Harvard Law Unbound blog successfully blacklisted by Harvard

As a blogger myself, I find myself growing increasingly uncomfortable about reports of speech suppression of other bloggers through threats, intimidation, maliciously false process and the like.  In this installment, some dissenting Harvard Law students were the victims of a likely bogus DMCA takedown demand issued by Harvard to WordPress.com.  Bogus is as bogus does.  If you are a Harvard alum, tell them you'll be a little short in the donation area this year.  But this story has a better ending than some; the students didn't stand for it and immediately started a new blog.  Keep fighting the good fight.

Memorial Day

As this post on Popehat eloquently says, we should defend fundamental liberties (such as free speech), not because someone on "our side" was wronged, but because all of us lose when the fundamental liberties of anyone are trampled.

An ode to Brinker...

Shall I compare Brinker to a business game?

It is more wordy and more moderate.

Harsh plans do fill the corporate coffer’s shame,

And employee rights make each boss irate.

Sometime too harsh the HR bigwig whines,

And often is their open access dimmed;

And every job from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But Brinker’s sharp protections shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of those rights each ow'st,

Nor shall corporations dwarf Brinker in their shade,

When in eternal lines to Time Brinker grow'st.

So long as the employee works, and eyes can see,

So long lives Brinker, and Brinker protects the employee.

CM/ECF errors in the Central District?

Some time in the last week my address and e-mail information reverted back to old information in the CM/ECF system for the Central District of California.  It happened to at least one other attorney.  Have you heard about this happening to anyone else?

If you thought that Court under-funding in California was unconstitutional last year.... "Whoa, Nelly!"

According to press reports, the legislature's court budget cuts of $150 million for operations and $310 million in court construction funding have increased after Governor Jerry Brown used line item veto power to slash another $22 million from California trial court operations and security.  Underfunding at this level is unconstitutional.  The judiciary is a co-equal, constitutional branch of government.  It cannot function correctly at this funding level.  The Legislature and Governor do not suffer equivalent operational impairment from the budget cuts they impose elsewhere.  Only the judicial branch must suplicate, hat in hand, for enough money to do the people's work.

The past three years account for a 30% general funding cut for California's Courts.  I don't think their obligations decreased by 30%.  If anything, a difficult economy creates more litigation events.

I wrote about this previously here and copied a Daily Journal article on the subject here.

The Complex Litigator is now on Alltop

The Complex Litigator is now listed on Alltop, in the legal news section.  Alltop is the magazine newsrack for the Internet.  Here's how Alltop describes its purpose:

The purpose of Alltop is to help you answer the question, “What’s happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you. You may wonder how Alltop is different from a search engine. A search engine is good to answer a question like, “How many people live in China?” However, it has a much harder time answering the question, “What’s happening in China?” That’s the kind of question that we answer.

Alltop is a unique way to view current events or issues of current interest in any particular field.  I recommend skimming the legal news section from time to time, to spot trends if nothing else.

So...cool.

Windows Phone 7: What's the deal?

"Murder will out, certain, it will not fail." –Geoffrey Chaucer

Sorry to have been remiss in my posts recently, but a move to a new home has been far longer and far more painful than anticipated.  That doesn't mean that I'm not paying attention to current events; I just haven't had time to write about them.

One current event that has been on my radar involves Microsoft's new mobile phone operating system, creatively called Windows Phone 7.  I was very excited by the previews I saw.  I dumped my iPhone for one of these phones on release day.  The operating system is, in my opinion, much more elegant than the iPhone OS.  I still like it.  One problem: the phone updates that Microsoft promised to release before the end of 2010 still aren't here.  Whose to blame?  Microsoft?  The various carriers?  Handset manufacturers?  The truth will out, as they say.

Microsoft was painfully silent about what was happening.  It didn't say anything about what was happening or where the blame who  Then the Interwebs began to pound away (e.g., this post on the Windows Team Blog and this AT&T discussion thread on Facebook, and, yes, I gave both of them a hard time).  Then Microsoft announced that all was well with the "NoDo" update and announced its release.  Problem is, nobody was receiving updates...at least on AT&T.  Then some industrious snooper found a  page on microsoft.com that clears things up a bit - the Where's My Phone Update page.  Notice (if you care) how the AT&T phones are all in the "testing" phase, while other phones have update delivery scheduled.  I call horse hockey on AT&T.  It isn't "testing" this update.  The update was done in December.  I believe that I am officially being jerked around.

Very poor form, AT&T.  You deserve all the contempt you receive on this issue.  So do you, Microsoft, for being such wimps about a project that you can't afford to let flop out the gate.  One might even say that I might not have purchased the phone or would have paid less for it had I known the truth about how updates would (or would not) work to add missing features in a timely manner and fix bugs. I feel like I am the target of unfair competition...

Update on 2011-03-24 23:21 by The Complex Litigator

Ars Technica has some excellent coverage of the silent goliaths in a post from earlier today.

Merry Christmas 2010 from The Complex Litigator

On October 11th much will be revealed about Windows Phone 7

At a New York launch event, Microsoft will officially announce the upcoming release of Windows Phone 7-based handsets.  According to Engadget, which has been invited to the event, T-Mobile and AT&T should both have some handsets to show off to members of the media.  Verizon and Sprint will have to wait until early 2011 for CDMA handsets.  As for AT&T and T-Mobile, handsets should go on sale around November 8th.

Windows Phone 7 looks like it will be right in the thick of it at launch

History seems to be repeating itself.  I've been using an iPhone for several years now.  I have been very happy with it, but I decided to hold off on the iPhone 4 until it users put it through its paces.  Turns out to have been a good choice.  I don't need a phone that drops calls because you hold it in the wrong place, and I'm not enamored of a company that won't just admit to the issue and say that they are examining some potential solutions that don't require the phone to be in a case.

Enter Windows Phone 7.  Microsoft's long overdue return to the smartphone space looks like it will make an incredible splash.  Can Microsoft muscle into the market that iPhone owned and Google is now crashing into like a freight train?  I don't know, but I like what I have seen enough from Microsoft to begin taking steps that would make a move from an iPhone to a Windows Phone 7 to be relatively painless.  I expect that most of the applications I use on a regular basis will appear, in some form, on Windows Phone 7 in the first six months it is out.

The operating system looks amazing.  No doubt about it.  It is clean and modern.  What I don't know yet is whether the hardware will live up to the operating system.  You can't deny that Apple makes great-looking hardware.  The iPhone feel and build quality is first rate.  If I find a Windows Phone 7 handset on AT&T that looks as good and feels as solid, then I am sold.  HTC could do it.  We'll have to wait and see on the others.

I am sick of iTunes.  It is now the least responsive major program on my otherwise unstoppable i7-toting computer with its 8gb of ram and the 64-bit Windows 7 OS to use it all.  I would be filled with joy to find an entirely new ecosystem to live in as far as media and mobile applications are concerned.  Windows Media player and Zune software could fit that requirement nicely.  Now all I need is a good Windows Phone 7 handset...

If I make the jump to Windows Phone 7, I will regularly post about applications that would help the mobile litigator on the go.