records of that time period like this one. MaClay's Journal gives a fascinating look at the time and the people involved in the early days of Congress.

baseball fans to cease and desist

For a while, I was happy that the baseball season didn't end prematurely with a strike. Then I had to go and read an article on the SportingNews site about cease and desist letters that went out from Major League Baseball to four fan web sites. From the article, it's impossible to tell if the sites were operating in a for-profit manner. But they do mention the following statement from the NFL which they seem to indicate ("the NFL takes a less agressive approach.") is a departure from the MLB practice:

"To the extent that it's purely a non-commercial site devoted to commentary about the team, we're supportive and happy that fans are excited about our sport," says Paula Guibault, NFL senior counsel. "It's not an issue for us."

So, what exactly went into those cease-and desist letters? Chilling Effects reproduces the letter that went out to the owner of astrosdaily.com. The letter was sent in the beginning of July, and it looks as though a number of disclaimers may have been added to the page since then.

The effects of the MLB cease and desist letter to the metsonline.net web site are a bit more bitter sweet. The site has ceased publishing baseball related material rather than face off in a legal battle against the major leagues. Details of the letter, and the site administrator's reaction are still available on the site. On the positive side, the journalism student who ran the site has been called up to the big leagues himself, and is now writing stories about the Mets for Fox Sports (more here.) Big Baseball may not have read the email reactions from fans of the site, but it looks as though someone at Fox did.

Another letter recipient covering the New York Yankees reported in his site's forum that he had come to a resolution with MLB where he would change his domain name from bronx-bombers.com to something else. The site has re-emerged at bronxbombersfans.com.

The USA Today article, where I learned of the name change, indicates that letters went out to 22 fan sites. I understand the need to protect copyrights and trademarks, but it's getting awfully difficult for baseball fans to remain fans, especially ones who love the sport enough to build fan sites.

marketers targeting students?

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has picked up on a lawsuit brought by New York's Attorney General against a marketing firm which collected information from teachers and students through a non-profit subsidiary. The organization claimed it was providing the information to "universities and colleges nationwide for financial aid and student scholarship foundations." It may have been sending that information to such institutions. But, New York's AG also believes that the data was being sold to retailers, and others through the parent company's web site. (I don't know where they are getting their information for preshoolers, but take a look at the types of information they claim they can provide for very young students.)

EPIC has more information about this topic on their page about Privacy and Consumer Profiling -- scroll about halfway down the page.