The Toronto Star reports that on the first night of Future Shop’s “Beat the Clock” contest (September 14), entrants got more – or less – than they bargained for. In what some Future Shop spokespersons are calling a “time-zone glitch,” users were given access to a two-thirds discount on Xbox 360 video games, for longer than the intended 15 minutes. The discount deal was not cut off after the winners claimed their rewards, and was subsequently offered to other customers. Those customers received an order confirmation by e-mail, but later received another e-mail cancelling their order as a “misprint.”

Future . . . [more]

In an article in the current New York Review of Books, “The Torture Memos: The Case Against the Lawyers,” Georgetown law professor David Cole examines the role and culpability of the lawyers of the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who, under the Bush administration, wrote memoranda approving of and authorizing torture by the CIA. Cole says,

The OLC lawyers had the opportunity, and the responsibility, to prevent illegal conduct before it occurred. The lawyers involved in drafting the “torture memos”—Jay Bybee, John Yoo, Daniel Levin, and Steven Bradbury—failed to live up to these obligations. In

Neither a for-profit nor a charity, the Community Interest Company is a new form of corporation, one that is run for the benefit of the community. Unlike a charity, it can generate profits, so long as they are used for the purposes identified in its constitution. The UK now has a legal form, regulations, and a registrar for them, but Canada does not. The CIC is an example of the Social Enterprise, a concept that has been current since 2001, and is still being explored. It might help solve problems like this one. . . . [more]

I’ve been thinking lately about our ability to filter down social media messaging, and the process of building ‘A-lists’. Not a list of popular people in social media, but rather, a personal ‘A-List’ — your inner circle. The goal being closer tracking of the people that you get the most value from.

One of the biggest drawbacks of engaging these tools is the raw number of follow requests. It’s almost impossible, for example, to keep track of hundreds (or thousands) of followers on twitter without using tweetdeck or another tool to group your contacts. Filtering follow lists like this, remains . . . [more]

The government of the United Kingdom is thinking about instituting a ‘single publication’ rule for online defamation. Here’s a story about that issue, with a link to the government’s consultation paper.

The single publication rule is an American rule that makes a limitation period for defamation run from the first publication of the defamatory statement. If the defamation remains available, say through the continuing availability of a book or through a newspaper archive, that does not restart the limitation period. US courts have applied that rule to Internet publications.

Canadian and British courts do not have a single publication rule . . . [more]

I have a friend whom I can frighten by simply pronouncing the word tapioca. Not for her bubble tea or tapioca pudding. But I rather like those rubbery little eyeballs, having been introduced to them in early childhood in the company of sweet sauces and custards. The sticky, slimy concoction is a form of comfort food for me, I guess: a pablum that grownups can eat without shame.

Well, when it comes to comfort food in the form of edible slimy pastes — as it seems to have in this fillip — nothing can match ambuyat, apparently. I recently learned . . . [more]

This is a stub posting on this morning’s Bell decision from the Supreme Court (with the headnote) until we can figure out what its implications are: Bell Canada v. Bell Aliant Regional Communications, 2009 SCC 40, . . . [more]

♬Following the leader, the leader, the leader
We’re following the leader wherever he may go…♬

Lyrics and music by: Sammy Fain, Sammy Cahn, Frank Churchill, Winston Hibler and Ted Sears, from Peter Pan.

The ABA Journal on Sept 17, 2009 reported that O’Melveny and Myers revealed plans to become a high-end fixed-fee leader in their latest 5 year strategic plan.

‘The aim, according to the plan, is to become “the leader in providing high-end legal services on a fixed fee basis, reducing costs to clients and achieving superior economic performance through practice management oriented toward cost-effective client service.’

Woah! Wait . . . [more]

I once dreamt of a career in etymology. I find the concept of where words originate and thus their linguistic application is very interesting. This character trait may have been the cause for the in-drawn breath when I read the Hello Words and Phrases Online, Goodbye Words and Phrases in All Formats post on the Law Librarian Blog today.

It’s been decades since I’ve had any real need for the title. I doubt Word and Phrases is needed in either print or digital except as an instructional device to teach online searching…

With full-text searching online Words and Phrases is

Google today announced its partnership with On Demand Books, developers of the Espresso Book Machine, which can “perfect bind” a copy of a book printed on an attached copier in about three minutes, at a cost of one cent per page. (The press release [PDF] from On Demand Books is somewhat more detailed.)

This video shows the machine in action:

. . . [more]

I was recently introduced to one of Canada’s Military Judges, learning that there are only four such judicial officers, which made me realize how little I know not simply about military law but also about the very structure of the military justice system. I suspect that many, if not most, of our readers are equally unaware of this structure, so I thought I’d provide a few links for the curious to follow.

For an overview, look at the Military Law and Military Justice pages of the Judge Advocate General’s website. As well, there is a clear and well written overview . . . [more]

A Certificate in Copyright Management, originally developed for special librarians, is now open to all. The Certificate is offered from Copyrightlaws.com jointly with the Special Library Association/Click University. It consists of 5 online courses and 2 in-person courses, leading the participant from an introduction to copyright management to digital issues to teaching others in their organizations about copyright. Canadians take the primer on Canadian copyright law rather than the U.S. copyright law primer, and all other courses deal specifically with Canadian and U.S. law as well as international copyright and licensing issues. The first course, which is a 2 week . . . [more]