law

Honestly, that free speech thing can be tiresome.

People end up endlessly expressing themselves and, every second of the day, someone's going to get hurt. Online, that is.

It's too easy to take out your iPhone and type "you liberal pig Euro a***ole," or some other type of spontaneous flattery.

The island of Grenada has decided that it has had enough. Its lawmakers wish to designate the country a decorous online enclave in the midst of the vile, open-mouthed free-for-all that is the Web.

So they have passed a law that makes it a criminal … Read more

If you happen to be involved in a trial that has severe racial overtones, you should perhaps know that mockery might not be the most appropriate mode of expression.

Don West, lawyer for George Zimmerman -- the man accused of murdering Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. -- began his client's defense with a knock-knock joke, so perhaps the stage was already set for a different sort of theater.

You might imagine, though, that if you're a West family member, you'd temper your need to, say, leap to your favored social network to add to that mockery, with … Read more

When is a joke not a joke? When the police say so.

This seems to be the indication in the case of Justin Carter -- 18 years old at the time of the alleged incident -- who has reportedly been sitting in a Texas jail since March.

It all began after a game a "League of Legends." An argument is said to have spilled over to Facebook.

During this argument, Carter was allegedly accused by another gamer of being insane. Gamers say those kinds of things.

Carter's father Jack told KVUE-TV that his son replied: "Oh … Read more

I've been feeling a little crabby this week.

People have been annoying me for seemingly no good reason. But it hasn't yet gotten to that stage where I want to build a nuclear weapon and set it upon them.

I mention this only because, should I reach that demented level, I cannot use iTunes in the manufacture of that weapon.

You see, I have an iTunes account. And, thanks to the diligent Jim Dalrymple at The Loop, I now realize that I have already agreed not to design or produce nuclear weapons with the help of Apple's … Read more

Before, she didn't like her nose. After, she was happy.

Before, she had a nose job. After, she sued.

What happened in between was that 24-year-old Catherine Manzione's nose job was there for all to see on the Modern Contours Web site of Dr. Grigoriy Mashkevich.

Manzione had her surgery in 2010. It was only this year, however, that she discovered that her "before" and "after" contours were displayed to the general public.

You might have heard the following word before (it's a favorite of those suing for unlawful use of their images): … Read more

Should you have ever posted an image of yourself in a bikini on Facebook, it is likely that you are not entirely ashamed of your features.

Should that image also include a cardboard Snoop Dogg, you are perhaps aiming for a touch of humor, or a hope that, one day, Snoop sees it and favors you with his patronage.

However, should you be 17 and a school administrator uses your Facebook bikini image to tell a story of how photos live online forever, you would surely sue for $2 million.

This, at least, is the decision of Chelsea Chaney, who … Read more

It's as if Michelangelo's paintings had been used to reinforce a religion he didn't believe in. Or something.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is continuing to bare his angst about the seemingly endless revelations concerning the National Security Agency's liberal use of technology.

Last week, he expressed his frustrations to Latin American journalists when they chatted with him at San Francisco Airport. He compared America to Russia.

Appearing on CNN with Piers Morgan on Thursday night, Woz revealed other emotions.

Asked whether he felt troubled that the inventions of technologists like himself were being used for potentially … Read more

The temptation to bully can be too great to resist.

If you don't like something or the someone who's done that something, you want to squish them -- if you're bigger than they are, that is.

One method often used is to get a fancy lawyer to write a cease-and-desist letter, designed to stop the recipient from breathing.

The township of West Orange, N.J., decided that Jake Freivald was a nail for its hammer. He had exercised sufficient temerity to operate a Web site called WestOrange.info.

It's not a fancy site. And it certainly … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. -- If you live in Austin, San Francisco, New York, or any number of other cites, the sight of hundreds of Santa Clauses prowling around, ducking in and out of bars, department stores, or parks as part of the annual SantaCon has probably become second nature.

But imagine seeing dozens of St. Nicks walking toward you on a San Francisco street in 1994 or 1995 , when the Internet was anything but ubiquitous, when culture jamming was a phrase no one had heard before, and Improv Everywhere, the Yes Men, and flash mobs were still a thing of the … Read more