Timothy Lamoureux's blog

About two weeks ago I had the good fortune to attend a teleconference between Justice Breyer and Tunisian jurists. Justice Breyer agreed to help share his expertise at a conference hosted by NGO Almadanya on July 22 in the Amphitéâtre César in Yasmine-Hammamet, Tunisia to discuss the formation of their new post-totalitarian nation. I helped translate this event (which was conducted in French) for the Harvard Law School Office of Communications; that overview can be found here.

What I found most fascinating about the event was hearing the sorts of the questions the Tunisians posed to Justice Breyer. They only had about thirty minutes to ask questions after his opening comments, and that was further cut down by intermittent technical problems. Given the enormity of their task, actually helping to build the legal framework of a nation and not engaging in a purely academic exercise, it gave a glimpse into their greatest practical concerns.

The questions they asked ranged from asking whether a presidential executive structure could work for them, to whether they should create a more specific or a more general constitution, to what the single most important aspect of the US Constitution is. Justice Breyer responded largely in general terms, but this fit his philosophy that a constitution should be written using general principles. Additionally, he recommended that anything they do should reflect their national character.   read more »

In considering the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brown v. EMA, many commentators have focused on violence and sexuality as the key points of discussion, but I want to talk about what I saw as the real issue: whether video games are art (and protected speech) or an activity (and subject to regulation). Justice Scalia’s majority opinion implicitly holds that video games are art. This is excellent, but it is hardly an obvious conclusion, largely due to the great complexity and variety of video games. Certain games are almost interactive epic films, like the Mass Effect series; others are more about collecting and repetition with secondary narrative elements, like World of Warcraft; others are very simple, really only asking the player to perform one task, like Angry Birds (or, for that matter, Pong). As such, lumping them all into one category is inappropriate.   read more »

On July 11, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University invites you to join with award winning and professional journalists and scholars to discuss challenges and possible solutions for reporting international stories to U.S. and Global audiences in a time of shrinking news budgets.  Inspired by Berkman Fellow Persephone Miel, whose work focused on how compelling narrative and context for international stories could make unfamiliar international news more accessible to American and global audiences, this event will bring together Fatima Tlisova (Voice of America), Pulitzer Prize winner Dele Olojede, Ethan Zuckerman (Berkman Center/Global Voices), Colin Maclay (Berkman Center), Ivan Sigal (Global Voices), Jon Sawyer (Pulitzer Center) and the Miel family for a discussion and reflection on Persephone’s work and the journalistic values she championed. We hope to see anyone with an interest in this subject there for what promises to be a fascinating symposium.

This free event is open to the public and will take place on July 11 at 5 p.m. in the Austin East Classroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School.  RSVP here by July 8 to join this distinguished group tackling the complexities of this issue in a time of great global change and incredible ripeness for news reporting.

Timothy Lamoureux is a 2L at Harvard Law School and believes this will be a great event. 

[NOTE: The First Circuit has issued its opinion in the Glik case -- see the CMLP's coverage here.]

This morning, I attended a hearing of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the case of Glik v. Cunniffe, which raises important questions regarding the existence of a constitutional right to record the activity of police officers in public areas and the scope of Massachusetts' wiretapping law.  On October 1, 2007, plaintiff Simon Glik was arrested under the Massachusetts wiretap act, Mass. Gen. Laws c. 272, § 99, as well as for aiding the escape of a prisoner and disturbing the peace, after he used his cell phone to create an audiovisual recording of three police officers arresting a suspect on Boston Common.

Glik stated that he did not attempt to conceal his use of the cell phone, and thus did not make a “secret” audio recording as prohibited by the wiretap act.  He also claimed that he in no way interfered with the arrest and that he had a First Amendment right to record the activity of the police officers.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts dismissed the aiding escape charge, and the Boston Municipal Court dismissed the remaining charges.   read more »