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Author Archives: Legal Eagle

Offence, the Net and the Law

March 17, 2010 – 5:15 pm

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Evelyn Beatrice Hall, biographer of Voltaire)
Disapproving of what someone says but defending their right to say it is sometimes very hard. It sounds fine in principle…until you see something that is really challenging to your ideas [...]

Posted in Australian internet filter, Free Speech, Internet, Law, Media, Privacy, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (24)

Making someone pay for bullies

March 10, 2010 – 10:56 am

In an interesting case, the Victorian Supreme Court has decided a victim of bullying may get compensation for threats to kill made to her by a bully when she was eight years old. The compensation is under the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) (‘VCAA‘). Among other things, when they were both eight years [...]

Posted in Children, Economics, Law | Tagged , , , , | Comments (13)

Mummies and Daddies

March 8, 2010 – 11:47 am

I was interested to read today that a woman has failed in her legal bid to stop her former partner from encouraging their six-year-old daughter to call his new partner “Mummy D”. Unfortunately the judgment doesn’t seem to be available online yet.
[The mother] said encouraging the term of endearment was ”an incendiary action” by her [...]

Posted in Children, Law, Marriage, Motherhood | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)

Contemptuous spam

March 3, 2010 – 10:18 am

Believe it or not, it’s now possible to commit contempt of court by soliciting your supporters to send hundreds of e-mails to the judge.
The case arose when a salesman, Kevin Trudeau, who apparently sells weight loss cures via infomercials on US TV was taken to court by the US Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising. [...]

Posted in Internet, Law | Tagged , , , | Comments (12)

Privacy and WAGS

March 2, 2010 – 7:49 pm

I have to say that I never really understood where the acronym WAG came from – I had to look it up on Wikipedia, and I found that it originated as a descriptor of the Wives And Girlfriends of the 2006 English World Cup soccer club. Anyway, I’ve noted that our press has started referring [...]

Posted in Feminism, Law, Privacy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (51)

Science, religion and how things came to be

February 27, 2010 – 2:37 pm

I think I’ve said before that I was raised by scientists. When possible, I try to explain things scientifically to my children. Obviously there’s a limit to their understanding at this point, but when they were scared of thunder and lightning recently, I told my daughter it wasn’t monsters (as she feared) but electricity in [...]

Posted in Children, Education, Religion, Science, Skeptics, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (72)

Sharing is not always a good thing

February 19, 2010 – 2:16 pm

[Warning, if you are eating, do not continue reading this post.]
I just had occasion to shiver all over with horror. You know, when something is so awful that you feel like your skin is crawling off your back? What could be so awful…?
The cause of my horror was the article where Tony Abbott was moaning [...]

Posted in Fark!, Media, Politics, Privacy, Society, anthony daniels | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (17)

Chained to the kitchen sink…

February 15, 2010 – 1:30 pm

Via Larvatus Prodeo, I became aware of KRudd’s latest gem – a PhD is an “excuse for not having kids”. (What is it with the political leaders in our country at the moment?)
Nina Funnell, a thirty something researcher, attended a function where Kevin Rudd spoke on an ageing population. Her story follows:
I was at a [...]

Posted in Children, Feminism, Motherhood, Public Policy, Society | Tagged , , , , | Comments (99)

Celebrity politicians – are they worth it?

February 12, 2010 – 1:10 pm

I confess that I’ve never really held much brief for celebrity politicians.  Of course, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, so I try to cast my prejudice aside. But I can’t help thinking that if you’re a performer or an actor or a musician, you might not have had much experience [...]

Posted in Politics, Public Policy, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (31)

Restitution for wrongs and child pornography

February 3, 2010 – 9:01 pm

A friend alerted to me to an interesting case reported in the New York Times involving monetary restitution to a victim of child pornography  who goes by the pseudonym “Amy”.
When she was 8 or 9 years old, Amy’s uncle had filmed her in a series of pornographic photographs known as the “Misty” series. Amy is [...]

Posted in Children, Equity, Human/Civil rights, Law, Restitution, Society, anthony daniels | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (16)