One reason why the case has attracted an unusual amount of attention is that the Supreme Court's recent rulings, including the Citizens United decision, have been generally pro-free speech. Unless the court wanted to nudge First Amendment law in a more restrictive direction, the thinking goes, there would be no reason for it to accept the case in the first place.

There is a distinct possibility that our conservative Supreme Court is about to stake out the position that the first amendment provides strong protections for the corrupt interests who buy our elections but does not protect the right of teenagers to play video games of their choice.

Mind you, its not as if liberals like Breyer are any better in this regard - I literally could not continue reading "Active Liberty" when I got to his weakly caveated argument that the right to freedom of speech only applies to political speech.

Supreme Court to weigh violent video game law | Politics and Law - CNET News

A rambling but interesting deconstruction of the rally to restore sanity from The Exile:

It’s not Stewart’s or Colbert’s fault, let’s be clear on that—they’re the only ones doing their job here. They’re the only ones fighting this battle, and the only way they’re surviving is by elaborately pretending they’re not really fighting anyone’s battle over anything, they’re just having a laugh—it’s the same rationale that jesters used in medieval times, and Stewart and Colbert play the same role as the jesters did then…and we’re also playing our role as powerless peasants reduced to self-mockery and snickering at our Masters behind their backs. It’s not their fault that Liberalism today has as its highest priority not looking stupid—and that its premiere rally is framed in such a way that everyone who came to this rally is somehow indemnified from looking foolish precisely because it’s not really a political rally, it’s more like a mockery of a political rally—in a self-consciously smart sort of way.

THE RALLY TO RESTORE VANITY: GENERATION X CELEBRATES ITS HOMERIC STRUGGLE AGAINST LAMENESS - By Mark Ames - The eXiled

Google's blog post about election related searches mentions that Google is seeing "a lot of searches for things like... [jerry brown wikipedia]." This tells us something that we already knew - a lot of people are currently using Wikipedia to research political candidates.

Wiki Voter Guide makes several positive contributions to this existing reality.

Voters are already turning to Wikipedia

Best compilation I've seen floating around, but they missed God Hates Figs.

Seen any others?

The 100 Best Signs At The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear: Pics, Videos, Links, News

[Aram Bartholl] is building his own filesharing network that screws those fat cats who want to control your freedom. He’s added file cache devices throughout NYC (five so far but more to come) that are anonymous and free to use. Upload what you want, download what you want.

Interesting? Yes. Confickered? Most likely.

USB Dead Drops in NYC - Hack a Day

It is particularly curious that our legislature would pass a law of this nature given the current state of the economy.  Recent unemployment statistics place Georgia’s unemployment rate at ten percent, with over 450,000 Georgians out of work.[35]  For those who are subject to restrictive covenants, the job market will be especially bleak.  Overly broad restrictive covenants can have a chilling effect on former employees who may not know that the agreements they signed are unenforceable.  This will also certainly make it more difficult for companies to recruit employees for their companies.

Moreover, by allowing judicial modification, the new legislation will encourage employers to draft extremely broad restrictive covenants, comfortable in the knowledge that if the enforceability of those covenants is ever challenged, the worst consequence is that a judge will enforce something more reasonable.  From an employer’s perspective, if the referendum passes, there will no longer be an incentive to draft reasonably-tailored covenants from the outset, because employees will likely abide by the covenant’s overly restrictive terms without questioning its enforceability and, if not, the courts will enforce what they determine to be reasonable.  

Georgia Non-Compete & Trade Secret News - Georgia’s New Non-Compete Statute: Is This Legislation Good for Business in Georgia?

Why Silicon Valley is a product of employment contract law.

francomitchell.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Construction cranes have pretty much been a constant feature of the Toronto skyline for as long as I can remember. These pictures, taken from them, apparently illegally, are quite awesome. I wish they had higher res versions.

View From The Crow’s Nest - Torontoist

Wifi network security is a hobson’s choice. You can either set up an open access point with no security at all that anyone can access, or you can set up an encrypted access point, but people have to have a password or other credential setup with you beforehand in order to access your access point. There is currently no secure way to set up an open access point that has encryption and authentication of the network provider. We think it’s possible, and we call it Secure Open Wireless Access.

A new solution to wifi security issues...

Cybercrime is serious.

I briefly told the story of a colleague of Jart's who was investigating mob activity in St. Petersburg, Russia. The colleague made the mistake of working with the local police. Before he finished his assignment, the man's teenage daughter was kidnapped from her Western country, and the investigator got a message that if he dropped the case, the rest of his children might be okay.

Good news, of a kind, from a dark world - Boing Boing