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Search Results for Tag: ice
Will Paris conference help the Arctic?
Things are hotting up on the international climate talks front, with one event after another telling us how important it is for the world to reach a new climate treaty at the UN Paris meeting at the end of the year.
I have just written an article: Climate countdown: 200 days to key Paris meeting. While I come to the conclusion that there is no alternative to a new agreement, with time running out, my research has also confirmed my feeling that we are not going to see enough emissions cuts on the table to bring us in any way close to the two degree goal – let alone the 1.5 degree upper limit for global temperature rise which an increasing number of experts say is the safer figure.
After this week's Petersberg Dialogue in Berlin, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and attended by French President Francois Hollande, two potential heavyweights in the international climate debate, the message seems to be that there will be a Paris agreement, but that the meeting will be just one more step in a long-term process towards a low-carbon world. There is much talk of achieving that in the second half of the century – and that, I fear, could be too late for the Arctic.
CO2 on the rise, Arctic ice in decline
The NSIDC says the Arctic sea ice extent for April 2015 averaged 14.0 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), the second lowest April ice extent in the satellite record. It is 810,000 square kilometers (313,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 15.0 million square kilometers (6.0 million square miles) and 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) above the previous record low for the month observed in 2007.
With scientists predicting the Arctic Ocean could be sea-ice free in summer in just a few years' time, the adoption of a long-term approach to tackling climate change is not good news for the icy north.
In March, the global monthly average CO2 concentration crossed the critical 400 parts per million (ppm) mark. That was the first month in modern records with a global concentration of more than 400 ppm. The rise has happened much faster than natural change in the past. It would have taken around 6,000 years for nature to achieve what humankind has done in the past few decades.
CO2 is one of the chief factors responsible for the rise in global temperature. Countries would have to reduce their emissions dramatically to have any chance of achieving the goal set by the international community of keeping global warming to under two degrees Celsius.
Climate creeping up political agenda
The UN Climate Secretariat UNFCCC, based here in Bonn, is working round the clock to prepare the key Paris meeting and ensure that governments put firm pledges on the table. Climate change has also become an issue on the agenda of other key international meetings, like that Petersberg Dialogue mentioned above, a "Climate Week" including a business and climate conference in Paris this week, but also other non-specialised meetings, like the key G7 meeting to be hosted by German at Schloss Elmau, Bavaria, early next month. On the one hand, this shows climate change is gaining in importance on the international political agenda. But it also demonstrates that the annual rounds of UN talks alone cannot bring about the changes needed to halt climate change within the necessary time frame.
Not enough for two-degree target
And while there is no shortage of high-profile meetings with politicians stressing the need for rapid climate action, the pledges so far on the table are not sufficient to cut emissions to the level necessary to keep to the two degree target. Countries have been asked to put their figures on the table by October. So far, 38 countries have submitted.
Jennifer Morgan, Global Director of the Climate Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI) confirmed to me during a recent visit to Germany that there is still a huge gap between what has been promised and what is necessary. She says available solutions are not yet being deployed at the scale or speed required to accomplish an orderly transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.
"What Paris can help do is close that gap, both by getting stronger targets and commitments from countries, but also by creating a mechanism in the agreement itself that will strengthen targets every five years and by aiming towards a long-term goal of phasing out emissions by mid-century. That type of ambition mechanism can send signals that can accelerate the pace of change -which is very much needed."
Morgan is a leading member of the "Agreement for Climate Transformation Consortium" (ACT), a group of climate experts from around the world. ACT has produced its own draft legal text for a new world climate agreement, which would include such a mechanism to continually up the climate targets.
Not all gloom and doom?
While even the top emitters China and the USA are signaling they have understood the need for emissions cuts, it is still not clear whether industrialized and developing countries will be able to agree on a "division of labour" – or rather emissions allowances and climate adaptation and loss-and-damage funding – to make an effective agreement possible.
France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who will chair the key Paris summit, told the Petersberg Dialogue in Berlin:
"We must commit ourselves very resolutely because there isn't an alternative solution, for the simple reason that there isn't an alternative planet."
German environment minister Barbara Hendricks spoke of a moral obligation to fight climate change, but stressed the need to take a long-term approach to "terminate the age of fossil fuels".
With just 200 days to go until the start of the two-week Paris meeting, the sobering assumption seems to be that the conference itself will not come up with pledges enough to keep to the two degree target, let alone the 1.5 percent which many experts say would be the better goal.
But there is also widespread acknowledgement that there is no alternative to a world climate agreement and that mechanisms have to be put in place which will steadily increase the momentum and bring about the transition to a low-carbon economy by the second half of this century. Meanwhile, in a steadily warming world, the ice which sustains the unique and fragile ecosystems of the Arctic, continues to melt.
DateMay 20, 2015 | 1:25 pm
"Last Ice" claims lives of researchers
This post was to be about a trip I just made to St. Petersburg to talk to students and fellow journalists about reporting climate change. Instead, I am shocked and saddened to be writing of the apparent loss of one of the people whose work featured prominently in my talks there. Polar explorer and researcher Marc Cornelissen, who led our Alaskan Arctic expedition in 2008, the first to be documented on the fledgling "Ice Blog", disappeared in the Canadian Arctic this week and is presumed drowned after breaking through unseasonably thin ice.
In workshops and discussion panels in St. Petersburg, I found myself recounting, as I often seem to do, some of my experiences during that trip. This was the expedition which strengthened my conviction that reporting on climate change in the polar regions and its relevance for the whole world had to be a main focus of my work in coming years. I have been in the Arctic many times, but somehow that trip seems to be the one I always come back to. Dutch polar explorer and researcher Cornelissen was taking a group of young Europeans to Arctic Alaska, to find out how scientists measure sea ice thickness and other parameters – and how climate change was affecting the local indigenous population. In a talk last week, while I told students and environment journalists in St. Petersburg how that group of young Europeans found out about climate change first-hand during the "Climate Change College" project, I was unaware that the charismatic leader of that trip would not be returning from his latest Arctic expedition.
"Search and rescue" becomes "recovery"
Back in Germany I opened my Ipad one morning this week to find urgent messages from two friends I first met during that Alaskan trip – one in the USA, one in Europe – telling me Marc and his colleague Philip de Roo had gone missing on their latest climate fact-finding mission in the Canadian High Arctic. Since then, the search and rescue operation has been called off, the two researchers presumed drowned.
Marc, founder of the organisation Cold Facts, which supports scientific research in polar areas, was travelling on skis with his colleague, for a mission called the "Last Ice Survey". That title was to become tragically apt in a way they had not anticipated. The two were measuring the thickness of the ice in the "Last Ice Area",, which is thought to be the place where summer sea ice will continue longest as climate change progresses.
Arctic conditions "tropical"
In his last audio message, sent on April 28th, Marc Cornelissen, always with a great sense of humour, recounts how the weather had been so hot he had to ski in his underpants. He talks of thin ice ahead, and of the likely need to alter course to avoid it.
"We think we see thin ice in front of us, which is quite interesting, and we're going to research some of that if we can", Marc said in the last voice mail. Tragically, it seems that research was to prove fatal for the two curious travellers.
Next day the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Resolute Bay was alerted by a distress signal from the pair, approximately 200 kilometres soiuth of Bathurst Island. The search aircraft sighted one of their sleds, partly unpacked, on the ice with their sled dog, close to a hole in the ice. The other sled was in the water with various bits of equipment.The search and rescue venture was eventually abandoned. The dog has been rescued, but the operation to locate Marc, Philip and their equipment and bring it home, has been halted by bad weather.
The remote, cold, Arctic is a risky place to travel at the best of times. Cornelissen and de Roo were experienced polar explorers. They knew the risks. What they presumably did not know, was just how thin that "last ice" had become.
Climate change is affecting the Arctic faster than any other area of the world. That was the message behind the work of the two researchers . Perhaps it was changing faster than they could have imagined.
Beautiful, fragile, perilous
I am deeply moved by the loss of these two talented and committed fellow Arctic-enthusiasts, who would still have had so much to offer the world. How ironic that the rapid ice melt they were out to document was, it seems, to claim their lives. How sad if these two had to die to underline the point.
A year and a half ago, I narrowly escaped with my life when I slipped off an icy mountain ledge in the alps. Since then, I have been more keenly aware than ever of that ambivalent nature of ice – the attraction of its beauty and the unpredictable dangers. I remember the feeling "this cannot be happening to me", as I thought the ice I loved was throwing me to my death. I am somehow haunted by images of what Marc and Philip might have sensed in those final, precarious moments in their beloved Arctic.
Marc Cornelissen was a charismatic character, full of stories and enthusiasm for the polar regions. I remember how we laughed as he told us the tale of the "polar bear that caught me with my pants down", during one of his expeditions. But humour and positive outlook never detracted from his concern for the safety and well-being of his charges, as he guided them onto the sea ice or frozen Arctic lakes. Cornelissen was also a motivating guide and mentor to many who have gone on to make their professions in the fields of climate, environment and sustainability.
He also had an unerring sense of the issues that would emerge ever larger in the polar climate debate in the years to come: sea ice melt, coastal erosion, melting permafrost, methane emissions.
"Everything is connected".
Why is it I always come back to that particular Arctic trip? It is partly because it was an encounter between commited, idealistic, prosperous young Europeans, with their first climate-saving projects already in the bag, and the "locals" of Barrow, the northernmost – and so very different – settlement in the USA. These were a mixture of Inupiat traditional whale-hunters, who depended on stable sea ice to hunt – and oil workers, who owed their livelihood to the fossil fuels which are helping to melt it.
"Everything is connected" was the conclusion that dawned on the young Danish member of the group, as we stood by a visitors' centre to look at glaciers further south – which had retreated so far, they were no longer visible from that point.
Irish "climate ambassador" Cara Augustenborg, posted her own moving tribute to Cornelissen earlier this week.
The network that was born during that Alaskan trip is still thriving. The climate ambassadors have gone on to make their ways and play their parts in the effort to understand the workings of the planet and create a low-carbon future.
For all that, you need inspiring leaders, and people who are not afraid to take on the risks of the remote, icy, unpredictable and rapidly changing Arctic. In the last personal message I got from Marc Cornelissen, he had been looking at the Ice Blog and said how pleased he was that I had "stayed with the Arctic". Me too, Marc. And I am sorry I will never be able to interview him on what seems to have been his final expedition to the "Last Ice".
DateMay 3, 2015 | 4:52 pm
TagsAlaska, Arctic, Canadian Arctic, Climate, Climate Change College, ColdFacts, Cornelissen, De Roo, ice, Last Ice, polar bears, Resolute Bay, sea ice, Warming, WWF
Ice paradoxes from pole to pole
Returning after a longish break with little access to news and data, there are several ice and snow stories jumping out of my mailbox at me. I've picked out two which those of a skeptical persuasion might say disprove some key climate assumptions, but which actually, in fact, confirm some trends and predictions.
Worrying, but not unexpected, are the latest measurements of the extent of the Arctic sea ice. In February, the experts at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) based in Boulder, Colorado, noted a record for the lowest observed maximum sea ice extent. Although it seems the sea ice did grow at some points during March, the overall for the month was the lowest recorded since satellite measurements began in 1979. The average extent for the month was 14.39 million square km – some 1.13 million square km below the 1981-2010 long-term average. The previous March low of 14.45 million square km was recorded in 2006.
In the Arctic Journal, Kevin McGwin quotes Andy Mahoney, a geophycisist with the Sea Ice Group at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, as saying the irregular pattern, with a kind of "double dip", with the ice decreasing, increasing, then decreasing again, is "a pretty unusual event, regardless of the reason". Normally, the ice levels would increase to the seasonal maximum first in March, then decline.
One reason, Mahoney says, could be the wind blowing ice into the regions where ice growth was observed, according to the NDSIC the Bering Sea, Davis Strait and around Labrador.
No contradiction to climate warming theory
The NSDIC says warm conditions in the Bering Sea and the Russian Sea of Okhotsk contributed to the record low winter ice maximum.
The overall downward trajectory, however, is clear. The brief increase in March is not a sign that the sea ice is recovering. Mahoney told the Arctic Journal parts of Alaska had seen abnormally high temperatures this winter, which was in line with the overall seasonal ice observations.
"What drives the maximum extent is what happens at the margins, and they can grow and retreat due to short-term variants. The conditions in the central Arctic, far from the action, are indicative of the warm year we've had in Alaska," he said. Barrow, on Alaska's northern coast, far away from the southern margin, for example, saw a lot of broken ice this winter, according to Maloney.
WWF expressed concerned about the latest figures:
"This is not a record to be proud of. Low sea ice can create a series of reactions that further threaten the Arctic and the rest of the globe," said Alexander Shestakov, Director, WWF Global Arctic Programme.
"This chilling news from the Arctic should be a wakeup call for all of us," said Samantha Smith, the leader of WWF's Global Climate and Energy Initiative. She stresses the need to cut global emissions to halt the Arctic melt.
The proportion of thick Arctic ice that lasts multiple years has dwindled over the past two decades. A recent study shows that Arctic sea ice has thinned by 65 per cent since 1975, leaving ice that is more susceptible to melting.
Writing for Alaska Dispatch News (AND), Yereth Rosen notes that the most dramatic changes in the Arctic sea ice extent have been in the melt season, not in the period of maximum winter coverage. He quotes NSIDC scientist Julienne Strove, who led a study published last year in Geophysical Research Letters which showed the open-water season is lengthening, mostly because of extended melt in summer and autumn. So is this additional winter record a sign of more melting to come? Only time will tell, but the signs are not looking good.
A story from the opposite pole has also attracted attention. It says climate change is actually increasing the amount of snow in the Antarctic. Puzzling? Not necessarily.
More heat, more snow?
An international study headed by Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact research (PIK) comes to the conclusion that every degree of regional warming could increase snowfall there by around five percent. The estimate is based on ice cores and climate modeling.
The information adds a new element to calculations of how much the Antarctic will contribute to global sea level rise. Some people might assume more snow would stop the Antarctic from losing mass. In fact the increasing weight of new snow and ice can make it slide towards the coast and into the ocean faster. In this connection, you might like to read some more stories on these Antarctic issues:
Antarctic melt could raise sea levels faster
West Antarctic ice sheet collapse unstoppable
Anders Levermann, one of the new study authors, whom I have spoken to several times on the effects of climate change on the Antarctic and global sea levels, says the latest results back up earlier conclusions that the Antarctic will lose more ice than it will gain and thus have a major influence on global sea level. Levermann, from PIK, is also one of the lead authors of the sea-level chapter of the IPCC report. He stresses that the latest study just provides yet another piece of the "jigsaw puzzle" coming together on how global sea level is likely to develop in the future.
If the world leaders called on to come up with a new world climate agreement at the end of this year need any more motivation, this scientific research from both ends of the world should really give them an extra push.
DateApril 10, 2015 | 3:01 pm
Arctic Winter Impressions
Your Iceblogger is off on a hard-earned break for the next few weeks. I'd like to leave you with some photographic impressions of my winter trip to the Arctic. Thanks again to Norway's Arctic University in Tromso and the organisers of Arctic Frontiers for the opportunity to visit Svalbard and Tromso at this fascinating time of year. Look out for the next post in April, when spring should be well underway.
- Icicles on the nets aboard the Helmer Hanssen
DateFebruary 20, 2015 | 1:22 pm
TagsArctic, Arctic Frontiers, Climate, ice, Norway, polar bears, research, science, Svalbard, Tromso
Norway's Polar Satellite Centre
Polar orbit satellites monitor what's happening at the ends of the planet – and, of course, the regions in between. Ice conditions, land movement, shipping, pollution – but how does that information actually make its way to the scientists and authorities who evaluate it and use it as a basis for all kinds of decisions?
During my recent visit to Arctic Norway, I had the chance to visit a facility that plays a key role in collecting and disseminating satellite data on the polar regions. On the outskirts of Tromso, Norway's "Gateway to the Arctic", there is a satellite ground station, run by KSat, or Kongsberg Satellite Services AS. It is a Norwegian commercial company which provides ground station and earth observation services for polar orbiting satellites. With three interconnected polar ground stations: Tromsø at 69°N, Svalbard (SvalSat) at 78°N and Antarctic TrollSat Station at 72°S, combined with a mid-latitude network of stations in South Africa, Dubai, Singapore and Mauritius, KSAT operates over 70 antennae positioned for access to polar and geostationary orbits.
The Tromso station has contact to 85 satellites every day, and every month the station monitors some 15,000 passes of these satellites overhead.
High demand for high-tech service
When it comes to which businesses stand to gain from climate change, the providers of satellite data have to rank high on the list. There is a huge demand for data from space, and KSat, it seems, is the biggest company worldwide carrying out this kind of activity.
While I was in town for the Arctic Frontiers conference, two colleagues and I were shown the facility on a beautiful wintry Saturday morning by Jan Petter Pedersen, the Vice President of the company, who is responsible for developing products to expand the business. He studied physics in Tromso and got into satellites during that time, he told us, going on to a PHD in remote sensing. Pedersen has been at KSat for 20 years and says the technology has come a long way in that time. These days, it's all about remote control via pcs.
We tend to take satellite data for granted. But if you think about it, somebody has to pick up the masses of data from all those satellites circling over the poles and pass the appropriate images to those who need them. Energy, environment, security – these are key areas which make use of the data. In the Tromso station, that data is provided to those who need it more or less in real-time. The company says it can get the data down and sent on to its destination anywhere in the world within 20 minutes. So if you want to detect an oil spill in – say – the Gulf of Mexico? – The chances are, you will get information from this Arctic town.
Some companies own and operate their own satellites, and distribute the data. KSat doesn't own any satellites, but has agreements to use data. They can access radio data from almost all satellites in operation today.
The USA and Canada are the biggest market for the company's services, says Pedersen. Then comes Europe, followed by Asia.
The world's largest polar ground station is the one on the Arctic island of Svalbard. I wasn't able to visit it during my winter trip – put it must be pretty impressive, with more than 30 antennae.
Satellite monitoring as deterrent to polluters?
When it comes to oil spill detection or monitoring, satellite images play a key role.
Optical sensors have limitations in bad weather, so radar satellite data are of key importance, Pedersen explains. Oil spill detection is the most important of KSat's earth observation activities. EMSO (European marine Safety Agency) in Lisbon is responsible for European oil spill detection. They get satellite data from 4 providers of satellite data, of which KSat is the biggest. It covers 60% of the waters from the Barents Sea to the Bay of Biscay and the Baltic.
In 2008 there were 10.77 possible reported spills per million km2. In 2011, this was down to 5.08, Pedersen told us. I asked why they talk of "possible". It seems it is not always possible to be 100 percent sure what the satellite detects is an oil spill. The reliability is somewhere over 60 percent. Pedersen believes the satellite service plays a role in decreasing the figure. As it becomes increasingly well known that satellites are observing and collecting the data, there is a higher awareness that oil spills are being detected. Presumably this is a deterrent to deliberate discharges of oil as well as a key source of information on accidents.
From pirates to icebergs
Another key use for satellite data is in monitoring ship traffic, including detecting, tracking and identifying vessels. This means the authorities can spot illegal activities and inform the coast guards. This helps in finding pirates, for instance.
Tracking icebergs and monitoring ice development have also been aided by the growing availability of satellite data. The NSIDC is one of KSat's most important customers. They need the data to map the extent and condition of the ice.
Ships frozen into the ice for research purposes such as the Lance, use satellite images via Tromso. Many other ships use them to chart a course when operating in ice.
Monitoring fishing activities, offshore oil exploration, tracking land movement – all these activities rely on satellite information today.
Pedersen told us the Norwegian capital Oslo is sinking at a rate of 2 cm a year. He also mentioned a landslide risk area outside of Tromso, where a mountain is sliding into the ocean. Ultimately, it will go into the fjord and create a tsunami effect, says Pedersen. That would endanger the settlement. It is moving at 15mm per year. The satellites are keeping an electronic eye on it.
Norway, incidentally, is the country with the highest use of data per person. Most of it is maritime. So it seems fitting that the country should be the location of some of the world's most important ground stations. There is more to the picturesque Arctic harbour town of Tromso than meets the eye – I can tell you that even without satellite data!
DateFebruary 13, 2015 | 2:15 pm
TagsArctic, Arctic Frontiers, Climate, ice, KSat, Norway, Oil, remote sensing, Satellite, Svalbard, Tromso


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celebrity life
Philip Seymour Hoffman priest Father James Martin talks about his friendship with the actor
- From: News Corp Australia Network
- February 09, 2014
THE priest who presided over Philip Seymour Hoffman's funeral has spoken of their 10-year-long friendship and what the actor taught him.
Father James Martin is a Jesuit priest in New York, who first met Hoffman when the actor asked him for advice in 2003 about the Labyrinth Theater Company's production of the off-Broadway play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, which was directed by Hoffman, People Magazine reports.
Martin also assisted Hoffman with writing the role of Father Flynn in his 2008 film Doubt starring Meryl Streep. Hoffman took on the role as a priest in a Catholic school who may or may not have molested a boy, which earnt him an Oscar nomination.
while they talked about Doubt, Hoffman and Martin would go to Saint Ignatius Church where Martin taught him how a priest celebrates Mass.
Unfortunately, it was the same church where Martin led the 46-year-old actor's funeral Mass.
He said he was "lovely" and taught him humility.
"He was a lovely person, very down-to-earth,' Martin said.
"I learned about humility from him. He never put on airs."
Martin said that Hoffman would never boast about the films he was in or the major roles he landed, instead simply saying, "Yeah, I got this job."
"He would never say, "I'm the lead." Or "I'm starring in 'Capote,'' Martin said.
"Then I'd read about it in the papers and learn what it was."
Martin said his late friend was fun to be around, but very detail-oriented when it came to his work.
He also recalled how a parishioner recognised Hoffman from the crime drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead where he played a drug-addicted swindler opposite Ethan Hawke.
"She said, "I saw you in that movie last night and you were very, very bad!" And he said, "Look, even before I step into church I'm getting guilt!."'
"When you watched him act, you got a sense of what the word "vocation" really means,' he said. He was born to do this."
Martin recently published a picture of him and Hoffman on his public Facebook page.
This week, Hoffman was mourned behind closed doors in an emotional farewell from his close-knit family and loyal Hollywood friends.
Hollywood's A-list including Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett joined hundreds of mourners at his private funeral after he died of an apparent heroin overdose.
Actors Ethan Hawke, Joaquin Phoenix, Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams — the former girlfriend of Heath Ledger, who also died of an overdose — also braved the New York chill to attend.
The 46-year-old Hoffman, who appeared in dozens of films and was hailed by many as the finest character actor of his generation, was found dead on Sunday at his rented Manhattan apartment.
The service, closed to members of the press and the public, lasted for around an hour-and-a-half at the imposing Church of St Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue in Manhattan.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Obama Faults 'Cozy' Oil Setup
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama angrily criticized the federal government's "cozy relationship" with the oil industry, saying he would end a Minerals Management Service practice that allows companies to drill offshore without properly assessing potential threats to protected sea life.
The Options
Four ways are being considered to stop the spill. View chart
Mr. Obama's brief Rose Garden remarks came ahead of a new round of hearings on Capitol Hill next week on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the administration's response to it. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other administration officials will face questions about the government's readiness to handle a significant oil spill, and about the alleged lax supervision of offshore drilling by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service before and after Mr. Obama took office.
Mr. Salazar said this week that he would split the agency into regulatory and revenue-collecting arms. On Friday, Mr. Obama said he ordered a "top to bottom" overhaul of the agency.
"It is pretty clear that the system failed, and it failed badly," Mr. Obama said. "And for that, there is enough responsibility to go around. And all parties should be willing to accept it."
The MMS's approach to offshore drilling has come under criticism from other government agencies. In a September 2009 letter, Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, raised a host of environmental concerns about a preliminary MMS plan for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf through 2015, and suggested that MMS was downplaying the risk of spills.
A 2010 Government Accountability Office report found that MMS employees at the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf regional office didn't share information. Staff analysts in the MMS's environmental-assessment section told GAO investigators this "hindered their ability to complete sound environmental analyses."
Mr. Obama's order on environmental reviews came as the Center for Biological Diversity said it intended to file suit against the Interior Department for approving hundreds of offshore drilling permits since January 2009 without proper reviews of the potential danger to marine mammals. Wilma Lewis, Interior's assistant secretary for land management, said the MMS would strengthen data-sharing and would develop a handbook by December 2010 for conducting analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Meanwhile, BP PLC outlined its latest plan to stop the flow of oil: Inserting a pipe into the broken pipe that had linked the well to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded and sank last month. If successful, the smaller pipe would suck out oil before it mixes with seawater and bring it to a tanker. BP also has a backup plan, involving lowering a "top hat" onto the leak.
Also on Friday, the Coast Guard said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of chemicals called dispersants to break up oil under water. These chemicals are usually used only on the surface, and environmental groups are concerned that using them in deep water might pose harm to sea life.
BP's inability to cap the well so far is becoming an issue for lawmakers who question whether the industry has under-invested in technology to deal with deepwater spills.
The government and BP are facing growing skepticism about their official estimates that 5,000 barrels of oil a day are gushing from the well. An NOAA official said that agency was preparing new computer models to forecast the slick's path over several months, and working on a worst-case scenario assuming some 50,000 barrels a day of oil are pouring into the water.
At 50,000 barrels a day, the Gulf spill would quickly surpass the 1989 Exxon-Valdez disaster, when a tanker struck a reef in Alaska and released an estimated 11 million gallons of oil, according to official records.
Mr. Obama also chided BP and other companies involved in operating the rig for creating a "ridiculous spectacle" at congressional hearings this week. Executives from BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. RIG -0.61 % and drilling contractor Halliburton Corp. HAL 0.28 % each suggested another of the companies was at fault.
—Siobhan Hughes and Jeffrey Ball contributed to this article.
Write to Neil King Jr. at firstname.lastname@example.com


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City Holds Tatiana's Boardwalk Permit 'Hostage,' Supporters Claim
A Brighton Beach landmark restaurant has boardwalk seating again, but only after a big cash payout.
Now this is what representative democracy is all about! Brighton Beach landmark Tatiana finally has a boardwalk permit again, after paying out $68,000 in cash and $50,000 in insurance money to the city for a fire it didn't cause. "The city was holding her permit hostage until she agreed to a settlement," State Senator Carl Kruger tells the Post. "Without the permit, her business is dead, and the city knew it." A 2003 fire believed to be caused by homeless people damaged the boardwalk, and the city wanted owner Tatiana Varzar to pay for repairs before renewing her permit, which expired in October. Varzar and local pols believe the city strong-armed her, but the city claims that Varzar was compelled by law to have insurance coverage for her part of the boardwalk. The city sued Varzar in 2006; the settlement and the permit comes just in time for the summer season. Besides support from Kruger, Varzar also has Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz on her side, who calls her "an immigrant success story whose restaurant has truly enhanced the vitality of Brighton Beach for New Yorkers and visitors from around the world." And why not? As the Post points out, Varzar has contributed to both Kruger and Markowitz's campaigns over the years. We're glad that she's getting her money's worth.
City 'Strong-Armed' Restaurateur Over Permit: Pol [NYP]
Related: Julia Dubovichka of Tatiana Explains 'Eggplant Caviar'


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We are moving from Lotus Domino to Zimbra, but this migration will take a loooooong time (due to some applications developped under Domino)
As a result we have to be able to use resources located on both system, and of course see free/busy time from people still under Domino. So a both direction synchronisation is needed.
I check the following post http://www.zimbra.com/forums/announc...html#post93074 who brings some hopes, but no usefull informations on how to achieve the goal. All information are for Exchange. The free/busy API seems to be the solution but I was unable to find any information.
Some other post are related, but without answer: http://www.zimbra.com/forums/isync-c...html#post94008
Any hope / idea ?


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Forge Forges On With New Name; Top Chef's Leah Gets Promoted
Plus: big-money hot dogs, and Staten Island Restaurant Month, all in our morning news roundup.
• Faced with a trademark-infringement lawsuit from a Florida restaurateur with a restaurant of the same name, Forge will change its name to Marc Forgione on February 1. [NYO]
• Top Chef's Leah Cohen has been promoted from sous-chef to chef de cuisine at Centro Vinoteca. Make of that what you will. [Feed/TONY]
• A hot-dog vendor has agreed to pay the city over $80,000 more per year in order to place his cart on the north, rather than south, side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, citing better foot traffic. [NYP]
• Restaurant Week in Manhattan is fast approaching, but Staten Island is ready to top it with Restaurant Month all January. [NYT]
• Squirrel meat is all the rage in the United Kingdom right now. Cheap and local, it just might be the perfect food for the times. [NYT]
• With openings like Harlem's New Wings City and the sudden proliferation of Atomic Wings, New York is experiencing a wing renaissance. [NYP]
• Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen doesn't usually go to other vegetarian restaurants, but she does like Kate's Joint. [TONY]
• Bloomingdale Road's Ed Witt plays hard-core music in his kitchen and, he notes, it gets more aggressive as the night goes on. [Metromix]


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Springlike Temps A Cruel Tease As Winter Returns
HARRISONBURG — Local residents may be left scratching their heads after 60-degree temps Sunday turned to ice, snow and wind in the course of just 12 hours.
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I have recently build my first application using DBToolKit and it is working nicely apart from one issue:
I have an interface listing database entries (List mode), all toolbar and export checkboxes are activated and I can export the list to PDF on my blog. So far so good.
The issue is that I also have an interface for complete viewing of a single database entry (View mode). Here I cannot seem to get the export to PDF function displayed on my blog even though this interface have the same settings as the list interface ...
Would very much appreciate your help on this issue. Otherwize I am impressed by how relatively easy it was to set up everything using DBToolKit.
Best regards,


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A Franklin Community High School student was arrested this week after police said he brought synthetic marijuana to school.
Vasya Neil Hoadley, 19, 1233 Creekstone Way, Franklin, was arrested on a charge of possession of marijuana.
On Thursday, several students told a Franklin Police Department officer who was working at the high school that a student identified as Hoadley had shown synthetic marijuana, or spice, to classmates, according to a Franklin Police Department report.
School administrators spoke with Hoadley, who was then read his rights and questioned by the officer. Hoadley told the officer that another student left the synthetic marijuana in his bag in a restroom Wednesday. He found the drug when he was going through his bag later that night and brought it back to school to turn into school officials and police, the report said.
The teen told the officer he showed the drug to students because he needed to know how to turn it in, the report said. Hoadley was taken to the Johnson County jail, where he was being held on $1,000 bond.


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In the grand tradition of "The Conversation" and "Blow Out" -- but produced with far more modest means -- "euphonia" uses sound to heighten the sense of its characters and audience alike. Danny Madden's microbudget tale of a curious teenager (Will Madden) who grows obsessed with a recording device r...Read More »
This will make you feel old: it has been 18 years since Harmony Korine wrote "Kids" at the age of 21, with the Larry Clark-directed film proving to be something of a firecracker in the midst of mid-'90s indie cinema, by turns controversial, seedy, and honest. Korine made his own directorial debut wi...Read More »
Why is this pope hiding in the bushes? The first comic conceit in Nanni Moretti's delightful and touching 2011 film We Have A Pope (Habemus Papam) is that no one wants to be pope, especially the guy who is elected, Cardinal Melville -- played by the extraordinary Michel Piccoli. There is no ti...Read More »
"Burma," made by first-time feature filmmaker Carlos Puga and winner of the Grand Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at SXSW, looks at a family in crisis. They aren't falling apart, but instead put together, suddenly, awkwardly, and the building blocks hurt. What starts as a generic and even patience-test...Read More »
One of the best films I've seen at SXSW is "Good Night" by Sean H.A. Gallagher, a striking ensemble piece that looks at one night in the lives of a group of thirtysomethings as they unwittingly assemble for an announcement from their friend Leigh (Adriene Mischler): Her leukemia, which has been i...Read More »
Lovely and devastating, challenging yet worthwhile, Sally Potter's "Ginger & Rosa" may be the English filmmaker's best since "Orlando," and perhaps her most accessible to date. The intimate and sensual picture also features yet another terrific performance by 14-year-old Elle Fanning, who is quickly...Read More »
For decades now, John Sayles has written and directed movies rooted first and foremost in sharply conceived characters. More recently, even as his scrappy, self-financed productions have varied in quality, this central aspect has remained in place. "GO FOR SISTERS," like the filmmaker's previous fea...Read More »
For some 15 years, feminist punk rocker Kathleen Hanna carried the torch of a movement seemingly defined by her furious investment in the cause and the artistry that brought it to national attention. As the energetic frontwoman for Bikini Kill throughout the nineties, followed by the hugely popular ...Read More »
If it isn't already happening, Danish television is about to have a moment. AMC's remake of the "The Killing" was canceled, swiftly brought back, and is now shooting its third season. HBO is in the midst of remaking the popular series "The Bridge" and NBC already snagged the rights to the political...Read More »
"Who's gonna rent a room in the rape/murder hotel?" smokin' hot Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) rhetorically asks her introverted son Norman (Freddie Highmore) after a grizzly scene has just unfolded in their creaky house. Based on the first episode of "Bates Motel," which was unveiled March 11 at SXSW, ...Read More »


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The post All Good Things appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
For the past two years, IT-Lex has been honored to advance the dialogue on all matters concerning technology law. Since our upstart beginning as a simple blog that could easily be confused for a college student's tumblr feed, IT-Lex has published well over 1,000 blog posts, hosted the Innovate Conference in October 2013, awarded thousands of dollars in scholarship money to law students, and, most recently, published the IT-Lex Journal.
Behind these successes, there have been sleepless nights, long weekends, and boundless effort from everyone involved in our not-for-profit endeavor. As they say, "All good things must come to an end." After a great deal of thought and consideration, those of us at IT-Lex will be moving on to other endeavors. IT-Lex will discontinue operations on July 1, 2014, but we will leave the articles on our site up as an archive for as long as possible.
It is our sincere hope that in some way, big or small, IT-Lex was able to help you, your practice, and the legal profession through entertaining educational materials, networking opportunities, or even simply giving you a good laugh in the middle of your workday through one of our more light-hearted posts.
On behalf of Lexington (our robot mascot), and all of us at IT-Lex, it has been a heck of a ride . . . thank you for coming along with us.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post All Good Things appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Florida's First Email Service Case – Strict Liability Service! appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The case dealt with the trial court's denial of a motion for 57.105 sanctions (kind of like Florida's state-equivalent of Rule 11 sanctions, with a splash of Florida-quirkiness to it).
This sanctions motion was served via email, with the case caption in the subject line and (gasp!) a Word document attached containing the motion at issue. Under Florida's hyper-specific email service rules, the motion should have been a PDF (or Portable Document Format) file, as opposed to a Word document. See Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516. As the court noted,
Appellee argued that the motion for sanctions was not enforceable because appellant's February 22nd e-mail did not comply with the requirements for service by e-mail in Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516. Specifically, the e-mail did not: (1) provide a PDF of the motion or a link to the motion on a website maintained by the clerk; (2) contain, in the subject line in all capital letters, the words "SERVICE OF COURT DOCUMENT," followed by the case number; (3) contain, in the body of the e-mail, the case number, name of the initial party of each side, title of each document served with that e-mail, and the sender's name and telephone number. Appellee argued these defects were fatal, because section 57.105 is strictly construed as in derogation of the common law. Appellant responded that only substantial compliance, rather than strict compliance, with Rule 2.516 was required. He argued that the strict interpretation of section 57.105 did not extend to Rule 2.516. At the hearing, appellee's counsel testified that she had received the e-mail and read the attached Word document. Because the service had resulted in actual notice, appellant argued it was sufficient under the rule. The trial court restricted its consideration to this procedural issue and not the merits of the motion. It denied the motion, thus agreeing with appellee's argument that the failure to strictly observe the service rules precluded consideration of the motion. This appeal ensued.
The Court discussed the email service rule in detail, noting that
The e-mail service requirements, which were implemented in 2012, use mandatory language stating that service "must" be made in the manner described. Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.516(b)(1)(E)(i)-(iv); In re Amendments to Fla. Rules of Jud. Admin. et al., 102 So. 3d 505, 515-17 (Fla. 2012). The rule requires that the e-mail subject line contain the words SERVICE OF COURT DOCUMENT, all in capitals and followed by the case number. This is important, because anyone with an e-mail account knows that users frequently receive many e-mails about many different topics. The capitalized notification advising that the e-mail relates to a court document is critical to assure that the recipient opens the e-mail and reviews the document promptly. Further, while it may seem insubstantial that a Word version of the motion was attached rather than the PDF, a Word version is modifiable whereas the PDF is not. Sending a PDF avoids controversy regarding the content of the document. The PDF version of a document is what is required to be filed with the court.
Finally, the Court affirmed the trial court's decision and held that "that strict compliance with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516 regarding e-mail service of pleadings is required before a court may assess attorney's fees pursuant to section 57.105, Florida Statutes."
Strict compliance with service is nothing new, or peculiar to email. In Florida, strict compliance with the statutory provisions governing service of process is required in order to obtain jurisdiction over a party. In fact, a process server's failure to write the exact time of service on service of process (even if everything else was done correctly) renders service of process invalid.
The lesson learned from this case is a simple one. Florida lawyers, follow the service rules! If your assistant or paralegal handles service, make sure you train them well and supervise them to ensure proper service.
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The post Florida's First Email Service Case – Strict Liability Service! appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post House Passes USA Freedom Act, But Nobody's Very Happy With It appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The House of Representatives recently passed new legislation, the USA Freedom Act. The Act is coming to us just one year after Edward Snowden became the most well-known NSA whistleblower of our time by revealing snooping programs and just how much data the NSA collects. Civil rights groups originally supported the bill, but withdrew their support once the legislation was stripped of most of its power. Harley Geiger, an attorney for the Center for Democracy & Technology stated
"The ban on bulk collection was deliberately watered down to be ambiguous and exploitable."
"We withdrew support for USA Freedom when the bill morphed into a codification of large-scale, untargeted collection of data about Americans with no connection to a crime or terrorism."
On the other hand, the White House said this about the bill:
"The bill ensures out intelligence and law enforcement professionals have the authorities they need to protect the Nation, while further ensuring that individuals' privacy is appropriately protected when these authorities are employed."
The Act had no problem gaining approval from the House, with the bill passing 303 to 121. Under this newly passed legislation, the NSA will no longer collect and store all of the metadata from phone calls, instead, all of this information will remain within the telecomm industry. Now, if the NSA wants metadata, the USA Freedom Act requires "that the NSA get approval for a search from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before demanding that the telecoms hand over metadata." "Probable-cause" under the Fourth Amendment is not required to access the information.
Some members of Congress, such as Rep. Zoe Lofgren from CA, voted against the Act as they don't think that it will stop bulk collection of information on innocent people.
The Washington Post published an article talking about the last minute changes to the act:
As usual, then, the devil is in the details. Vagueness is certainly a plus for the administration. Indeed, a cynical interpretation of all this suggests that those who crafted the new USA Freedom Act want to give the illusion of reform while preserving (even extending) the NSA's current activities behind a fog of legalese.
Finally, Reuters offered some ideas as to how the Act could be rescued:
The Senate Judiciary Committee's first task should be closing the loophole that was slipped into the USA Freedom Act's bulk collection ban.
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The Senate committee should then address the privacy of the communications themselves.
The committee should end these "back-door searches" by specifying that the government needs a warrant to search for Americans' information. In addition, the Senate committee should prohibit warrantless collection if targeting an American is any part of the government's purpose.
The same goal underlies all these changes: Surveillance laws must be used as Congress intended. A law allowing the government to obtain business records "relevant" to a terrorism investigation should not be used to collect every American's telephone records. A law allowing the government to collect the communications of foreigners overseas should not be used to search for Americans' calls and e-mails.
The post House Passes USA Freedom Act, But Nobody's Very Happy With It appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Lawyer Retaliates Against Client In Online Comments, Gets Publicly Reprimanded appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
Last month, the Supreme Court of Georgia issued a formal complaint against a lawyer for retaliating against a client and breaking more than one of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.
Margrett Skinner was retained by a client in 2009 as representation in an uncontested divorce proceeding, paying Skinner $900, including a $150 filing fee. Skinner was unresponsive to the client for six weeks, and when the client did get ahold of Skinner, the client was informed by Skinner that the paperwork had been lost and needed to be replaced. Skinner and the client eventually met again and began to draft the pleadings. "The initial drafts of the pleadings had multiple errors" but the final draft was finished by mid-November 2009.
By April 2010, the divorce was finalized, but there was a disagreement about the fees and expenses to be paid to Skinner.
Skinner asked the client for an additional $185 for certain travel expenses and the filing fee…Then, on May 18, the client informed Skinner that she had hired another lawyer to complete her divorce, and she asked Skinner to deliver her file to new counsel and to refund $750. Skinner replied that she would not release the file unless she were paid. Although Skinner eventually refunded $650 to the client, Skinner never delivered the file to new counsel, contending that it only contained her "work product." The client's new lawyer finished the divorce within three months of being hired.
Unsurprisingly, "the client posted negative reviews of Skinner" on three different consumer websites. Skinner saw these reviews and retaliated, posting "a response that contained personal and confidential information about her former client that Skinner had obtained in the course of her representation of the client." The information posted included the client's name, what county the divorce took place in, and the fact that the client had a new boyfriend.
A grievance was filed by the client against Skinner, and Skinner said that she would remove the comment in August of 2011. However, the post was not removed until February 2012.
The special master assigned to the case found that Skinner violated Rule 1.4 by not keeping her client reasonably informed between July and October of 2010 and Rule 1.6 when Skinner disclosed confidential client information in her response. The fact that Skinner had been an attorney since 1987 was an "aggravating circumstance." But Skinner had no prior discipline and there was no "dishonest or selfish motive" for her conduct, two mitigating factors.
The Court agreed with the special master on the punishment
of a public reprimand, as well as the additional condition that Skinner be instructed to take advantage of the State Bar's Law Practice Management services and recommendations with respect to internal office procedures, client files and case tracking procedures.
This formal complaint is a reminder that client confidentiality is key to following the rules regarding ethics for lawyers.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post Lawyer Retaliates Against Client In Online Comments, Gets Publicly Reprimanded appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Introducing Volume One Of The IT-Lex Journal appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The first-place winner of the contest was Anthony Mendenhall, a 2013 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. Tony discussed his essay, entitled 'Due Process in the Information Age: The Civil Discovery Crisis' with Judge Facciola, Judge Nolan and Ken Withers, in a memorable panel at last year's Innovate Conference, and we asked him to talk about his chosen topic below. Remember, you can read this article, and the two other winners, on our Journal page.
Tony Mendenhall: Prior to attending law school I worked for one of the big four accounting firms as an IT consultant. My work experience naturally led me to taking an e-discovery class that was being offered for the first time by Prof. Paula Schaefer at the University of Tennessee. As part of the class we were required to do a research paper where we could select our own topic. At the same time, I was also taking a seminar from Prof. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame entitled "Law, Science and Technology Seminar" where the entire grade was based on a paper and presentation on a topic of our choosing. Additionally, that semester my wife was pregnant with our second son and I was working as a graduate assistant at the University's Office of Information Technology where, because of my prior work experience, they basically had me fill half the spot of a full time employee who had just left. Needless to say, I took the opportunity double up on topics so that even though I wrote two different papers with two different theses, the background material and many of the source materials were the same for both papers. Because I knew I was going to be spending so much time on the topic I was going to write on, I decided to pick a topic that I felt passionate about.
The whole civil discovery system has always seemed pretty messed up to me. I wanted to take a crack at digging into the problem. My background at that point had been in system development work, and I think one of my personal strengths is being able to design or take apart systems and configure them in a way that is most efficient. It's what I used to do with IT systems as a consultant and in part what I do in my position at the law firm that I work for now. One of my biggest peeves is the producer pays rule. As a system, it's convenient for the bar and bench, but a horrible system from the client's perspective. The incentives are all perverse. Anyone who hasn't been inundated or initiated can quickly see that.
At its worst, a request for production is like having the court order you to hold still while a bully sucker punches you in the gut. Then you have to pay the bully for time spent punching you in the gut. Probably the most absurd thing about the producer pays rule is its sacrosanctity among the bar and bench. There is this assumption that the issue of who pays for the costs of discovery was carefully thought out when the Rules of Civil procedure were revamped in the early twentieth century. This simply isn't true. At the time the question of who paid for discovery was inconsequential due to the small cost involved in producing discovery.
There also is this real fear that if we change to a default rule where the requesting party pays for the costs of discovery, we'll be oppressing indigent parties everywhere and that we'll see a massive wave of injustice. I just don't buy that. You can create a system that better aligns the interests and costs of the parties while still protecting indigent parties. For example, I think if you reversed the default position of who pays for discovery, cost shifting decisions by the court become much easier. I could keep on going, but I think I've made my point.
The more and more I found out about the process of civil discovery, the more and more it felt like civil discovery violated the spirit of due process, specifically procedural due process. At a very basic level, it seems horribly unfair to have to pay the costs of packaging up material that the opposing party is going to be using against you. Especially when so much of the production results in so little value in helping to resolve the issues at hand.
There were all these reason I could think of how civil discovery is inefficient and has misaligned incentives. Coming up with examples was easy. Weaving them into a framework was the hard part. Especially because discovery issues hardly ever make it to appellate courts. There isn't much to work with as far as theory goes. The sexy stuff is substantive due process. There isn't as much on procedural due process. There is almost nothing theoretical on procedural due process as it relates to discovery.
It finally started coming together one day when I was perusing the Volokh Conspiracy. I happened across Andrew Blair-Stanek's article Twombly Is the Logical Extension of the Mathews v. Eldridge Test to Discovery. Andrew Blair-Stanek's framework finally provided a vehicle by which I could make a due process argument against the producer pays rule.
My paper for the "Law, Science and Technology" class with Prof. Reynolds ended up being very high level and theoretical while the paper for Prof. Schaefer's class was much more practical. I got positive feedback from both professors and decided to merge both papers together as part of a directed study project that I could get a few credit hours for over the summer break. While I ultimately ended up going a different direction for the final directed study project, I had mostly completed the work to mash up the two papers before changing directions.
The paper that I ultimately ended up submitted to IT-Lex argues that the type of wasteful discovery prone to a producer pays system violates procedural due process. Applying the three part Mathews test to discovery reveals that the non-trivial interests of the producing party are often at considerable risk of an erroneous deprivation. The paper then goes on to show how recent advances in e-discovery case law effectively act as a safety valve to keep the Mathews factors balanced in favor of the status quo. I think that the Mathews framework is a great way to analyze discovery issues; however I doubt that it will ever get any traction in actual litigation. I think the last thing judges want to do is open the gates to a constitutional analysis for discovery disputes.
Fast forward a year later to my spring 3L year. I got a listserv spam about the IT-Lex writing contest, and remembered I had that mashed-up paper still sitting on my Google Drive. I thought, "what the heck, why not submit it. What do I have to lose?" I took the mashed-up version and submitted it.
With two toddlers, graduation, starting a new job in Nashville and studying for the bar I didn't think much of the contest until a couple of months later when I was cleaning out my old university email account. The email sent to me by Adam and Samir was in my junk mail folder, which makes sense considering the email went something like, "Congratulations! You're our grand prize winner!" Luckily, I got to it before the retention policy permanently deleted the email. One thing led to another and the next thing I know I'm presenting my paper at the IT-Lex Conference in Florida.
I hope that anyone who reads my paper comes away with two things. First, I hope that it gets them critically thinking about the producer pays system and opens them up to alternatives. Second, even though I don't believe that we'll ever see Mathews framework officially in an opinion, I hope that judges can keep the Mathews framework in their back pocket as another tool to analyze discovery disputes.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post Introducing Volume One Of The IT-Lex Journal appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Hands Off, Courts: Privacy And Anonymous Speech appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
Rather than the traditional invocation of the First Amendment, the California Second District Court of Appeal recently protected anonymous speech using a state constitutional privacy rationale.
This case arose in amidst allegations by UMG Recordings of Escape Media Group's copyright infringement via its music sharing site Grooveshark. Escape subpoenaed Digital Music News, which reported on the copyright infringement allegations in an article that received many reader comments. One of these anonymous commentators claimed to be an Escape employee explaining that the administration provided incentives for employees to upload popular copyrighted songs. Digital Music News argued that identifying information would not reasonably lead to the discovery of admissible evidence and is protected by the commentator's right to privacy. The appellate court agreed.
Instead of addressing the First Amendment as the trial court did, the appellate court relied on the speaker's right of privacy. After holding that the discovery of the commentator's identity was not relevant to the state law copyright infringement case, the Court held that even if the evidence were admissible, the speaker's "right to privacy under the California Constitution would outweigh Escape's need for the information." The Court found that the right to speak anonymously draws from freedom of speech in the First Amendment and the right of privacy in California's Constitution Article I, Section 1. It noted the value of extending anonymous speech protections to online speech to foster open, robust debate. Overcoming this right of privacy requires a compelling interest, which Escape failed to prove here—indeed the speaker's identity was in no way essential to the fair resolution of UMG's copyright infringement suit. In concluding, the Court warned against getting too involved in public disputes on Internet forums, writing: "We will not lightly lend the subpoena power of the courts to prove, in essence, that Someone Is Wrong On The Internet."• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post Hands Off, Courts: Privacy And Anonymous Speech appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post No Summary Judgment For Court Admin Who Stopped Assigning Cases To Attorney After Facebook Post appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
In April 2012, Plaintiff made a comment on Facebook about the performance of the Clerk's Office at the Washtenaw Probate Court, specifically with regard to a case she was handling. Plaintiff "tagged" two people with whom she had a pre-existing, personal relationship, mistakenly identifying them as Clerk's Office employees in her Facebook post, and identifying them by name. Plaintiff testified that she believes her Facebook profile is set to only be visible to "friends" as opposed to the general public. In a matter of days, Plaintiff received a letter from Defendant Edwards-Brown, the administrator of the Washtenaw Juvenile and Probate Courts.That letter stated that Plaintiff had been removed from the assignment list because of her comment on Facebook.
(Internal citations omitted)
As the court notes, the "exact text of the Facebook post at the core of this lawsuit" is still not on the record, so we're left to speculate about what Butler wrote. Whatever it was, it led to her removal from the assignment list, and she wasn't too pleased. Her attempts to be reinstated were unsuccessful, though she was told she "could reapply for placement on the list in the future". All this despite the following facts:
There is no written policy for removal from the list. It is within Defendant Edwards-Brown's authority to remove people from the list. Neither Defendant actually saw the Facebook post in question. Instead, the post was brought to Defendant Edwards-Brown's attention by one of the court employees who was tagged in the post, Katherine Streeter. Defendants took Ms. Streeter at her word regarding the content of the post.
Plaintiff was not subject to any formal disciplinary action under the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct.
(Internal citations omitted)
While the court disagrees with plaintiff's contention that her removal from the assignment list constituted a violation of her due process, the court is more sympathetic to her First Amendment retaliation argument. It holds that plaintiff's comment was that of private citizen, commenting on a matter of public concern, and as such, should be considered protected:
Plaintiff, however, was complaining about cases being handled poorly, and, suggested that things may be changing for the better. Defendants make much of the limited audience of the speech. While that does go to the context of the speech, it is not determinative. As noted above the Court must pay attention to the "focus of the speech; the point of the speech in question; to what purpose the employee spoke; the intent of the speech; or the communicative purpose of the speaker." Here, the focus of the speech — the functioning of the clerks office — could easily have been the topic of an opinion piece in a local legal newspaper. Instead it was given a much shorter treatment and made available to only a handful of people. That does not change the fact that, in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the focus of the speech was a form of governmental operations, and therefore touched on a matter of public concern.
Since plaintiff's First Amendment rights are deemed to outweigh defendants' interests in this case, defendants' motion for summary judgment is denied with regards to the First Amendment retaliation claim. The facts that the Facebook post in question was quickly deleted; and that neither defendant actually saw it firsthand, suggest that defendants will struggle to defend their actions later down the line as well.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post No Summary Judgment For Court Admin Who Stopped Assigning Cases To Attorney After Facebook Post appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Overbroad Discovery Requests: Another "Fishing Expedition" Cut Short appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
By IT-Lex Intern Kristin Bergman (Twitter / LinkedIn)
We write about eDiscovery a lot here at IT-Lex, and one recurring theme really seems to stand out—put the time and thought into your discovery requests. This time around, it's important to remember to be sufficiently specific in your requests for production. In a recent short case, Elkharwily v. Mayo Holding Company, a federal court in Minnesota reminds us: "Even if a request for production seeks relevant information, however, it may nonetheless be denied if it is overbroad." And that's precisely what the court here decided to do.
In Josh Gilliland's words, "Drafting discovery is an art." In this case, a discovery request was made for "[a]ll email and text messages sent or received on Mayo email and text messaging accounts"—hardly the most artful language. The court found this language was overly broad, and denied the request in order to avoid a "fishing expedition" and as we've discussed before, courts don't really like those. Where all documents relevant to the discovery request were already produced, the court found there was no remaining objection to the requests.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post Overbroad Discovery Requests: Another "Fishing Expedition" Cut Short appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Facebook Comment Leads To $50 Fine, Bemusement, Rescission appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The woman was issued a citation carrying a $50 fine May 20 after a forest preserve protection officer interpreted a comment on Facebook to mean the woman had been using a dog park without a permit.
Wait, what?
The comment in question was posted in response to concerns some dog owners had about kennel cough among some dogs at Whalon Lake Dog Park in Bolingbrook. The woman posted: "I was feeling bad that I haven't bought a pass and been bringing Ginger there but I'm pretty glad I haven't. So not going to worry about it until later. I hope all the doggies get better soon."
An employee of the district saw the post, reported it to a supervisor, and soon Adamski received the citation, based on her supposed admission that she had "knowingly entered a dog park without a valid 2014 permit." Adamski's response: "That's dead wrong… I haven't gone there since 2013!"
The citation was soon rescinded, but the district had some explaining to do:
"We treat any information like that as a tip and that has to be verified before any action is taken on our part," [Forest Preserve District Executive Director Marcy DeMauro] said adding, "We would go to the dog park to see if that individual is actually there and using the dog park without a permit."
So all's well that ends well in this story – one employee was a little too enthusiastic, and Adamski herself saw the funny side. But if nothing else, let this be another reminder to always think twice before posting anything online. You never know who's watching.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post Facebook Comment Leads To $50 Fine, Bemusement, Rescission appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
The post Operators Of Jerk.com Accused Of Deceiving Consumers By The FTC appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>
A recent press release from the FTC announced that the operators of Jerk.com had been charged with deceiving customers. Apparently, the defendants registered multiple websites with Facebook and allegedly used Facebook's application programming interfaces to download the personal information and photos of more than 73 million people, including kids, for their Jerk.com profile database.
Jerk.com is a website that creates profiles of people, labeling the person a "Jerk" or "not a Jerk." Other individuals can search for people on the Jerk.com database and click a button designating the person as a jerk, or not, and the individual can also leave comments on profiles. Some of the posts subject people to abusive and derisive comments:
"Omg I hate this kid he\'s such a loser"
"Nobody in their right mind would love you…not even your parents love [you]."
More likely than not, the profiles of individuals were created from misappropriated Facebook information, often including photos from Facebook that were designated as private, like baby bath pictures and photographs of women breastfeeding their children.
Jerk.com takes this allegedly deceptive practice to the next level. The FTC suggests that the site:
allegedly charged consumers $25 to email Jerk.com's customer service department, and also falsely told consumers that if they paid $30 for a website subscription, they could access "premium features," including the ability to dispute information posted on Jerk.com, and receive fast notifications and special updates.
The consumers often got nothing for what they paid, according to the FTC.
The FTC, in its complaint, charges the defendants with violating the FTC Act by misleading customers into thinking that other users had created the profiles when most of the information came straight from Facebook, and that by misleading consumers into paying $30 for a Jerk.com membership, that the consumers would be able to change the information on their profiles. The FTC seeks "an order barring the defendants' deceptive practices, prohibiting them from using the personal information they improperly obtained, and requiring them to delete the information."
Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection stated:
In today's interconnected world, people are especially concerned about their reputation online, and this deceptive scheme was a brazen attempt to exploit those concerns.
The Commission voted 4-0 to issue the administrative complaint, with the evidentiary hearing scheduled to begin on January 27, 2015 before an administrative law judge.• Email • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • RSS
The post Operators Of Jerk.com Accused Of Deceiving Consumers By The FTC appeared first on IT-Lex.]]>


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For the first two years of Julius Thomas' professional career, he carried only potential because he couldn't get healthy. After exploding for 788 yards and a dozen touchdowns on 65 receptions over 14 games last year, the question is whether he can maintain or improve upon that pace in 2014.
Room for Julius Thomas to improve?
- comment


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DUBIOUS RIVERSIDE FIX: Private guards on nocturnal park patrol
1 of 2More Galleries
Nocturnal patrols by private guards might not deter daytime snoozers, such as these in Riverside's Arlington Park. (Staff)
My dogs and I are parks peeps.
Favorite haunts: Mount Rubidoux, Bonaminio/Tequesquite, McLean Anza/Narrows and the Granddaddy, Fairmount. Every week, we're in a park. We've always felt safe.
But on December 19, a homeless man was found shot to death in La Sierra Park. On Dec. 31, at Arlington Park, police shot and killed a man who they said pulled a gun on them.
Then Councilman Steve Adams, a Republican hoping to oust Democratic� Rep. Mark Takano in this year's election, said armed guards should patrol city parks. He even got on TV!
Adams' colleagues seem cool to pistol-packin' privates. But City Manager Scott Barber is hot to spend up to $50K – his council-approved limit – to hire guards for 13 of 58 parks. When they're closed. At night.
Is this, in the words of the Riverside police union prez, "an overreaction to a couple of incidents"?
The RPD divides crime into Part 1 and Part 2.
Part 1 includes homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, etc.
Part 2 includes simple assault, forgery, vandalism, carrying weapons, sex offenses, drug abuse, DUI, disorderly conduct, etc.
For the first 11 months of 2013, Riverside averaged 1,918 reported crimes per month -- almost an equal number of Part 1 and Part 2. (December stats weren't posted the RPD website.)
The average number of crimes in the city's parks each month: 38. This is 2 percent of all reported crime in the city. Most park crime was the less serious (Part 2) variety. Most Part 1 crime was theft.
Are Riverside parks dangerous? Outsiders probably think so after watching a Jan. 30 KABC report featuring congressional hopeful Adams and footage of the Arlington Park crime scene.
"Our parks are safe," Parks Director Ralph Nunez told me. "The community has to know that we're being proactive, dealing with issues."
One way the city deals is through the RPD's Operation Safe Parks. Officers patrol parks as part of their beat.
RPD spokesman Lt. Val Graham: "The two officers in Arlington Park where the suspect shot at them were assigned to Operation Safe Parks and were actually doing what they were supposed to do. This was not a radio call."
RPD also has Problem Oriented Police officers who zero in on trouble spots.
Graham calls the December homicides "isolated…There was no connection between the two, no pattern of gang activity."
Even Adams says the real problem is aggressive panhandling and drug deals. But sending unarmed security guards into parks after they've closed won't stamp out panhandling. And private guards shouldn't be breaking up drug deals.
Parks have problems. Lincoln on the Eastside recorded a Part 1 grand slam in 2013: one homicide, one rape, one robbery, one aggravated assault. Arlington led all parks with 20 arrests.
Which park had the most Part 1 crime – and most thefts (15) -- but didn't make the city's list for private patrols? Sycamore Canyon. Don Jones Park, which ranked third in arrests (16), didn't make the list, either.
Riverside needs more of what RPD does: regular park patrols and isolating trouble spots. Not city-whipped hysteria, election-year posturing and dubious $50K "fixes."
Making residents feel safe is the city's job, but dispatching private nocturnal patrols when parks are closed is a strange way to go about it.
Reach Dan Bernstein at 951-368-9439 or firstname.lastname@example.com
Facebook: PE Columnist Dan Bernstein
Twitter: @DbernsteinCol


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Movies + TVRead More
The 25 Most Stylish Films of All Time
When it comes down to it, it's the big screen where fashions are immortalized. Not the runway, not the street. It's Marcello Mastroianni in that impeccable black suit in 8 1/2. It's Richard Roundtree rocking head-to-toe leather in Shaft. As the following proves, it's a collection of images that will never go out of style
Swipe to see the photos
Replay Gallery
Next Up
Good Video: Dad Does Not Realize His Son Put a "Honk if You're Horny" Sign on His Car


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ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) — The Douglas County sheriff says the Oregon state medical examiner's office has confirmed that human remains found on a Southern Oregon ranch are those of a Roseburg man missing since March 2009.
Sheriff John Hanlin said Friday that dental records and a forensic exam confirm the remains are those of Clayton Pankey.
On Monday, a rancher found clothing and ID belonging to Pankey. Searchers found skeletal remains nearby.
Pankey was 47 when he was last seen at a gasoline station in Sutherlin.
After he disappeared, Pankey's van was found abandoned at a spot that's about 10 miles from the ranch where the clothing, ID and remains were found.
Hanlin says sheriff's detectives continue to investigate.


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Making Memories
|Making Memories Patent applications
|Patent application number
|TOOL FOR HANDS FREE PATTERN CREATING DEVICE - A pattern creating implement may include a pattern creating tip on a first end, a connection member on a second end, and an engagement member between the first and second ends. The engagement member may be configured to be engaged by an implement placement member for detachably coupling the connection member to an implement receptor of a pattern creating device. According to various embodiments, a pattern creating device controls the rotational, vertical and planar movements of the pattern creating tip to transfer a digital pattern to a media. A tool may be configured to receive, resupply, and/or insert a pattern creating implement. According to one embodiment, in conjunction with an optional cap, a body of a tool may be configured to house a pattern creating implement when it is not in use.
|HANDS FREE PATTERN CREATING DEVICE - A hands free pattern creating apparatus having a hands free securement component which can be utilized to secure a handheld pattern creating device relative a medium upon which the pattern is to be formed. The securement component can include a magnetic component configured to be secured to the hands free securement device such as magnetic tabs, a elongate member or a removable collar having magnetic or metallic components secured thereto. A pattern or design surface or mat having metallic or magnetic properties such that the magnetic component provides a desired amount of magnetic attraction when positioned on media positioned on the pattern mat to minimize movement of components pattern creating device during creation of the pattern on the media, but allowing the user to remove and/or reposition the pattern cutting device relative to the pattern mat once the pattern has been completed.


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Class A baseball: Hearing for Wright City baseball team set for Friday morning
The hearing for Wright City's case against the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association is 10 a.m. Friday in McCurtain County, Wright City assistant coach Joel Dickerson said.
The Lumberjax were forced to forfeit their Class A state baseball tournament quarterfinal game against Sterling on Tuesday after it was discovered they exceeded the limit of games they could play during the regular season.
Wright City, though, received a temporary restraining order Wednesday in hope of regaining its position in the tournament, which was scheduled to begin Thursday morning at Dolese Park but was postponed until Friday because of inclement weather.
OSSAA executive director Ed Sheakley said Wednesday that the hope was to get the injunction lifted or the hearing date moved up from its originally scheduled date of May 13.
Sheakley also said that if both of those options failed, the tournament would not start as originally planned with seven teams until a resolution is reached.
But moving the hearing to Friday could allow the tournament to begin — with or without Wright City — as it is now scheduled with the quarterfinals. The semifinals and championship have been moved to Saturday.
Dickerson said Wright City coach Kyle Butler will be in attendance at the hearing, while the team remains in Yukon waiting for the results.
Butler admits to making the mistake, but is asking that he be punished instead of the players.
"There's nothing to hide," he said. "I'll be the first one to admit and take the blame for this situation, but again I am trying to fight for my kids, and if I don't fight for my kids, I wouldn't be doing my job.
"This was something that they had no control over and it's an honest mistake, and the OSSAA has recognized that in the past and I hope that they take that into account."


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SKILL LEVEL: Beginner (Level 1)
SIZE: One Size
CORRECTIONS: None
An easy, fun craft activity for expecting parents.
Exact gauge is not essential to this project.
Stripe Sequence Light Orange (A) White (B) OR Pastel Pink (A) Green (B) OR Light Blue (A) Pastel Yellow (B) OR Pastel Pink (A) Purple (B) OR Pastel Pink (A) Dark Blue (B) OR Pastel Yellow (A) Green (B) HANGER Glue end of A to tip of hook on hanger. Allow glue to dry. *Wrap A once around hanger from front to back to create a loop, pass A underneath loop and pull to tighten; repeat from * 9 more times. Apply a small amount of glue to hanger at last loop of A to secure end of B. Carrying unused color underneath new color, *wrap B once around hanger from front to back to create a loop, pass B underneath loop to form a knot, pull to tighten; repeat from * 9 more times. Continue in this way, making 10 wraps with A and B alternately until hanger is completely covered.
FINISHING Glue yarn ends to hanger and allow to dry. Trim yarn ends.


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The CREST family of programs are an easy way for parents to add more fun to their child's day with before, after and out-of-school activities that appeal to a broad range of interests. Our highly-trained, professional instructors work with children year-round, right at their school site - no travel time or additional coordination required!
Effective November 11, 2015 the Youth Office at Reed Park will have new office hours**Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am - 5:30pm
Quarterly registration is easy. Priority is given to Santa Monica residents - proof of residency is required. Fees vary by program. Financial assistance may be available.
Depending on the program, residents may receive priority registration, reduced fees, financial assistance, or other benefits. In addition to a driver's license or government issued picture ID, one of the following in the registrant's name (parent/guardian if registrant is a minor) is required to verify residency: rental agreement, mortgage statement, utility bill.
Online: www.smgov.net/reserve Mail & In Person: Registration Form
Phone: 310-458-8540TTY: firstname.lastname@example.com: Weekdays, 8:30am - 5:30pm
Community and Cultural Services 1685 Main Street, Room 210, Santa Monica, CA firstname.lastname@example.com a request with GovOutreach