LawGeek

diesel sweeties explains sudoku

Oh man, is R. Stevens good:

xkcd on guys confronting guys about sexism online

Increasingly, I'm joining the rabid fandom of xkcd, a self-title "webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" by Randall Munroe.

This week's installment was yet another brilliant three-frame expose, this time on gender norms and harassment online:

The thing I particularly love about it (besides its awesome inclusion of an EMP cannon) is the way it deals with men and feminism. Here, it is not men versus women but rather men and women who want a less-sexist and hostile Internet confronting annoying and sexist behavior together.  It also highlights how pro-feminist guys lose out when sexist guys get away with being jerks online.  Good stuff.

Lane Becker sums up Satisfaction on CBC Radio's Spark

A few weeks ago, I pimped out Satisfaction!, a new community-based customer service site started by some friends of mine (and which I'm an investor in).

Since then, folks have asked me what makes this different than all the other customer forums and lists that are already out there.  Well, to answer that question better than I ever could, check out Lane Becker's interview with Nora Young on CBC's Spark this week.

He gives a great picture of where the site is headed and the monumental shift in company/customer relations that technologies like the web are making possible and in some cases, mandating.

The Way Out: A new film by Steve Schultz

In addition to being my awesome older sibling, my brother Steve recently produced his first short film, The Way Out.  It won Best of the Fest at Ex'pression, where he's in school. It's a fun little fantasy jaunt through the mind of an unhappy office worker. Think Office Space meets Being John Malkovich.

Music Makers Or Music Takers?

My brother Steve helped produce a great video (Music Makers or Music Takers?) for Current TV on the controversy over music sampling.  Features DJ Kid Kameleon and my EFF colleague Fred von Lohmann.

Sign up now for EFF's Legal Compliance Bootcamp: Oct 10, 2007

Save the Date: October 10 for EFF's Compliance Bootcamp .

Does your interactive company have to contend with the maze of laws dealing with user privacy and publishing user content? Want to do the right thing by the online community that gives your business value, and still fulfill your legal obligations?

EFF is hosting a one-day session for Web 2.0 workers who handle issues arising from users and user-generated content. From DMCA to CDA to ECPA, the law surrounding internet content can be confusing, especially for the folks who have to decide on the fly whether to let something stay up or take it down, or whether to give their customer's name to the FBI agent on the phone. Let us help.

What

One-Day bootcamp. EFF's staff attorneys will be teamed with private attorneys specializing in the various legal issues. We'll give you the basics on the key topics and you'll leave better able to protect your customers, your company and your job.

Topic areas

• Defamation, harassment, and other accusations of bad behavior.
• Fair use, free culture, and the right to remix.
• Copyright take-downs and put-backs: Understanding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
• How to respond to cops, crooks, and courts who want your customers' communications and other private information.
• How to avoid becoming the next Napster and stay on the safe side of the Copyright Wars.
• The rights of anonymous speakers.
• Porn, predators, and the pressure to police.
• Lightning rounds on Creative Commons licenses, webcasting and what to do when you've been hacked.

Who should attend

People who do front-line or mid-level work for companies and projects that rely on user-generated content and communications. This includes compliance, customer service and community management workers.

Why

In the past year or so we've met with several Web 2.0 companies, sometimes before -- and sometimes after -- embarassing incidents when they found themselves out of step with their communities or the law. We'd like to give the people who make these important initial decisions the tools they need to do the right thing by their companies and their customers.

Where

Fenwick and West Silicon Valley Center
Mountain View, California

How much

Sliding scale of $100-200 per person. For individuals, some portion may be deductible as a charitable donation. Space is limited, so sign up soon. Email bootcamp@eff.org.

EFF looking to hire new IP Attorney

FYI, EFF is looking to hire a new IP attorney to join our staff in San Francisco.  It's an amazing opportunity to work on cutting edge legal issues in some of the highest profile technology cases.  More info here and below:

EFF Seeks Staff Intellectual Property Attorney

We're hiring!

EFF is seeking an intellectual property staff attorney for its legal team. Responsibilities will include litigation, public speaking, media outreach, plus legislative and regulatory advocacy, all in connection with a variety of intellectual property and high technology matters.

Qualified candidates should have at least four years of legal experience, with knowledge in patent law and at least one other IP specialty (copyright, trademark, trade secret). Litigation experience is preferred, including significant experience managing cases, both overall case strategy and day-to-day projects and deadlines. Candidates should have good communication skills and interest in working with a team of highly motivated lawyers and activists in a hard-working nonprofit environment. Strong writing and analytical skills as well as the ability to be self-motivated and focused are essential. Tech savviness and familiarity with Internet civil liberties and high tech public interest issues preferred. This position is based in San Francisco.

Interested applicants should submit a resume, writing sample, and references to ipjob-at-eff-dot-org.

What I want more than anything right now

pb single
Originally uploaded by rkb1.

The Secret Life of Stormtrooper TK-421

Stormtrooper TK-421 & Silver.
Originally uploaded by waihey.

A lovely set of photos showing the secret life of Star Wars action figures.

Satisfaction! launches public beta

Satisfaction!, the brain/love child of Ruby Red Labs and Lane Becker (formerly of Adaptive Path), has finally launched with a public beta.  (Full disclosure: I'm an investor in the company).

The idea behind the site is simple: solve the problem of crappy customer service.  Easier said that done, of course, but a worthwhile venture none the less.  Online customer service suffers for many reasons, two of them being that customer service is rarely a profit center and even for those that value it, true customer solutions rarely scale (and thus costs skyrocket for providing personalized service).

So how does Satisfaction fix this? Well, like some traditional web forums, it focuses on contributions from users and customers. However, unlike the standard hierarchical approach, topics and comments are not solely stacked based on standard criteria such as chronology or the relatedness of a particular topic.  Instead, the site tries to focus on the interactivity between users, company employees, and outside sources -- a sort of interestingness if you will that helps users gravitate to the most interesting information and conversations immediately, thus adding their own "people-powered" juice to the best discussions and most thoughtful responses.  Those "nodes of satisfaction" then become the navigational points for anyone searching for information on a given product or service and can change dynamically over time to avoid stale information or burdensome sunk costs when all you want is an answer to simple or commonly-experienced problems.

So how does this play out in practical terms? Well, rather than explain, let me just link you to some good examples.  From there, you can explore and contribute and see for yourself if/how it works.

How do I remove a fan on Pownce?

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I just poured water all over my Powerbook's screen, and it's soaked in.  Help! How can I get the water out?

Does Timbuk2 make a diaper bag?

How can you tell on [United] which flights feature Economy Plus seating?

p.s. for more insight into Satisfaction's approach, check out Demand Satisfaction, the company blog.