Internet Law and Business Blog

Disclosure: I first met Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Peyton Thomas (and his future wife — Anne Estrada) back in 1986 when just a college freshman at the University of Missouri (Mizzou). Thomas and I were good friends for several years.

I visited him at Harvard Law School and he stopped by to see me when I was attending law school at SMU. Shortly thereafter, the friendship fell apart and we haven’t spoken for more than a decade. Because of this history, I was somewhat hesitant to write about Thomas’ Wikipedia controversy. Yet it is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Thomas has been accused of modifying his Wikipedia bio in order to make it reflect favorably on himself. If true, it begs the question whether such editing violates Netiquette.

What is undisputed is that Thomas has Read the rest »

A California blogger has been arrested in Singapore for accusing a judge of prostituting herself to Singapore’s leadership in a defamation suit. Gopalan Nair is a former Singapore lawyer who is now a U.S. citizen. If convicted, Nair could be sentenced to prison for up to a year for insulting a public servant.

Although one can question the wisdom of going to Singapore and daring the authorities to do something in response, the fact that a blogger has been arrested for “insulting a public servant” in an email is unconscionable. Many public servants deserve Read the rest »

Shady Internet marketers continue to push the envelope when promoting continuity programs. A typical example from last week involves a marketer who wraps himself in his religion* as a way to dupe prospective customers and affiliates into thinking that he’s an honest guy.

This particular marketer is smart but don’t confuse intelligence with ethics. He’s the moral equivalent of a spammer.

What did he do? Read the rest »