1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 9 (Justice System, Social Media, Miscellaneous)
Justice System
* Paleteria La Michoacana, Inc. v. Productos Lacteos Tocumbo S.A., No. 11-1623 (D.D.C. Mar. 30, 2017): “The Court notes that a growing number of legal scholars are turning to blogs and other online media to publish their work and to consider important legal questions….the Court will treat the reference to the blog post the same way it would treat a citation to a law review article”
* The Recorder: Small Sums, Big Guns: This Billionaire Would Rather Skirmish Than Settle
* Vice: Cops Are Abandoning Their Favorite Interrogation Technique Because It Doesn’t Work
* Rebecca Wexler: When a Computer Program Keeps You in Jail
* Law.com: This Factor Is Drawing Increasing Scrutiny in Class Action Settlements
* Law.com: For Some Big Firms, It’s Still All About That IPO Equity
* Cracked: 6 Things I Learned When The Cops Raided My House By Mistake
* The Ringer: After the Final Rose With TV’s Bachelawyers
* “Miami lawyer’s pants erupt in flames during arson trial in court.” New twist to “liar liar pants on fire” parable?
* Cracked: 6 WTF Excuses Companies Actually Used While Getting Sued
* Cracked: 5 Realities About The World’s Scariest Police Department
* NY Times: She Was Convicted of Killing Her Mother. Prosecutors Withheld the Evidence That Would Have Freed Her.
Social Media
* Washington Post: It takes more than social media to make a social movement
* The Verge: Teen who asked Wendy’s for nuggets breaks all-time retweet record
* Hollywood Reporter: Oscars: How an Accountant’s Tweet Turned into the Biggest Mistake in Academy History
* Variety: New Photos Show PWC Accountant Tweeting, Mixing Envelopes Backstage at Oscars. Distracted tweeting kills lives, careers, dreams and Oscars
* Time: Meet the Woman Behind Merriam-Webster’s Viral Twitter Account
* Wired: An Oral History of the #Hashtag
* Polinsky v. Bolton, 2017 WL 2224391 (Minn Ct. App. May 22, 2017): “The district court found that the use of the “@mentions” was deliberate contact with Polinsky that was unwanted and had a substantial adverse effect on her security. We agree with this reasoning and conclude that Bolton’s Twitter “@mentions” of Polinsky satisfy the statutory definition of harassment.”
* Oddee 8 Amazing People Who Learned Their Skills From YouTube
* Cracked: 6 Dark Secrets YouTube Doesn’t Want You To Know
* The Atlantic: Innocence Is Irrelevant: This is the age of the plea bargain—and millions of Americans are suffering the consequences.
Miscellaneous
* Wired: Inside Cuba’s D.I.Y. Internet Revolution
* Sierra Club: When You Thought Trade Deals Could Not Get Any Worse — Enter Wall Street.
* NY Times: Once a Model City, Hong Kong Is in Trouble
* Washington Post: Denmark is naming an ambassador who will just deal with increasingly powerful tech companies
* Business Insider: An Ivy League professor who spent 4 months working in a South Bronx check-cashing store says we’re getting it all wrong. “Not all check cashers are the same, but the perception of the industry as seedy doesn’t jibe with Servon’s experience. And contrary to the views of the financial elite, customers’ use of check cashers typically didn’t seem naive or poorly thought out, but rather the smartest decision they could make given their circumstances, according to Servon. “It showed me that those decisions are often rational, logical decisions, even if they’re expensive,” Servon said.”
* Search Engine Land: RIP Dmoz: The Open Directory Project is closing
* Washington Post: “smartphones aren’t @ the tippy top of Maslow’s hierarchy. They’re much closer to the bottom than many people think”
* Orly Lobel: Companies Compete but Won’t Let Their Workers Do the Same
* Wired: India’s Silicon Valley Is Dying of Thirst. Your City May Be Next
* Buzzfeed: How a federal agent got away with terrorizing his Brazilian ex-girlfriend — even as she repeatedly begged the US government to stop him
* CJR: What toppled Bill O’Reilly? A reporter’s hunch, a cold call, and a Pilates class.
* Reuters: Singapore ‘vending machine’ dispenses Ferraris, Lamborghinis
* Search Engine Land: Another study shows how featured snippets steal significant traffic from the top organic result
* The Atlantic: How Online Shopping Makes Suckers of Us All
* The Guardian: Surge pricing comes to the supermarket