Categories
Issues and Actions

Citizen Media Law Project

As their site explains:

CMLP’s legal guide is intended for use by citizen media creators with or without formal legal training and focuses on the wide range of legal issues citizen and online media are likely to face, including risks associated with publication, such as defamation and privacy torts; copyright; trademark; access to government information; newsgathering; and general legal issues involved in setting up a business and finding a web host. You can access the guide here

Knowing your legal rights and responsibilities is important for anyone who publishes online. The CMLP’s legal guide addresses the legal issues you may encounter as you gather information and publish your work. The guide is intended for use by citizen media creators with or without formal legal training, as well as others with an interest in these issues.

Categories
The Next Good Idea

Supreme Court Judges Should Divest

It never occurred to me that the judges that set our laws are so riddled with conflicts. Many of the Supreme Court judges continue to hold stock in companies that they either directly or indirectly must decide on. The Supreme Court is the most important job in the land, and I thought the judges took their jobs seriously. The New York Times had an editorial this Saturday that not only pointed the fallacy of this out, but also mentioned that most blatant abuser is Judge Steven Breyer who holds stock in more than three dozen companies. The editorial points out the many conflicts that have come for the judges who continue to hold stock, and how our nation’s legal system is stalled because of it. It definitely seems to me to be a good idea that if you want to be a Supreme Court judge you must agree to divest in your holdings, after all the country is a little bit more important than a little bit more profit. It also was a good idea two years ago when Congress changed the rules for the judges so they had no capital gains tax when they divested in order to avoid conflict. You can read the editorial here.