Can the law keep up with technology?

Should a person be sued for something they tweet? Courtney Love is being sued by fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir for just that. Dawn alleges that Love made derogatory comments about her..

The laws were not set up to cover such a thing as technology changes and evolves quicker than the laws in the US. Amanda Bonnen tweeted about her former landlord " Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty things it's okay." Horizon management sued Bonnen for libel and wants $50K in damages. Is this ok, are we in the US becoming too litigious? What about free speech? Is anyone really harmed by such comments?

The article brings up a good question -- is the web a unique space or an extension of real space? Which laws apply?

Amanda Knox lawyer makes emotional plea for acquittal

A US student studying in Italy has been accused of murder and held in Italian prison since earlier this year. Initially the US media was covering the story and false allegations have surrounded the case from the start.

Knox's Italian attorney blames the news media for tainting public opinion and committing character assassination. " Calling Knox a victim herself, Carlo della Vedova said the police had rushed to judgment following the murder, leaving Knox to fend off a myriad of false media reports regarding the crime."

Spate of suicides by foreign maids in Lebanon sheds light on abuse

Since 2008 about 1 foreign worker has died each week. These women are mistreated-- denied time off, work in excess of 10 hours daily and in some instances are denied food and physically abused. Upon arrival their passports are confiscated leaving these women with no way out.

The absence of government regulation and labor laws in the Middle East leaves these women more vulnerable. Recently however the Lebanese government issued a uniform contract for all maids which calls for 1 day off per week. Even with this contract, enforcement is difficult as racism against the poor and darker skinned population is rampant.

Transgender obituaries, he, she, or both?

I came across Mike Penners (late Los Angeles Times Sports writer) obituary (a.k.a Christine Daniels) on Stinky Journalism. The ethical question is whether or not we should refer to transgender individuals by their sex before or after their sex-change surgery in their obituaries.

Some journalists referred to Mike Penner as he and some called her she in her obituary. I think this case raises a serious question because it is unethical to call afamily or friends after the loss of their loved one and ask "What is Mike or Christines gender?" But how do we know, how the transgender individual, their family, friends, and colleagues want their loved one to be remembered?

Personally if I were assigned to write Mike Penner's obituary, I would have referred to him as Mike because he was born male and wrote his sports articles in the LA Times using his name Mike Penner in 2008. Unless I was told otherwise to refer to her as Christine Daniels. Further I would be much more remorseful if I released an erroneous obituary. Anyway I have never written an obituary. If you were assigned to write a transgender persons obituary, what ethical precautions would you or could you take before releasing it? And how would make your final decision?

The above photos show the late former LA Times sports journalist, Mike Penner on right. His transformation into Christine Daniels, is on left. (Credit: Gawker)

Couple didn't crash White House dinner, husband says

In the DC Area, and perhaps in some of the larger cities in the US the hottest story is the now infamous couple that crashed the first White House State dinner hosted for the Indian Prime Minister.

Tareq Salahi and his wife Michaele Salahi state that they showed up to the dinner, to check in and see if their names were placed on the attendee list and the Secret Service let them in. They assumed they had succeeded in receiving an invitation through a contact at the Department of Defense.

But, Department of Defense employee Michele Jones released a statement that she did not try to get the Salahi's into the State dinner, since then several emails have surfaced indicating the contrary -- she was trying to get the Salahi's invitations but appears was not successful.

If in fact she wasn't successful how did they get in? How could the Secret Service cause such a security breach? Someone isn't being honest here, it remains to be seen who that is.

Can Adobe and Apple Play Nicely When–And If–The Tablet Shows Up?

This is in line with a discussion we had at our last class of online publishing using tablets. Both Apple and Conde Naste are reported to be producing a tablet device that will allow publishers (assuming magazines and newspapers and not just books?) to deliver content to users easily.

Apple's is so secretive and won't acknowledge a tablet exists, won't open their platform so Adobe can develop content for it and could potentially miss out on this burgeoning market!

MA police question newsman who saw checkpoint arrest

Here is an interesting article that happened where I live in North Andover. I see the picture posted but what I'm not sure of is what really happened. For instance, is this photographer keeping quiet because he doesn't want to get involved or is it something else? If he did see something, should he report to the very police that are in question?

MA cops question newsman who saw checkpoint arrest