February 01, 2012

A Former Slave Writes to his Former Master

Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

Well worth reading in full.

Posted by Anupam Chander on February 1, 2012 at 05:26 PM in Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Facebook IPO and SOPA

Facebook obliquely references SOPA/PIPA in its disclosure (along with other proposed laws), as a risk factor to its business:

... there have been a number of recent legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that would impose new obligations in areas such as privacy and liability for copyright infringement by third parties. These existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly to comply with and can delay or impede the development of new products, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require significant management time and attention, and subject us to claims or other remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease existing business practices.

Posted by Anupam Chander on February 1, 2012 at 05:15 PM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 20, 2012

The Chinese View of SOPA

The New Yorker has a story on the Chinese view of SOPA:

Commentator Shi Han wrote about trying to post a comment to Tencent, the giant Chinese portal. “I’ve written a short article about SOPA. But when I tried to put it up, Tencent replied with a message: ‘Your content has not passed review.’”

Posted by Anupam Chander on January 20, 2012 at 06:39 AM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 17, 2012

SOPA Teach-In

Posted by Anupam Chander on January 17, 2012 at 09:32 PM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 10, 2012

Should the United States Continue to Occupy Guantanamo?

Jonathan Hansen argues that we should return Guantanamo to the people of Cuba in an op-ed in the NY Times.  I made a similar call five years ago in my piece, Quit Guantanamo in the SF Chronicle.

Posted by Anupam Chander on January 10, 2012 at 08:42 PM in Globalization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

.XXX Operator Earns Millions from Those Worried About .XXX Names

The BNA's Thomas O'Toole has an important post on the exploitation of companies and others worried about a ".XXX" version of their trademark.  He notes that this group has paid about millions  to register .XXX names to block others from exploiting them.

ICM Registry Inc., the registry operator for the .xxx top-level domain, announced Nov. 1 that it sold nearly 80,000 domain registrations in the just-concluded Sunrise A and Sunrise B registration periods.

... 

These dollars represent an enormous tax on the trademark owner community with very little in the way of countervailing social benefit. It's true that nobody forced trademark owners to participate in the .xxx sunrise registration round. On the other hand, how many companies would risk tarnishment of their brand in .xxx if the cost of protection is a mere $299?

These registrations cost nearly $300 per domain, representing a massive expenditure of cash mostly by folks who want to be kept out of .xxx's adult content neighborhood.

Further demonstration of the poor choices made by ICANN.

Posted by Anupam Chander on January 10, 2012 at 04:23 AM in Digitization, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 02, 2012

Thank you, Gordon Hirabayashi

Gordon Hirabayashi, who, along with Fred Korematsu, Mitsuye Endo, and Min Yasui, challenged the unconstitutional and racist Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, has passed away, according to a reliable report.  

Lorraine K. Bannai, Professor of Legal Skills, Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, and a member of the Korematsu coram nobis team, is helping to organize a conference in his honor:

Posted by Anupam Chander on January 2, 2012 at 05:05 PM in Dissent, Globalization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 08, 2011

Illinois Law Professor Attacked in Alleged Hate Crime

The description of the terrible and terrifying event from Paul Caron:

University of Illinois College of Law Tax Prof Dhammika Dharmapala suffered severe knife wounds in a racially motivated attack while awaiting a train to Chicago early Wednesday morning. From the Illinois News-Gazette:

Joshua Scaggs, 23, has been charged with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery alleging he slashed the throat of Anurudha Udeni Dhammika Dharmapala, 41, of Champaign. He is a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law specializing in law and economics, tax policy, public economy, and political economy. ...

A male witness told police the men were both seated in the waiting area when one man suddenly jumped up and shouted that this was his country and attacked Dharmapala. The attacker, later identified as Scaggs, then grabbed Dharmapala around the neck and appeared to be choking him. He then forced the victim to the floor. The witness intervened by pulling the attacker off Dharmapala. The witness then noticed that the attacker was holding a utility knife and the victim was bleeding.

My prayers for Professor Dharmapala.

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 8, 2011 at 10:25 AM in Law School | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

December 04, 2011

Women Make Up 9% of Directors of Silicon Valley Firms

The SF Chronicle reports on a new study:

Women account for less than 10 percent of the total number of board directors in the valley, according to global executive search firm Spencer Stuart in the report, "2011 Silicon Valley Board Index."

... Women sat on 91 percent of [S&P 500] boards, accounting for 16 percent of all directors, compared with 9.1 percent in Silicon Valley.

Will lack of female representation among directors (and likely officers as well) affect these companies' ability to serve its users?

Here is a list of Apple Directors (higher than the 9% average--but just 1 of 8):

Apple's top officers are 100% male, as the graphic shows.

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 4, 2011 at 08:19 AM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 20, 2011

Siri-Everything

The French developer Applidium reports that Siri could be run from any device, were it not for a single line of code that authenticates the iPhone to Apple.  That is, Apple could license the use or Siri for your car, or your fridge, or your shoes. Hat-tip: Gizmodo.

Posted by Anupam Chander on November 20, 2011 at 09:01 PM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)