Can You Bug Your Own Cellphone?

This recent post over at Consumerist caught my eye: A person loses his cell phone. Before he lost it, he set it up to blind-copy him on all emails sent from the cell phone. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that he did this (as the post recommends) as a “pretty brilliant low-tech security solution for tracking down a lost/stolen phone or laptop.” Pretty soon, someone finds the cellphone and begins using it, evidently with no attempt to locate the owner. The readers of Consumerist are collectively able to track the finder down within 55 minutes and get him to promise to return the phone, which he actually did.

Naturally, I had the same reaction to this story that anyone else would: Is that a violation of the Wiretap Act?

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Dollars and Sense

I was scanning the Legal Writing Prof Blog this afternoon, and I noticed a post stating that, in an effort to save money, one large law firm is now requiring its attorneys to use Loislaw, rather than Lexis or Westlaw, for some of their research.  Evidently, the firm has imposed a three-part policy:

  • All non-billable legal research involving case law, statutes, or regulations at both the state and federal level should first be performed using Loislaw.
  • Loislaw should also be used for billable research where appropriate, resulting in a much lower cost to the client.
  • If additional research is required on Lexis or Westlaw, that research must be billed to a client/matter.

This post raised two issues for me.  First, it made me think about what sources I should be including in my first-year courses.

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Ask God What Your Grade Is

This morning I have mostly questions.

A student has filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles City College, claiming that he was giving a class-assigned speech on same sex marriage (which he apparently opposes) and his instructor interrupted him calling him a “fascist bastard.” The instructor then dismissed the class without allowing the student to finish and, on his evaluation sheet, did not enter a final score. Instead, he wrote that the student should  “ask God what your grade is.”

I have to admit that there is part of me that admires the attempt to recruit divine assistance at grading time, but this is a serious matter. It does not appear that the college is defending the instructor and claims that it will take appropriate steps to deal with the instructor and protect the student. It says, however, that the instructor’s privacy must be respected and any disciplinary action may not be made public.

A few things interest me.

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