Midspot

The Obama administration for the first time is weighing in on a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit and is supporting hefty awards of as much as $150,000 per purloined music track.

The government said the damages range of $750 to $150,000 per violation of the Copyright Act was warranted.

“The remedy of statutory damages for copyright infringement has been the cornerstone of our federal copyright law since 1790, and Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation of the statutory damages provision,” Michelle Bennett, a Department of Justice trial attorney wrote .pdf Sunday to a Massachusetts federal judge weighing challenge to the Copyright Act.

The position — that the Copyright Act’s monetary damages are not unconstitutionally excessive — mirrors the one taken by the Bush administration and should come as no surprise.

Two top lawyers in President Barack Obama’s Justice Department are former RIAA lawyers: Donald Verrilli Jr. is the associate deputy attorney general who brought down Grokster and fought to prevent a retrial in the Jammie Thomas case. Then there’s the No. 2 in the DOJ, Tom Perrilli. As Verrilli’s former boss, Perrilli argued in 2002 that internet service providers should release customer information to the RIAA even without a court subpoena.

Presidential administrations often intervene in lawsuits in which the constitutionality of a federal law is in question. This case concerns a former Boston University student challenging a peer-to-peer file sharing case.

Still, parts of the government’s brief sounded as if it was taken from the RIAA’s public relations playbook.

“Congress sought to account for both the difficulty of quantifying damages in the context of copyright infringement and the need to deter millions of users of new technology from infringing copyrighted work in an environment where many violators believe that their activities will go unnoticed,” Bennett wrote.

The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 individuals for file sharing the last five years. It is winding down the campaign and is lobbying internet service providers to discontinue service to copyright scofflaws.

via Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track | Threat Level from Wired.com.

When there were old-school parking meters in New York, quarters were precious.

One day, I’m walking down the street and a guy comes up to me and says, “Do you have a dollar for four quarters?” He held out his hand with four quarters in it.

Curious, I engaged with him. I took out a dollar bill and took the four quarters.

Then he turned to me and said, “can you spare a quarter?”

What a fascinating interaction.

First, he engaged me. A fair trade, one that perhaps even benefited me, not him.

Now, we have a relationship. Now, he knows I have a quarter in my hand, even. So his next request is much more difficult to turn down. If he had just walked up to me and said, “can you spare a quarter,” he would have been invisible.

Too often, we close the sale before we even open it.

Interact first, sell second.

via Seth’s Blog: The panhandler’s secret.

This is just plain brilliant. Makes you wonder how someone with this type of sales ability is panhandling…

I think Joe Biden was president for a few minutes there, today, if my jailhouse reading of constitutional law is correct. The constitution says that “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office,” the president-elect has to take an oath of office. The 20th Amendment says that “The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January,” and that “If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified.”

Biden was sworn in before noon; Obama wasn’t. What are your memories of the brief Biden presidency? Yo Yo Ma played the whole time!

UPDATE 1:21 p.m.: My friend Ken Katkin, an actual constitutional law professor, wrote this on my Facebook page (Ken, please don’t sue me!) in response to another friend who asked whether the oath weren’t meaningless:

No, the oath is *not* legally meaningless, even if it is a ritual. Art. II Sec 1. Cl. 8 of the US Const. clearly states that “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following oath. . . ” Therefore, from 12:00 noon until about 12:01 pm today, the President of the USA was Condoleeza Rice. From 12:01 until about 12:03 pm the President of the USA was Joe Biden. Interestingly, this means that, technically, Obama was *not* the first African-American President! (And yes, I actually am a constitutional law professor!).

I was right! Joe Biden WAS PRESIDENT!

via Remember When Biden Was President? - City Desk - Washington City Paper.

An English driver has beaten a 98 MPH speed camera ticket by re-purchasing his Honda Civic and paying a firm to test the vehicle. The Civic’s top speed as tested? 85 MPH.

21-year-old Dale Lyle was shocked to receive the ticket for going 98 MPH in the mail not only because he has a perfect driving record and no longer owned the car in question anymore, but because his 1.3-liter Honda Civic could barely get up to highway speed, much less do nearly 100 MPH.

via Offbeat News: Driver Beats 98 MPH Speeding Ticket By Proving Honda Civic Can Only Hit 85 MPH.

I think there should be some type of IQ test required before you can vote. Do we really want someone that thinks like this, able to vote for our next leader?

The number 1 reason businesses fail is because they don’t have enough money. Whether you plan on owning a business or not, this is important for you to know because you work for someone. And that someone is a business. The people who tend to keep their job the longest are usually good at sales because if you are bringing in revenue it doesn’t make sense for your employer to fire you.

Whether you are an engineer, a receptionist, or a manager you should learn how to sell. I know selling sucks, but the skills you learn will come in handy. You sell yourself all the time, such as when you go to a job interview you are selling a company on why they should hire you. Here are a few things you need to know if you want to be a great sales person:

via Want to be successful? Learn how to sell!.

Date: 2008-12-19, 6:05PM PST

I am a born again Christian. Why is this a problem for people????! I have a house that’s MINE and I PAID FOR IT. I also have a basement apartment for rent. It’s a great space [and] I’m charging very little for it, $480 monthly, for the right tenant. I know it’s ILLEGAL to require a Christian in the apartment, against the human rights. That’s why I NEVER put this in my ad. Why then does it keep getting taken down?

HERE IS THE AD I POSTED, AND THE AD THAT KEEPS GETTING REMOVED:

via Funny: Worst Apartment Rental Ad Ever.

If you have ever watched Suze Orman on TV you know this brash woman has some tough love for those that spend their money foolishly. Her “Can You Afford It” segment is my personal favorite part of the show where she analysis peoples cash flow and then tells them if they can afford whatever item it is they crave.

Normally her book sells for $10 on Amazon but you can get it now until January 15th from Oprah’s site absolutely free!

Get it now!