So...What's Next?!?

Sleep, Politics, and a Long Awaited Dinner

That title pretty much describes my day. I slept a lot today - and I feel better now. I should be back to normal by tomorrow night for the kick off of SoCon08. Most of the family is better now. My oldest son, who did not get the flu - just a bad cough - still has the cough...perhaps a 24 hour bug was not so bad. My youngest was full of energy today - I slept.

I did check emails periodically throughout the day and at one point was informed of a bill that is causing some concern.

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 9 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to forgery and fraudulent practices, so as to provide definitions; to provide that “it shall be illegal for the owner or operator of a social networking website to allow a minor using a protected computer to create or maintain a profile web page on a social networking website without the permission of the minor's parent or guardian and without providing such parent or guardian access to such profile web page; to provide for penalties; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.”

I was asked for my opinion and involvement. I have to think about this for a bit - though it seems time is of the essence, they are going to try to push the bill through tomorrow. One letter to the senator was shared with me which made the valid point that there are more sexual predators in our neighborhoods percentage wise than on MySpace and that our children are more at risk going to the mall than having a profile on MySpace. I completely agree with that. I have had this "debate" often regarding me just posting information about my children online and having their pictures on my Flickr account.

I personally grew up in a "rough" part of Miami - shopped at the Sears that Adam Walsh was abducted from, personally knew another kid who was abducted and had one personal scary incident myself. So I guess I should be the first paranoid mom in line. But - I teach my kids how to be safe and smart and I choose to live life without unnecessary fear.

So what do I think about this Bill?  I personally do not think I have a lot of "passion" around it because I guess I do not see the long term consequences yet of such a Bill, but I do think it is unnecessary. Parents, such as me, who monitor their children's Internet activities will do so with or without such a bill. Parents who don't, and have children who want to create a profile, will have children who do what we have all done as a child, and forge their parent's consent. So I am not seeing what this bill is solving. So I have to think about this more and would love to know the opinions of others.

Later tonight, I did feel decent enough to get out for dinner. A long awaited dinner with Josh Hallett in that twice I have canceled plans on him when he was up here, and we have crossed each other's paths so many times but never just sat down and got to know each other. He gave me a lot of insight on what he does and some great advice for my own small company.  The one bit of advice I have heard a lot is that I need to get out to more conferences around the country - I need to put that in this year's plan - I know.

Well back to sleep so that I can have a productive and fun filled weekend this week. But I leave you with a quote -

While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about. ~Angela Schwindt

MindBlogging BlogSavannah - Legal Issues

The cases of when you can sue someone for what they said are few.

The truth is an absolute defense - that is not a cliche it is the law. No matter how damaging what they say is - if it is true then you can not sue.

The other issue is if someone had the intent to hurt someone. That is a hard thing to prove.

Public figures are not allowed to bring about the same issues as the average citizens. The reason is that they have volunteered to be in the public eye.

The real sticky situation is "who is a public figure?"

There are some obvious - easy ones, but when we are discussing a citizen who is involved on a board are they a public figure? What if someone takes the discourse out of the issues when they are a public figure. Such as what they are doing in their private life.

Bloggers typically believe that their opinions are important - and will also believe that others are wrong and will blog about it.

If you are creating a site - are you responsible for what others say on your site. It is pointed out that you are the host and should be a responsible host.

One way is to have proscriptions that states no one is allowed to defame others, no hateful statements, advocating or discussing illegal activities with the intent to commit them.

OPEN Q&A

The question is in regard to the rights someone taking and posting a picture of an individual without their permission. For example if you are at an event and you do not want people to know you were at the event.

The answer is it is open domain and that people have the right to post the picture, but they can not make any assumptions around the photo such as by attending an event the person was endorsing it.

Another point is that it is hard to find a person liable - and if you can not collect damages when they are - what is the point?

Should not be afraid of being sued. Just because anyone can sue anyone for anything - they do not always win. Oftentimes they do not win.

Civil disobedience is an illegal activity, but it is one that helped achieve our civil rights...how does one get around this in grassroots activities for change...take the risk if it is worth it. As an attorney says yes there is a legal issue there but it is boarder line.

Another question about people who are thrust into the public eye without choice - such as the Rutgers Basketball team - what right do they have to protect what is said about them? Again the conversation can result around what makes them a public identity - such as their ability to play basketball, but beyond that they are protected as any other citizen.

GA as a Right to Work State - which means you can be fired for any reason or no reason. Can your employer fire you because of you blog? The short answer is yes because this is a right to work state, unless you are part of a union or have an employment agreement. There is very little protection for employees.

Email and text message is very dangerous because it is easy to type something out in anger and send it off. (um...yeah....amen)

How does the first amendment protect and what are the limitations - the first amendment is the starting point. The places you can not go include defamation or inciting violence.

Having a violent opinion is not the same as inciting violence, but the lines can get blurry.

Question about the ability to scrape content and republish it other places. Yes you can copyright your material online which is as easy as putting the copyright symbol - but to bring action you need to register that material.

When it is just a nuisance  you typically just need to send a letter.

It is also important to note that you can not protect ideas, just the expression of ideas.

The court system has not caught up with all the ways it is now possible to take content and re-purpose it for profit.

The one place that the law seems to be caught up is on the issue that the Internet does not stop at the boarder. The Internet issues can fall under Federal Law because it is considered international.

Question regarding Creative Commons - which provides you with a choice of different licenses for your content.

It is a higher level of notice - which makes it quite powerful. Although it allows people to share and remix - it also protects the originator because it is a more well-defined notice of rights that the end user has established.