David Seltzer highlights a disturbing development in international computer crime law and is concerned that the United States may be going that way, too.  In India an individual charged with a cyber crime now has to prove their innocence.  Read more . . .

I think there is some concern over the way ISP's and Search Engines rollover too easily to law enforcement officials' request for information.  Just look at China, where all the major ISP's and search engines have had to quietly agree to make some information available.

It seems one attorney thinks his work product (his papers, research, notes, etc.) is so valuable that he should get a charitable donation for donating them to a library.  This seems to me to be the height of hubris.

Tax Court's denial of a $300,000 charitable deduction claimed by Leslie Stephen Jones, lead counsel for the defense of Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, for the donation of his papers in the case to the University of Texas. Jones v. Commissioner, 129 T.C. 146 (2007).  The Tenth Circuit yesterday affirmed the Tax Court's decision.  Read more . . .

A Florida woman is suing Walt Disney World for banning her from its Tower of Terror ride, saying riding it is a medical necesity.  Denise Mooty says the "G-forces of going up and down" the 199-foot thrill ride help break up fibrous adhesions in her abdomen.  Disney, she says, had decided to limit her to four rides a week, far fewer than the dozens her doctor has ordered.  Mooty was then banned, Disney says, "for causing a disturbance within the presence of other guests and using foul language toward a Cast Member."

When the Dutch ban on smoking in public places went into force last year it had a curious side effect, said Frederik Hartig in Germany's Der Spiegel.  In the 700 or so coffee shops in the Netherlands that are legally entitled to sell marijuana, you're still allowed to light up a joint, but only if there is no tobacco in it.

A New York City woman has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit because she wasn't allowed to bring her dog on the subway.  Estelle Stamm, 65, says that "Wargas," a 120-pound livestock guard dog, should be considered a "service animal" under the Americans With Disabilities Act, because without him she suffers panic attacks.  City lawyers, however, cite web postings in which Stamm writes fondly of a previous dog's "tremendous killing power" and the way "the seas of people part before us" on crowded subways.