SOPA Support Dries Up, But MegaUpload.com Get Bucket of Cold Water
Published January 24th, 2012 | 
As anti-SOPA protests became more vocal and demonstrative, several supporters backed away from the online piracy bill, including the White House. This casts doubts on the passage of the bill. But perhaps just to make an example and show the world that it is still serious about taking down online pirates, the Justice Department decided to shut down MegaUpload.com. This site provides a service to individuals to upload large files. Once uploaded, these file can be shared. For instance, you can download videos, games, music, applications and other files. And, yes, some of these files are uploaded illegally. But many files are legal. Does that mean that the site, itself, is run by online pirates? It’s an important question which needs to be answer as at least four of the site’s operators have been arrested. Did these individuals directly pirate the illegal files and upload them? I think ultimately, these charges will be dropped. I think there’s a legal argument to be made. Just my two cents.
The Curious Case of Casey Anthony
Published July 6th, 2011 | With regards to yesterday’s verdict in the Casey Anthony trial, I must admit two things:
I was somewhat surprised by the verdict and secondly, (although I am sure I am alone here) I had a new respect for our legal system. Not because I believed that Casey Anthony is innocent, but because we do have a system in which any defendant, no matter how horrific the crime has the presumption of innocence. Ask poor Amanda Knox what she thinks of our legal system after dealing with the Italy’s courts.
Last week, at the gym, a friend of mine, who was of the opinion that Casey “should fry” asked my opinion. I asked him if he was asking me whether I thought she was guilty or whether she would be found guilty.
“What’s the difference?” he replied.
Well…. for one thing, I was not a juror in the case. My opinion about her guilt or innocence doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. For another, despite what nitwits like Nancy Grace might believe, shouting angrily over the airwaves about someone’s guilt doesn’t make that person guilty of a crime in a country where everyone is entitled by law to a presumption of innocence.
I made the point that, though I thought she was probably guilty of the crime, there was plenty of reasonable doubt to allow for the possibility of a not guilty verdict.
My friend was outraged by even the suggestion that she might get off. Think about it, I told him. Setting emotion aside, what has the prosecution actually proven in this case? They proved that Casey Anthony is a liar and a kook. They proved that Callie Anthony is dead. That is it, really. There was no cause of death. No time of death. No forensic evidence which directly connected Casey Anthony with the little girl’s death. Unfortunately, being a liar and a kook does not automatically make you guilty of murder. How does a rational person send a young woman to her death based on that? Short of having Casey Anthony’s DNA on the body and a map with Embossed Graphics shout, “This is how Casey Anthony did it and when,” no reasonable juror could have given her the death penalty. So I think it’s unfair to demonize the jury for doing the job they were called to do. The prosecution was asking the jury to do two things: assume that lying about a crime is the same thing as committing that crime and encouraging jurors to make up a narrative of guilt which allows the evidence to prove what it did not actually prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
So Casey Anthony, now that you’ve most likely gotten away with murdering your own child, what are you going to do now? Can you handle being the most hated woman in America?
Traditional Book Sales Up in 2010 . . . But Only Some Books Sales
Published May 30th, 2011 | Knew this guy in high school. Nice guy. Real cheery fellow. Loved to race around on his atv on the weekends. One day he’s racing around quite recklessly, blew up his atv power steering going up a hill, lost control and went flying ass-over-head. Lucky to be alive with only a dislocated shoulder and a few minor cuts and bruises. I was thinking about that guy while reading a blog post earlier about how traditional publisher did better than expected with print sales last year. Now, I’m not really in the “print is dead” category, but I will say that print is only doing as well as it is despite e-books and not because print is a smart and growing market.
Traditional publisher’s are like ole Randy, going about their business, pushing ahead despite difficulties. But mainstream publishing blew out their power steering a long time ago and they’ve misjudged the distance until they reach the top of the hill.
Consider the numbers: a 5% percent increase in traditional book sales sounds impressive until you break the numbers down by genre and format. Certain nonfiction books did get a bump, but fiction actually is continuing to take a nosedive. Science books are selling, but science fiction books are still literature’s unloved stepchildren. Hardback books did okay, but mass market paperbacks are on life support.
No, the whole print v. e-books isn’t Sophie’s choice for readers or publishers, but publishers do have to decide where to invest their money and so will readers.
