Category Archives: Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc.

A bit more on the music industry

Tyler Cowen of the Volokh Conspiracy links to the same article I linked to Friday – the one showing that over 99% of the money left over after all expenses and other parties have been paid, goes to the label, … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Popular (and unpopular) culture | 23 Comments

How record labels exploit bands

In an earlier posting, I wrote that one reason I have very little sympathy for the whining of major record producers about how Napster “steals” from artists is that, by and large, the money from record sales never goes to … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Popular (and unpopular) culture | 27 Comments

Bias at the BBC – and on the US networks

Josh Chafetz of Oxblog has a cover story (!) in the current Weekly Standard, “The Disgrace of the BBC.” First of all, Maziltov! to Josh on the story publication – I think the cover of the Standard is quite a … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Iraq, Media criticism | 4 Comments

Censorship followup

Jim of Unqualified Offerings responds to my previous entry thus: Two notable dissents from the outrage have been raised by Ampersand and William Dwyer. Both argue that Castillo’s lawyers did a poor job defending their client. Ampersand further expresses a … Continue reading

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Sex work, porn, etc | 63 Comments

Censorship: The Jesus Castillo case: No need to panic

There’s lots of outrage in the comics blogosphere, because the Supreme Court declined to reconsider a finding that the comic book Demon Beast Invasion (issue two) is obscene. Jim at Unqualified Offerings writes: The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund provided … Continue reading

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Same-Sex Marriage | 25 Comments

Yelling Fuck in a Crowded Theatre

The state has the power to protect its citizenry from actual harm, and thus has the power to outlaw one yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theatre. See, Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919). However, yelling “Fuck!” in a … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc. | 10 Comments

A bit more on UNFPA, and on the Global Gag Rule

* Excellent posts on the appalling UNFPA situation over at the Appalachia Alumni Association blog here and here, including info on how to donate to UNFPA. From an AAA post: UNFPA estimates that the loss of US funding will “result … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., UNFPA | Comments Off on A bit more on UNFPA, and on the Global Gag Rule

Free Speech, False Advertising and Nike

There’s been a lot of good blogging at The Fifty Minute Hour lately (a blog which I’ve just this week added to the right-wing section of my blogroll). I think my readers will probably enjoy this post about how the … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc. | 23 Comments

Harry Potter and the Compulsory Licensing Scheme

Via Half the Sins of Mankind, this interesting Slate article argues that folks abroad ought to be free to plagiarize Harry Potter as much as they want. But as trade economists will tell you, trade often works when countries imitate … Continue reading

Posted in Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Site and Admin Stuff | 25 Comments

Adventures in Copyright

This was odd… this columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle emailed me. He was writing a column on the dangers of paperless voting machines, and he wanted to include a cartoon of mine (which he had seen on another website) … Continue reading

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc. | Comments Off on Adventures in Copyright