Peter Black's Freedom to Differ

Help needed for my upcoming 2010 election blog

Sometime in the next few weeks it is likely that Julia Gillard will call the federal election.  Although I find all elections endlessly fun and fascinating, I am particularly looking forward to the looming showdown between our new Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Tony Abbott, as well dozens of exciting local races and the likely rise of the Greens in the Senate (and maybe in one or two House of Representatives seats as well).  I plan to maintain a blog focusing the election as soon as it is called.  At the moment I hope to post to this blog:

• a daily post that highlights five must-read news/opinion pieces from the mainstream media;
• embedded YouTube videos, both party approved and otherwise;
• my own political commentary and predictions;
• the occasional podcast (maybe); and
• regular analysis of how our the parties are utilising the internet as part of their campaign (including any legal issues that may arise).

I am keen to involve as many different people and opinions as I can into this blog.  So if you would like to contribute a regular post, or just get something off your chest just once during the campaign, just let me know.

In the meantime, I have two things I need to decide and am seeking your input on.  First, what blogging platform should I use for the blog?  Here is my thinking at the moment:

• Posterous is currently my preferred platform for a few different reasons.  I am familiar with it, it handles multiple authors easily, it is free, it allows me to autopost to a variety of other services. 
• Typepad is what I currently use for this blog, so I am obviously familiar with it.  However, as I would want to use a new domain and ideally would have several authors, it would not be free.  It also isn't as customisable as Wordpress.
• A self-hosted Wordpress site would be good but I've never set one up before and I'm not sure I have the technical expertise to do so seamlessly.  It would also require me to pay for hosting.
• I've never used Squarespace but it looks like a good platform (although in the past few days I have read some negative reports) that would be easy for me to maintain and give the site a professional look.
• I guess there is also Blogger but I have never really used it either.

Let me know what you think.

Second, I also need to settle on a name and URL for this blog.  I think I've narrowed it down to these two options:

So, just to recap, let me know what blogging platform you think I should use, cast your vote for the name and URL of the blog, and let me know if you would like to be involved.

Blogging at Freedom to Differ for over four years

I was playing around with the settings on my blog today and I discovered that I started blogging here at Freedom to Differ just over four years ago (since 7 June 2006).  For a whole range of reasons, the focus of this blog has evolved over time, as has the frequency and style of posts.  But it is has always reflected what has interested and entertained me at any given in point at time.  At the moment this blog seems to be having a bit of a resurrection - I'm blogging regularly again and the hits and comments are correspondingly increasing - and hopefully that will continue for some time.

If you have read the blog regularly or even rarely over the past for years, I would like to say thank you.  I always appreciate the interest people have shown in this blog, and especially the comments (or more and more today the tweets) on the topics I have been blogging about.  Those comments have enriched my understanding and knowledge on a wide range of topics, and have made maintaining this blog so enjoyable.  I hope you have also gained something small from what I have posted here over the years.

This wasn't my first blog, and it almost certainly won't be my last, but for a variety of reasons it always be special to me.  I'm looking forward to another four years of blogging here at Freedom to Differ.

Fictillimanjaro raffle: support Evan Smith raise money for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation

My friend Evan Smith (aka @fictillius) is raising money for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro:

Inspired by Gary Gerstle who completed the climb in 2009 I will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in 2010. Man Investments has always been a proud supporter of Humpty Dumpty and I am looking forward to being directly involved in raising money for this great cause and taking on the challenge of climbing to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro.

It’s hard to think that in a country as prosperous as ours the life and wellbeing of a child can come down whether or not medical equipment is available at their location. So while the governments fight over funding and reform, make an immediate difference by donating to this fantastic cause of helping put kids back together again.

In case you don't know, the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has been providing support for children's services in NSW since 1996. Through the overwhelming corporate and community assistance Humpty has grown to support more than 60 children's hospitals and health services across NSW and two in East Timor.

Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro is a big challenge for a great cause, so I would encourage you all to support Evan and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation either by donating here, or by entering in this amazing raffle:

This raffle will be the major fundraising initiative for raising the $50,000 for Humpty Dumpty. Funds raised will go to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation to purchase essential medical equipment for children’s hospitals across Australia and East Timor

Prizes:

• MacBook Pro 13.3″ 2.4Ghz / 4GB / 250GB / DL Superdrive / Bluetooth / Airport
• Helicopter sunset flight and dinner package in Sydney
• iPad 16GB WiFi +3G
• Canon PiXMA iP3600 photo printer
• Two NRL official merchandise packs

For more information on the prizes head over to the prizes page

Tickets:

• $50 each
• $100 for 3
• $200 for 7
• $300 for 11
• $400 for 15
• $500 for 20

You can request tickets at the purchase tickets page or contact me on 0402834640

Payment & Tax: Payment by cash or Direct Debit only* Ticket purchases are NOT tax deductible**

Draw date and rules: The winners will be drawn on Friday 23rd July. Winners will get to choose their prize based on the order of the draw. Tickets limited to 1500

* Please use the request tickets page and select your payment method, an email will be sent to you with payment details

**If you wish to make a tax deductible donation this can be done via my Everyday Hero page where you will be issued with a tax receipt by Everyday Hero. All donations via Everyday Hero are tax deductible and no tickets for this raffle will be issued for any tax deductible donations.

My friend Evan Smith (aka @fictillius) is raising money for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro:

Inspired by Gary Gerstle who completed the climb in 2009 I will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in 2010. Man Investments has always been a proud supporter of Humpty Dumpty and I am looking forward to being directly involved in raising money for this great cause and taking on the challenge of climbing to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro.

It’s hard to think that in a country as prosperous as ours the life and wellbeing of a child can come down whether or not medical equipment is available at their location. So while the governments fight over funding and reform, make an immediate difference by donating to this fantastic cause of helping put kids back together again.

In case you don't know, the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has been providing support for children's services in NSW since 1996. Through the overwhelming corporate and community assistance Humpty has grown to support more than 60 children's hospitals and health services across NSW and two in East Timor.

Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro is a big challenge for a great cause, so I would encourage you all to support Evan and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation either by donating here, or by entering in this amazing raffle:

This raffle will be the major fundraising initiative for raising the $50,000 for Humpty Dumpty. Funds raised will go to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation to purchase essential medical equipment for children’s hospitals across Australia and East Timor

Prizes:

• MacBook Pro 13.3″ 2.4Ghz / 4GB / 250GB / DL Superdrive / Bluetooth / Airport
• Helicopter sunset flight and dinner package in Sydney
• iPad 16GB WiFi +3G
• Canon PiXMA iP3600 photo printer
• Two NRL official merchandise packs

For more information on the prizes head over to the prizes page

Tickets:

• $50 each
• $100 for 3
• $200 for 7
• $300 for 11
• $400 for 15
• $500 for 20

You can request tickets at the purchase tickets page or contact me on 0402834640

Payment & Tax: Payment by cash or Direct Debit only* Ticket purchases are NOT tax deductible**

Draw date and rules: The winners will be drawn on Friday 23rd July. Winners will get to choose their prize based on the order of the draw. Tickets limited to 1500

* Please use the request tickets page and select your payment method, an email will be sent to you with payment details

**If you wish to make a tax deductible donation this can be done via my Everyday Hero page where you will be issued with a tax receipt by Everyday Hero. All donations via Everyday Hero are tax deductible and no tickets for this raffle will be issued for any tax deductible donations.

Should we use the criminal law to punish HIV transmission?

Last week I posted to this blog, The criminalisation of HIV: apportioning responsibility for knowingly spreading HIV, which provoked quite a bit of discussion on this blog, as well as on Facebook.  Therefore, I thought I should post a link to this journal article, Should We Use the Criminal Law to Punish HIV Transmission?, published in the International Journal of Law in Context.  You can download and read the article at SSRN here.

Fictillimanjaro: support Evan Smith raise money for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation

My friend Evan Smith (aka @fictillius) is raising money for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro:

Inspired by Gary Gerstle who completed the climb in 2009 I will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in 2010. Man Investments has always been a proud supporter of Humpty Dumpty and I am looking forward to being directly involved in raising money for this great cause and taking on the challenge of climbing to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro.

It’s hard to think that in a country as prosperous as ours the life and wellbeing of a child can come down whether or not medical equipment is available at their location. So while the governments fight over funding and reform, make an immediate difference by donating to this fantastic cause of helping put kids back together again.

In case you don't know, the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has been providing support for children's services in NSW since 1996. Through the overwhelming corporate and community assistance Humpty has grown to support more than 60 children's hospitals and health services across NSW and two in East Timor.

Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro is a big challenge for a great cause, so I would encourage you all to support Evan and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation by donating here.

I need a new image for my blog banner

You may have noticed that I recently changed the image I use in my blog banner away from a picture of Burleigh Heads at the Gold Coast, to a picture of the QUT Law School.  It seemed like an appropriate picture, given that is where I work, and where I write the majority of posts for this blog.  However, I'm beginning to get the impression that not everyone likes that picture.  For a start I've had a few people ask me why I had selected such a boring, nondescript photo, but then this evening a colleague of mine at QUT (who will remain nameless) was a little more direct: "That new photo of C Block on your blog just freaked me out. It's an ugly building plus it's work." 

So I think I should select a new photo for my blog banner.  Let me know if you have any ideas by leaving a comment below, or sending me a tweet @peterjblack.

An update: EFA, a trip to Sydney, back to QUT and beyond

For the past four months I have been working for Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), as the campaign manager of the Open Internet campaign against mandatory internet filtering.  It was a real privilege to work with the dedicated and hard working EFA Board, and Nic Suzor and Colin Jacobs in particular, and I am proud of how the campaign has been fought to date, and will continue to be fought in the weeks, months and maybe even years ahead.  Even though I am no longer working for EFA, I will continue to participate in the national conversation surrounding internet censorship in my capacity as an academic at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

I am currently enjoying a week or two off before I return to QUT on 24 May.  However, before I start back, I will be down in Sydney next week (from Wednesday 19 May to Sunday 23 May) for TEDx Sydney, a few meetings, and to catch up with friends.  If you are in Sydney next week and would like to catch up, just let me know.

While I am looking forward to returning to my research and teaching at QUT, I must confess that I really enjoyed being directly involved in the debate surrounding the internet filter, instead of just commenting from the sidelines as an academic.  I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself returning to the frontline of politics and policy at some point in the future.

Like Freedom to Differ?

If you enjoy reading the content on this blog, Freedom to Differ, you can now take advantage of Facebook's new social plugins and "Like" this blog.  You can find the "Like" button in the right hand column of this blog.  Apart from showing to other readers that you like this blog, if you click on the "Like" button any new posts to this blog will automatically appear in your news feed on Facebook.

Ask me anything

A few weeks ago I added a feature to my Tumblr, Freedom to Dither, that allowed people to ask me questions.  Although I was a little concerned about the Formspring effect, where the questions that are asked seem to inevitably descend into questions about sex, I was very pleasantly surprised.  Almost all of the questions were G-rated, and a large number of them were actually quite interesting.  Unfortunately on one quiet Sunday night there were one or two people who spammed me with a large number of very personal, even abusive questions.  In response to this, I decided to stop answering questions.

However, I have been surprised by the number of people who have told me over the last week or so that they actually enjoyed my answers to the questions.  What I found particularly rewarding was that most of these comments came from people I have spoken to in real life in the last week, and most of them were people who were not on Twitter.  Given that I also really enjoyed engaging in the Q&A on Tumblr, I have decided to resurrect the ask me feature. 

As I know that some people felt my answers were spamming their Twitter stream, I will be more judicious with the questions that I answer this time.  (Although you should feel free to block me or stop following me without telling me - I don't take it personally when people stop following me.)  And of course, if the same abuse happens again this time, I will once again stop responding questions.

Anyway, let's see how this goes ... ask me anything.

Michael Rubin: "Morning Groans and Icelandic Humor"

1. It’s a bit early for Iceland volcano jokes. We should wait awhile for the dust to settle.

2. I see that America has declared war on Iceland. Apparently they are accusing them of harbouring a “weapon of ash eruption”.

3. It was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes be spread over Europe.

4. Iceland goes bankrupt, then it manages to set itself on fire. This has insurance scam written all over it.

5. Iceland, we wanted your cash, not your ash.

6. Waiter, there's volcanic ash in my soup. I know, it's a no-fly zone.

7. Richard Curtis is working on a new rom-com about people stuck in an airport who fall in love. The working title is "Lava Actually."

8. I left my house yesterday and was hit on the head by a bag of frozen sausages, a chocolate gateau, and some fish fingers. I realised it must be the fallout from Iceland.

9. Volcano in Iceland. What next, Earthquake in Asda?

10. Woke this morning to find every surface in the house covered in a layer of dust and a foul stench of sulfur in the air. No change, I’ve been married to that bone-idle slob for 20 years.

via corner.nationalreview.com

JibJab: Never a Year Like '09

2009 would not be complete with a JibJab video looking back at the year:

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Learn how they made the video here.

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas!

I'm sorry blogging has been somewhat sporadic - at best - this year.  Nonetheless, as I have done for the past three years (see 2006 here, 2007 here, and 2008 here) the next week or so will feature a series of posts that wrap up the year and the decade, including:

• Best of the web in 2009;
• Best videos of 2009;
• Best TV in 2009;
• Best posts from 2009;
• The best of the decade;
• Year in review podcast;
• Looking forward to 2010.

So stay tuned ...

40 Hour Famine Lock-In: 40 people, 40 hours, One house, One Mission!

This weekend I am doing the 40 hour famine to raise money for World Vision Australia.  However, rather than just sitting by myself feeling hungry for 40 hours, I have been lucky enough to be selected for the 40 Hour Famine Lock-In. 

I am one of 40 people who will be locked in the Big Brother House at Dreamworld for 40 hours to raise awareness and money to help children, families and communities in desperate need.  Learn more at the 40 Hour Famine Lock-In website here.

You can follow my time in the 40 Hour Famine Lock-In live here, as well as on Twitter, Twitpic, Facebook and Ustream (yes, there will be a video stream apparently).

However, in addition to following my time in 40 Hour Famine Lock-In, I would also encourage you to donate whatever you can to World Vision Australia.  You can donate by clicking on this link.  Please let me know if you make a donation so I can keep track of how much money I have individually raised.

Thank you for your support.

Golden Gavel next Tuesday 11 August

The Golden Gavel is on next Tuesday 11 August at Vinos Eagle Street Pier ... and once again I will be competing.

The Golden Gavel is an annual event held by the Queensland Young Lawyers in coordination with the Australian Young Lawyers Committee.  The Golden Gavel is a public speaking competition for young lawyers.  Each state holds a state final to determine which young lawyer can give the most interesting, and hopefully, amusing speech.  Previous topics have included:

• Lawyers and Penis Envy: My Firm is Bigger than Your Firm;
• If Dr. Suess were a Justice of the High Court;
• Corporate Greed Is Good;
• The Best Six Minutes of My Life;
• Punch Drunk Love: The Legal Office Christmas Party.

The winner from each state or territory attends the National Championships - where the most amusing lawyer is chosen.

Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday 11 August 2009;
Time: 6.00pm for a 6:30pm start;
Venue:Vinos, Eagle Street Pier (Eagle Street Brisbane). 
Price: $10 per member; $20 non-members 
Catering: Beer, wine and finger food will be provided 

You can RSVP by downloading the application form here.

Please come along and support me (or someone else I guess).

Blogging resumes soon

Watch this space ...

So what is happening with this blog?

I've just realised that it has been almost two months since I posted anything to this little blog.  Unlike my previous blogging hiatus, this blogging break was not planned in any way, it just happened.  My absence from the blogosphere was not because there was nothing worth blogging about or nothing I wanted to say.  In fact there have actually been several issues and stories I have wanted to blog about over the last two months: Microsoft's Politics and Technology Forum in Canberra and Joe Trippi's visit to Brisbane; Senator Conroy's ongoing attempt to censor the internet in Australia; the Queensland State election; the High Court challenge to the Australian Government's stimulus package; the seeming convergence of Twitter and Facebook; Hilary: The Movie; and the role of the news media in the digital age ...

So why no updates?  Primarily because I have been very busy at work since the semester started in February.  The roll out of a core new constitutional law unit, that utilises a wide range of new communication technologies like podcasts and wikis, has consumed more of my time than I had anticipated when I designed the learning and technology methodology and considered the pedagogy.  However in addition to frequently being time poor, I have also been finding other forums to communicate my ideas and interests; mainly Twitter but also the traditional media.  The increasing amount of radio and print media interviews I have been doing has allowed me to express my views and passions to a wider audience than this humble little blog.

So what is happening with this blog?  The honest answer is I don't know.  I'm not going to shut it down just yet but I also don't know how viable it is moving forward.  In the second half of this year I plan to commence a PhD which means that I am only going to get busier and busier, presumably making it harder and harder to blog.  Ages ago I thought about opening it up as a group blog, but I can't really imagine anyone wanting to join this blog as part of a team of bloggers.  I might make it more of a portal to some of my other work and publications.  Or I might just keep it here as a space I can go to vent when nowhere else wants to hear what I have to say.  But I'll make that decision another day.

In the meantime, feel free to follow my mundane life on Twitter @PeterBlackQUT.

RIP Sir John Mortimer

Although Sir John Mortimer passed away a week ago, if you haven't read his obituary written by Geoffrey Robertson in  The Guardian, you really should.  It reminds us there was more to his extraordinary life than the creation of Rumpole of the Bailey:

John was a successful silk - he had become QC in 1966 - having reinvented himself as an advocate in murder trials. He found a macabre fascination in the pattern of bloodstains, and acquired a singular ability to charm expert prosecution witnesses out of their preconceptions. He was the greatest cross-examiner of such experts ("the art of cross-examination is not to examine crossly") and many alleged murderers owed their liberty to his ability to draw out a doubt in the apparently closed mind.

But nothing in the training of the English bar and bench had equipped it for the underground press, and when, in 1971, a largely unreadable magazine called Oz published a cartoon strip featuring Rupert Bear with an erection, its editors were treated as if they had committed treason. QCs, their cab-rank principles forgotten, fled from the proffered defence brief.

A few days before the trial – for conspiracy to corrupt public morals, an offence carrying a maximum of life imprisonment – Richard Neville and I showed John the offending publication while he was lunching a young woman, also named Penelope. They giggled. We begged him to take the case. "Goody," was his response.

Thus began his second life, as defender of the apparently indefensible, as creator of Rumpole and much else besides, and, from 1972, following his divorce, as husband of Penelope Gollop, Penny the second, and father of Emily and Rosie. His first wife died in 1999. Two autobiographies, Clinging to the Wreckage (1982) and Murderers and Other Friends (1994) speak of a life anchored in family, yet lived in a daily dramatic jumble of court cases, plays and television series, sharply observing the vanities of the world through the blur of diminishing eyesight.

John retired from the bar in 1981. Rumpole was the barrister he wanted to be, but wasn't. He was too nervous – petrified before a big case, and diffident about his own abilities. However, his final speeches, meticulously handwritten, were minor works of literature. Almost alone at the bar, he could laugh a case out of court (had he stayed, he would have made a fortune in libel defences). His forensic contribution to the Oz case was effectively to end censorship for the written word, first for literature, by arguing the appeal which freed Last Exit to Brooklyn (the 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr that was prosecuted under obscenity laws for its treatment of sex, drugs and violence), then by persuading the jury to reject the moral corruption charge, and going on to demolish, at the appeal, Judge Michael Argyle's directions on obscenity.

Of course pornography corrupted – starting with the policemen charged with enforcing the laws against it, many of whom were later jailed for taking bribes. John put on his wig and took off his glasses, so he could not see some of the trash he was called upon to defend with a success that drew rage from Mary Whitehouse and an extravagant attack from the Times, which claimed that no jury was immune to his charm.

The Williams committee on obscenity, reporting in 1980, agreed with Kenneth Tynan in crediting John with achieving a de facto freedom for the written word by his victorious defence of Inside Linda Lovelace (1973), a shabby little book that would have gone unnoticed had the DPP's office not decided to dignify it with a prosecution, after which it sold a million copies.

Read the full obituary here.

Vote in the 2008 Weblog Awards

As I've blogged before (see here), I am very excited and honoured that this blog, Peter Black's Freedom to Differ, has been nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award in the Best Law Blog category.  The other nominated blogs (or blawgs) are without doubt some of the leading blawgs in the world and are written by some first class lawyers and legal scholars, so I feel horribly out of my depth.  Nonetheless it is a real thrill to be nominated. 

Anyway, voting is now open for one week, closing on 13 January 2009.  You can vote for my blog (or one of the other finalists I suppose) here.

The other finalists in the Best Law Blog category are:

• Overlawyered
• Above the Law
• Photo Attorney
• WSJ Law Blog
• How Appealing
• Volokh Conspiracy
• Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog
• Peter Black's Freedom to Differ
• Citizen Media Law Project
• MyShingle

Again, you can vote here.  Please vote to help me achieve very modest goal of not coming last!  Thanks.

Academic blogging

Jeremy Gans has decided to bring a halt to his Charterblog, which for the past year has followed the progress of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.  Although this is a loss to the Australian blawgosphere and to anyone interested in human rights and charters of rights, it is hard to fault his logic in bringing the blog to an end:

Why stop now?  I made the decision to stop the blog today back in around July.  Charterblog is, as readers will well know, a very intensive blog . I’ve managed it so far, but I’ve long known that it isn’t sustainable (especially for someone with two regular jobs.) My options were either to make the blog less intense or to make it finite. I didn’t hesitate in choosing the latter. Better an intense, temporary blog, than a perpetual and lame series of links,  one-liners and the odd meaningful post. A year-long blog makes aesthetic sense and matches the year-by-year nature of the Charter’s development too.

As well, 2009 is a big year for me in my academic job ... Finally, recently, it’s become clear that it’s probably too early for a perpetual blog charting the development of Charter jurisprudence, as the pace of that development (if, indeed, it is happening at all) is too glacial to sustain a case-by-case analysis.  The result is too many frustrated posts that begin ‘Yet again…’. If I kept this up, I might become jaded!

In wrapping his blog he also thanks his employers, including the University of Melbourne:

Blogging carries no cred with DEST and even the folks at Melbourne Uni who defined ‘knowledge transfer’ can’t seem to get their heads around the concept. And my particular blogging style and views bring political risks, not only for SARC but (as it turns out) for Melbourne Law School too. I’m fortunate indeed that neither has raised the slightest objection. That’s quite appropriate, of course, given Charter s. 15, but it’s also courageous, especially when there’s a bully on the block.

Finally, he endorses the benefits of blogging for academics:

I can’t recommend blogging highly enough to any academic whose field includes regular contemporary developments. A commitment to regular, public and comprehensive commentary forces an engagement with the subject-matter that exceeds any other academic endeavour, even a PhD. And the informality of blogging is a perfect antidote to the jargon and circuitous nature of formal academic discourse, not to mention the obsequiousness and pomposity of the law.

Read more here. 

Whenever I read statements like that, and academically rigorous blogs like Jeremy's, I always reflect on my little blog and wonder whether it is too frivolous or whether there is too much linking and pop culture and not enough original legal analysis.  However ultimately I always conclude that I like my blog the way it is - I think my mix of posts is part of what keeps it interesting to read.  And perhaps more importantly, it reflects me and what interests me, which means that I enjoy writing it.  So at least as far as my blog is concerned, I'm quite happy to be labelled as a bit of a pop academic.

Best legal posts from 2008

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...

Here are what I consider to be some of the "best" law-themed posts from 2008.  Again, some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent what interests me and what I have posted on this blog in 2008.

Free speech:

• More on Australian online censorship - one of my earliest posts on the Australian Government's policy to filter the internet.
• Even more on Australian online censorship - a another post on the Australian Government's policy to filter the internet.
• Plans to filter the internet - a summary of some of the early commentary.
• More on ISP filtering  - a summary of some of the technical problems of filtering the internet.
• Kids' safety online - how we can make the internet safe for children without government censorship.
• The Great E-Barrier Reef - the slippery slope argument.
• Forum: Internet filtering and censorship proposals - a group of us live-blogged the UNSW Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre forum to explore aspects of the Australian Government's current internet filtering and censorship proposals.

Defamation and Privacy:

• JuicyCampus.com ... only in America - a website that basically invites defamatory content.
• The end? - are we seeing the end of privacy?
• Linking is not defamation - a note on a decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Copyright:

• Transferring your CD to your computer is not a problem in Australia - inspired by a report that in the US the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was going after personal use, I look at the legal position in Australia.
• "DRM (on music) is dead. Long live DRM (on video)!" - the complex reality of DRM. 
• Nine Network Australia Pty Limited v IceTV Pty Limited - a quick post when the Full Federal Court handed down their decision in this interesting copyright case.
• High Court begins hearing Ice TV - a quick recap of the first day of hearings.
• If the MPAA did handbags - a very funny spoof.
• UNSW thinking about stopping free wi-fi ... what is this really about? - some musings on the attitude many young people have towards copyright law.
• It doesn't matter what you call it - copyright infringement is against the law.
• Tech Wired Australia podcast - I was interviewed by Ben Grubb from Tech Wired Australia on the iiNet copyright lawsuit.

Other:

• MySpace crimes - two interesting pieces of news to note relating to people using MySpace for criminal purposes.
• The ethics of "stealing" WiFi - Ars Technica had a thoughtful post on the ethics of "stealing" WiFi.
• "Law professors dress scruffily, and we need to do something about that" - what should a law lecturer in Australia wear to work?
• Service via Facebook? - although service via Facebook was refused in this case, this issue became topical again towards the end of the year.
• What (if anything) do the exams I've set say about me? - I think the answer to the question is: not much.
• Blawg Review #178 - my third time hosting Blawg Review.

Best internet and technology posts from 2008

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...

Here are what I consider to be some of the "best" internet and technology themed posts from 2008.  Again, some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent what interests me and what I have posted on this blog in 2008.

Social networking:

• Email or social networks? - will social networks replace email?
• Now I know what to call them: "Facebook refusenicks" - what to do with people who refuse to join Facebook.
• All my friends are leaving Facebook ... - a friend explains why she left Facebook.
• Are you getting bored of Facebook? - two Facebook themed songs.

Twitter:

• The rise of Twitter - Twitter seemed to really take off in 2008.
• Twitter: getting fired at Yahoo - the Silicon Alley Insider blog charted the last day of a Yahoo employee via Twitter.
• I do ... on Twitter - marriage proposals on Twitter.
• What is Twitter? - trying to explain exactly what Twitter is.
• Influential Australian Twitterers - the top 100.

Blogging:

• Censored!  - apparently my blog is blocked in China.
• What do people think this blog is? - I look,ed at the Feedburner statistics for my blog and was amused - and a little horrified - to discover what the top search terms that resulted in people visiting my blog were.
• Reflections ... - some thoughts about the direction of this blog.
• Blogging resumes - more thoughts about the direction of this blog.

Online video:

• Cewebrities and other internet people - as I was writing a piece for The Courier Mail on cewebrity, I couldn't get this song out of my head.

Business

• The story of the week: Microsoft and Yahoo - one of the big tech business stories of the year.
• There is something wrong here - the corporate social media curve.

Politics:

• The RNC tries make a point with humour - the RNC set up a parody Facebook for Barack Obama, BarackBook.com, to highlight some of his lesser known associations

Education:

• Facebook = cheating? - student collaboration on Facebook.
• "The Professor as Open Book" - a look at how university lecturers/professors are using social networks to connect and engage with their students.
• Turning the wireless off - a look at wether universities should turn the wireless network off in classrooms.
• Blackboard to sync with Facebook - unfortunately QUT refuses to allow this feature dues to "privacy" issues.
• Academics on Facebook - the role Facebook can play as a channel of communication between academics. 

Other:

• Regrets ... - take a moment to stop and think about the big picture.
• Strange online communities - some of these are simply bizarre.
• Web 2.0 companies I couldn’t live without - a list of the Web 2.0 websites I couldn't live without.
• Bill Gates' Last Day - if you haven't seen it already, you really must watch this hilarious video depicting the last day of Bill Gates at Microsoft:

Best media and entertainment posts from 2008

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...

Here are what I consider to be some of the "best" media and entertainment themed posts from 2008.  Again, some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent what interests me and what I have posted on this blog in 2008.  Also, due to a deliberate decision to change the mix of posts on this blog during the year, there were not as many media or entertainment themed posts as in previous years.

Television:

• Potential Big Brother housemates turn to Facebook - some potential Big Brother housemates  purchased advertising space on Facebook to promote themselves.
• Dance fiasco? How about news fiasco? - who would you ask if you wanted to know whether you could copyright a dance?
•  "I just don't see it as a TV series. Maybe a movie?" - talk that there might be an Arrested Development movie.
• "Someone get Patricia Hammond a Xanax" - FoxNews anchor Shep Smith has a wonderfully entertaining rant against an emailer accusing him of bias against Mitt Romney.
• It's time to go Big Brother ... for now - why I watched Big Brother and why it will be missed.

Other:

• Sad day for Australian journalism -  lamenting the end of The Bulletin and the Sunday program.
• Some comments on the US election - this post surprised a number of readers.
• Offensive, banned and rejected ads - some of these are amazing.
• Some interesting top ten lists - a few different top ten lists.

Video:

• Don't forget to check out my list of the best videos of 2008.

Freedom to Dither

• Finally, if you want more media and entertainment posts, check out my tumblelog Freedom to Dither.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you have safe, healthy and prosperous 2009.

Thank you for reading Freedom to Differ.

Things to watch for in 2009 (or not)

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...

The past two years I have boldly made a series of predictions (for see 2007 here and fror 2008 here) with about a 50% success rate.  Rather than subject myself to more ridicule at the end of 2009 I had thought I'd just list a few things to watch for in 2009.  However, every time I have attempted to draft this post I have pretty much ended up with a list of predictions, which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.  So as such lists are rather asinine (even more so than the other lists in my end-of-year wrap) I've decided to abandon this idea altogether.  Why speculate what is in store in 2009?  Why don't we just wait and see?

Freedom to Differ on your iPhone or iPod Touch

Last month I used Intersquash to "optimise" Freedom to Differ for the iPhone and iPod Touch (see here).  However based on the feedback I have received since this change, I have decided to turn it off.  So from now on, if you visit this blog on your iPhone or iPod Touch you will once again only be able to view it as a webpage.

Looking back at my predictions for 2008

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...

Here is a report card on how my predictions for 2008 turned out:

1. Hillary Clinton will become the next President of the United States - This obviously didn't unfold as I had anticipated, with Barack Obama winning the nomination and then the presidency.  Although many of my predictions didn't eventuate, I am more disappointed by this than any other on my list. 
2. Chief Justice Murray Gleeson will be replaced on the High Court by the Chief Justice of New South Wales, the Honourable Justice James Jacob Spigelman - In a surprise move the Rudd Government appointed Justice French from the Federal Court to replace Justice Gleeson as the Chief Justice.
   
3. The Wikia search engine from Jimmy Wales won't have any real impact on Google's market dominance - Despite some early hype Wikia remains a very minor search engine.
4. Facebook will overtake MySpace to become the most popular social networking site for Australians - In May Facebook overtook MySpace to become the most popular social networking site for Australians (see here).
5. OpenID usage will grow with some major sites allowing you to use your OpenID to log in to your account - Open ID usage did grow, but rather than the major sites allowing you to use your OpenID to log in to your account, the major sites converted their log in to also be an OpenID. (So I was partially right.)
6. 2008 will be remembered as the year the mobile web took off - This was largely due to the popularity of Apple's 3G iPhone.
7. The Kyle and Jackie O hosted series of Big Brother will be the last for Channel Ten - Sad but true.  It was struggling before this season, but Kyle and Jackie O was the final nail in the coffin for this reality TV series.
8. The Best Picture Oscar will be won by No Country for Old Men - Another one I got right.
9. Geelong will win the AFL Premiership for the second year in a row - The Hawks defeated the Cats in an upset win.
10. Grant Hackett will become the first man in 112 years to win the same Olympic swimming event three times in a row in the 1500m at the Beijing Olympics in August - In a gallant final swim Hackett captured the silver medal just behind Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli.

So all up I think I got about 5 and 1/2 out of 10 correct ...

I won't be doing any predictions for 2009.  I will however suggest a few things to watch for in 2009.

Best TV of 2008

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...

Best Australian TV Shows:

1. Insiders - As followers of my Twitter stream know, I religiously watch Insiders every morning ("If it is Sunday, it is Insiders").  It is without doubt the best political talk show in Australia and it provides an entertaining and informed discussion of the issues of the week each and every Sunday.
2. The Hollowmen - Although it is no Frontline, the Working Dog team returned to scripted TV with this original and clever comedy looking behind the scenes of the Prime Minster's office in Canberra.
3. The Gruen Transfer - It took me a while before I finally watched The Gruen Transfer this year as I can't stand Wil Anderson.  And even though Wil continued to annoy me the behind the scenes look at the advertising industry was both amusing and revealing.
4. Underbelly - This gritty Australian drama about the gangland shootings in Melbourne set a new bar for quality Australian drama (making City Homicide, which made my "Best of TV" list last year, look pedestrian by comparison).
5. Very Small Business - Starring Wayne Hope and Kym Gyngell, this unlikely Australian comedy about a failed businessman was a surprisingly enjoyable.

Best Overseas TV Shows (that aired in Australia in 2008):

1. Dexter - A superb drama that has reimagined the conventional serial killer and police investigation narratives.
2. Dirty Sexy Money - In many ways this show was a contradiction: it was well acted and written and yet it delighted in its trashy, over-the-top plotlines. However, the result was a consistently entertaining drama that will be missed in 2009.
3. 30 Rock - In 2008 Tina Fey could do no wrong.
   
4. Kyle XY - A few seasons old in the US, this original family drama was first broadcast in Australia this year.  The mystery surrounding Kyle and his abilities, coupled with intelligent plots focused on family and teen issues, created a winning family drama.
5. Bones -  It took me a few seasons before I started to watch Bones and yet as soon as I did I was hooked.

Honourable Mention: Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - Although this wasn't strictly a TV show (not that that stopped Time from including it in its list of the top TV series of 2008), Joss Whedon's musical about a would-be supervillain applying for membership in the exclusive Evil League of Evil deserves to be mentioned as arguably the most original program of the year, even if it was broadcast on the internet instead of on television. 

(Note there are a lot of shows I have not yet seen, including In Treatment, John Adams, Mad Men and Battlestar Galactacia.)

Best of the web in 2008

The first post in my end-of-year wrap ...

Best Australian Blogs:

1. Somebody Think of the Children - Michael Meloni's blog has been the definitive resource on the Australian Government's ridiculous policy decision to introduce mandatory internet filtering.
2. TV Tonight - Maintained by television writer and commentator David Knox, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the Australian media.
3. Skepticlawyer -Skepticlawyer (Helen Dale) and Legal Eagle joined forces in May this year and have regularly delivered intelligent and occasionally provocative posts on law and philosophy.
4. Corporate Engagement - The move to Crikey Blogs gave a new life to Trevor Cook's Corporate Engagement.
5. Stilgherrian - Smart, funny and occasionally outrageious this is one of the most original contributions to the Australian blogosphere.

Best International Blogs:

1. The Fix - This blog from the Washington Post was the best place to go to find news about the US Presidential election this year.
2. TV Newser - This blog has continued without its founding editor, Brian Stelter, but it continues to have all the inside stories on the US television news media.
3. Read Write Web - Although there are many, many tech blogs around, Read Write Web is my favourite largely because it offers more a little more depth of analysis than most of its rivals.
4. Wall Street Journal Law Blog - One of the best blawgs going around, made all the better by the fact it is accessible to lawyers and non-lawyers alike.
5. Thompson on Hollywood - Written by Variety.com deputy editor Anne Thompso, I find myself more in tune with her reactions and thoughts on films than my previous favourite Hollywood bloggers David Poland and Jeff Wells.

Best Podcasts:

1. This American Life - Somehow I only got around to listening to this award-winning radio show in the second half of this year, and even since then I have been hooked.
2. Slate's Cultural Gabfest - As a long time fan of Slate's Political Gabfest, I was very pleased when they launched the Culture Gabfest in April of this year. 
3. Stephen Fry's Podgrams - The podgrams of English actor, comedian and geek Stephen Fry are delightfully witty and insightful.
4. NPR It's All Politics - NPR's Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving and Political Editor Ken Rudin deliver a comprehensive weekly round up of all the latest US political news in a way that is both entertaining and revealing.  I listen to a lot of American political podcasts each week and this was regularly the most engaging and original of them all.
5. Hamish and Andy - After Get This finished in 2007 it took me a while to find a new Australian podcast that made me regularly smile and occasionally laugh out loud, but to my surprise Hamish and Andy did exactly that.

Best Websites:

1. Twitter - In my end-of-year wrap last year I said that I wasn't  sure if I really "got" Twitter.  I am happy to say that not only do I now "get" Twitter, I love it.  Twitter is not just a way to post information (much of which is fairly mundane), it is a wonderful way to connect with other people.  The Twitter community is vibrant and informed, and it has been exciting to engage with that community this year.
2. Real Clear Politics - 2008 was a huge year of US politics and this site was the best way to stay across the latest news and opinion scattered around the internet.
3. Netvibes - Netvibes became my preferred homepage this year.
4. Techeme - The best place to find the latest tech news.
5. Slate - John Dickerson's daily pieces on the US election alone made this online magazine a site worth visiting every day.

Coming soon ... End of Year Wrap

As I did at the end of 2006 (see here) and 2007 (see here), the next week or so will feature a series of posts that wrap up the year, including:

• Best of the web in 2008;
• Best TV of 2008;
• Looking back at my predictions for 2008;
• Things to watch for in 2009 (or not);
• Best videos of 2008;
• Op-ed pieces from 2008;
• Best media and entertainment posts from 2008;
• Best internet and technology posts from 2008;
• Best legal posts from 2008.

So stay tuned ...

Blogging update

Tomorrow I hop on a plane to London for a two and a bit week holiday in England and Ireland.  At this stage I have no idea as to whether I will have the time, inclination or even regular internet access to blog while I am away, so it is likely that if there is any blogging over the next few weeks it will be intermittent at best.

Movember update

It day 10 of Movember and my mustache is coming along slowly.  From this point in I will be posting a progress photo daily to my Pete does Movember tumblr.  Thank you to those who have already donated (I'm up to $285).  If you would like to donate to my Mo, just click here and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account.

And remember it is all for a good cause.  The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue, the national depression initiative.  The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression. 

Support Movember

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'm growing a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against men's depression and prostate cancer.

To donate to my Mo you can either:

1. Click here and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account; or
2. Write a cheque payable to ‘Movember Foundation', referencing my Registration Number 1517376 and mailing it to:

Movember Foundation
PO Box 292
Prahran VIC 3181

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Once I start growing my Mo I'll post a photo of my progress daily to a tumblr page I've set up Pete does Movember.

Australian Law Librarians' Association Conference

I am in Perth this week attending the Australian Law Librarians' Association Annual Conference.  The program for the conference is available online here.  The paper I'll present this afternoon is titled "Law 2.0: The challenge of user-generated and peer-produced networks, content and culture".

If you wish to follow the conference, I am twittering all about it here.

Writer's block

Last month I purported to resume blogging after a liberating six week hiatus from blogging (see here and here).  However, after an initial flurry of posts, this is my first post to this blog in about three weeks.  This wasn't a planned blogging break, rather it happened due to a confluence of several factors - I've been busy working on the curriculum review of the constitutional law unit for 2009 as well as trying to finish off a few other research projects, plus I've found that I've been using twitter, my tumblelog Freedom to Dither and Facebook more and more.  However more than anything else I've been experiencing a bit of writer's block recently, both when it comes to blogging and my academic writing.  So I've decided to try and break through this barrier by setting aside a few hours today for blogging.  So stay tuned ...

Join my blog network on Facebook

For those of you who are Facebook users, in addition to the Freedom to Differ Facebook Application, you can now connect with other readers through the Blog Networks Application:

Join my blog network
on Facebook

Blog Networks

And don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

While on hiatus ...

While this blog was on hiatus I was mainly concentrating on a few different research projects, but I did manage to do a few things that may be interest to regular readers.

First, I attended Microsoft's inaugural Politics and Technology Forum in Canberra. The keynote address was delivered by Matt Bai, political writer for the New York Times magazine and was followed by two panel sessions focusing on Blogging, social networks, political movements and the media and Politics 2.0 – information technology and the future of political campaigning.  I was on the first panel, which you can watch here.  If you're interested you should also check out Stilgherrian's Twitter stream of the event here.

Second, I attended a fantastic conference hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Creating value: between commerce and commons.  You can follow my Twitter stream of the event here.

Third, I attended The Future of Federalism Conference, hosted by the University of Queensland.  Once again you can follow my Twitter stream of the event here.

Fourth, I had a op-ed piece posted to ABC News Online Opinion on the preliminary privacy ruling in the Viacom and Google litigation, "Who is watching YouTube? The US courts want to know".  Read it here.

Blogging resumes

Six weeks ago I put this blog on hiatus, not knowing when if ever I would return to blogging.  It had become too time consuming and no fun.  I felt as though I had to post every day.  It consisted little more than me embedding videos and cutting and pasting from interesting material that other people had written, which was never what I intended this blog to become.  it had morphed into something I didn't really want it to be.  So I stopped.

But I have decided to resurrect it.  Over the last six weeks I'd come to miss it; not the daily grind of constantly having to find something to post to, but the forum that it gave me to share what interested me and to express my ideas and opinions.  So my return to blogging is governed by two simple rules.  First, I won't feel compelled to blog every day.  Second, I will only blog when I have something to say (even if at times it is as simple as saying I agree with someone else).  As a consequence, there will be less updates, but hopefully they will be more interesting and meaningful than what I was churning out before.

My return to blogging also marks the launch of a new niche blog, Black ConLaw, which will look at developments in Australian constitutional law.  If that topic interests you, you can find out more about that blog here.

So that blogging remains fun, I also intend to play around with some new technology and experiment with some new ways of expressing myself online.  You can see my first crude attempt at this with the Seesmic video embedded below.

Basically, I hope that what all of this means is less but better blogging.  And please let me know how you think I'm going in achieving that goal.  There has never been much of a culture of conversation on this blog, which I would like to change.  So please comment if you agree or disagree with anything I say.

Finally, in addition to this blog and Black ConLaw, there are many other ways you can connect with me online.  My tumbelog Freedom to Dither is where most of the videos and lighter stuff that used to be on this blog will now be posted to.  You can check that out here.  Plus, there is always Twitter, delicious and Facebook.  Or if you want to stalk all of my online activity, FriendFeed.

Plus there is now Seesmic:

The hiatus ... is over

After a six week break, blogging will resume tomorrow.  Details to follow in the morning.

A hiatus ...

I'm going to take a break from blogging for a while I figure out how I best want to use this space. 

Although I will not be blogging, I may tumble occasionally at Freedom to Dither, continue to be delicious, Twitter away, and I will definitely not be giving up Facebook.

But I will return, so stay tuned ...

Blogging returns

Every now and again I just need to give up blogging, and this week was on the times I needed a virtual break or a secular sabbath.  Anyway, blogging will resume tonight.

Reflections ...

This week Duncan Riley announced his new blogging venture, The Inquisitr (see my post here).  However in my mind an equally significant announcement was that  Skepticlawyer (Helen Dale) from Catallaxy and Legal Eagle from The Legal Soapbox are teaming up at in a joint blog venture, Skepticlawyer.  Although they are both lawyers, they have different interests and politics, they are always thoughtful and intelligent, and I enjoy immensely reading their perspectives on law, politics and life.  I wish them both all the best in their new collaboration.

This announcement, coupled with reading one of Kim Weatherall's now rare posts at Lawfont (see here), has made me think about possibly changing the tone of this blog, or perhaps launching a new blog.  I enjoy writing this blog and I like to think it presents an eclectic mix of tech news, videos, politics and occasionally a little law.  It certainly reflects what I read and watch each day on the internet.  However, this mix has occurred by accident.  When I began blogging I envisioned creating a more traditional law blog (or blawg) - one that you might expect a (semi-serious) legal academic to write.  Instead it has become something quite different.  Perhaps if I spent less time reblogging and posting links and videos I would have more time to write the sort of quality, original posts you see from Helen, Legal Eagle and Kim.  I spend so much time "reporting" and covering what others are saying that I find that I'm not putting my own thoughts and arguments on the law and policy issues that I find significant and interesting out to the public to be tested, challenged and improved.   To do this would mean fewer posts, but longer, more thoughtful posts.  And although it may well be more time consuming, it would also likely tie in with my teaching and research more closely.  That said, I like my blog now and I enjoy putting it together. 

Anyway, these are just some thoughts I've been having over the last few days.  I'd be interested to know what you think ...

"Lessig style"

I've blogged about Larry Lessig's unique PowerPoint Keynote style (see here and here) and now a physicist explains why it is so effective.  Read it here.

Roundtable Seminar - Reforming the Constitution

This week on Thursday 1 May I'll be participating in a Roundtable Seminar on Reforming the Constitution at Parliament House in Canberra.  This is the media release:

Committee roundtable to discuss constitutional reform 
Federal-State relations, a constitutional preamble and issues of citizenship will be on the agenda at a roundtable on constitutional reform on Thursday 1 May 2008 at Parliament House, Canberra. 

Chair of the House of Representative’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Mark Dreyfus QC, said the aim of the roundtable is to explore the current debates surrounding constitutional reform.

“The need for reform of the Australian Constitution is a persistent theme in academic, political and public debate, and some good ideas were produced by the governance group at the 2020 summit last weekend,” Mr Dreyfus said. “The Committee is hoping to build on some of these ideas through the roundtable, giving us a clearer idea on areas in which change is feasible in the near future“.

Issues to be discussed on the day include:

• the process for amending the constitution;
• election terms and qualifications of parliamentarians;
• federal-state relations in relation to constitutional powers; and
• the inclusion of a constitutional preamble.

As well as the Committee Members, participants will include Professor Larissa Behrendt, Peter Black, Professor Tony Blackshield, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Professor Greg Craven, Professor David Flint AM, Peter Hanks QC, Professor Michael Lavarch, Professor Kim Rubenstein, Professor Cheryl Saunders, Ms Khatija Thomas, Ms Anne Twomey, Professor George Williams, and Professor Leslie Zines.

The roundtable will be held in Committee Room 1R4, 1st floor, Parliament House, Canberra on Thursday 1 May 2008 from 9.00am - 5.05pm.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the roundtable discussions, or listen to the broadcast on FM 97.1 in Parliament House, and via webcast on the APH website: http://webcast.aph.gov.au/livebroadcasting/

More details, including the Roundtable program and the focus questions that will be guide the discussion, is available here.  If you have any thoughts on these issues or the focus questions, let me know by leaving a comment or send me an email: p2.black@qut.edu.au.

What do people think this blog is?

I was looking at the Feedburner statistics for my blog this evening and was amused - and a little horrified - to discover in the past month that these were the top search terms that resulted in people visiting my blog:

Yes unfortunately my blog seems to be a magnet for people interested in sex (you porn, porn 2.0, weird sex positions) or want to access copyright infringing tv shows (freetube and peekvid).  I don't really know what to make of this list.  However, at the very least, I hope you don't think that my blog is as trashy as this list would suggest ...

Time for a break

Six weeks ago ago I took a virtual mini-break or secular sabbath (see here).  At the time I doubted whether I could actually do it, but in the end I found that I enjoyed my break immensely.  Today I read this article on The Age website and decided I should do it again:

Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realised she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages.

For Ariel Meadow Stallings, it was the hours lost while surfing the internet that left her feeling like she had been in a drunken blackout.

Both women are part of a new grass-roots movement in which tech geeks, internet addicts, Blackberry thumbers and compulsive IMers are deciding to wrest back control of their lives by daring to switch off - if only for a day.

"I think there is some common-sense part of us that says, 'Wait a second. This has gone too far. We are too plugged-in,"' said Sarmiento, a 30-something virtual business owner and professional blogger in Alabama.

"It's like our mind is going in a million different directions all the time. So taking a day when you are completely cut off from technology forces you to re-engage with the real world," she said.

Some call it the "secular Sabbath." For others it is "unplugged day." In Quebec, Canada, professional computer developers Denis Bystrov and Ashutosh Rajekar are organising a global "Shutdown Day" in May.

Stallings, 33, a Seattle author, blogger and part-time marketing manager for Microsoft, made a resolution in January to spend "52 Nights Unplugged" this year.

"I love technology. I'm not a Luddite. But I realised it was a problem when I would sit down to check my email and it was almost like I would wake up six hours later and find I was watching videos of puppies on YouTube.

"I'd try and think what I had been doing for the past two hours and I had no idea. I associate that kind of time loss with blackouts when you're drunk," she said.

So Stallings took the plunge, accompanied by twitchy emotional withdrawal symptoms, and turned off her computer, email, mobile phone and television on Wednesday nights.

In an ironic twist, she quickly spread the word through her blog ( http://52nightsunplugged.ning.com), and connected with thousands of people across the world who habitually text while driving, take their laptops to the bathroom, or check email during dinner.

"I thought it was just a problem that affected me and my geeky colleagues. But then I started hearing from Italians with similar issues, and Poles and Czechs, and I even got a query from someone in Colombia.

"So I realise it's not just an American problem but an international one," Stallings said.

Read more here.  Anyway, I have decided to take another virtual mini-break this weekend.  As a result, I will be turning off my computer, television, phone etc until sometime on Sunday.  So no blogging (or Twittering) until then ...

Back in the top 100

Last August I was surprised to discover that this blog had made the Top 100 Australian Blog Index (see here).  I managed to stay in the list for a few months before slipping out again.  However, changes to Alexa's ranking system (see here) has resulted in my scraping my way bag into the list at spot number 99!  I wonder how long I'll stay in the list this time ...

Blogging resumes

After a five day blogging hiatus (possibly the longest in this blog's history) blogging will resume this evening ...

Regular blogging to return soon

I  write this post overlooking the tarmac at JFK International Airport, thinking about the week that has just been, but also the week ahead.  I had great time at the Fordham Conference Intellectual Law & Policy in New York last week and have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people.  I also managed to get in a bit of sight-seeing and have some non-work related fun.  But while I'm excited looking back at this wonderful opportunity, I also know that looking forward there is a huge of amount of work awaiting my return.  And that reality will strike not long after I set down, as I plan to come into the office within hours of touching down in Australia.  Before all that however, I'm going to enjoy this long flight home - hopefully grab some sleep, watch some movies, read more of my current book, The Content Makers by Margaret Simons, and just pray I don't get stuck next to the passenger from hell on that long LAX to Brisbane leg...

And on my return to life and work, I imagine I'll also return to regular daily blogging as well ...

A reminder: Freedom to Differ and social networks

In addition to (or instead of) following this blog by visiting http://www.freedomtodiffer.com/ or reading it in your RSS reader, you can stay up-to-date with this blog from within your preferred social network (well, as long as your preferred social network is Facebook, MySpace, Bebo or Ning).

If you use Facebook, you can follow this blog by becoming a fan of Freedom to Differ and/or by adding the Freedom to Differ application.

If you use Bebo, you can also add a Freedom to Differ application.

Or if you prefer MySpace, you can add a Freedom to Differ widget to your profile.  You can also add that Freedom to Differ widget to your blog or homepage (such as Netvibes or iGoogle).

Finally, I've also created a Freedom to Differ social network on Ning.  This has been designed as a space to connect with other readers of Freedom to Differ.  So if you haven't joined Ning yet, I'd really encourage you to check it out and sign up to the Freedom to Differ network.

Upcoming: Fordham Annual Conference on International Intellectual Property Law & Policy

Later this week I will live-blogging the Fordham Annual Conference on International Intellectual Property Law and Policy: