James Grimmelmann / is on Nostr

I’m a law professor at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech.

website: https://james.grimmelmann.net
blog: https://laboratorium.net
Pronouns: he/him/his

Last Notes

2024-09-20 00:37:04

“I fear that if we do not universally and swiftly condemn the practice of turning everyday gadgets into bombs, we risk legitimizing a military technology that can literally bring the front line of every conflict into your pocket, purse or home”
https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2024/turning-everyday-gadgets-into-bombs-is-a-bad-idea/

2024-09-19 02:52:48

I use a very aggressive set of filters to block ads, popups, tracking cookies, and other annoyances.
About once a day, I need to temporarily disable it because otherwise a page won't load.
Almost every time I do, it turns out that the page wouldn't load because … I hadn't dismissed a cookie-consent banner.

2024-09-04 01:14:53

I shed a tear every time a math term I love becomes the name of an AI company or a hedge fund.

2024-07-31 02:52:35

This CPSC decision that Amazon must take responsibility for recalling dangerous products it sells through Fulfillment by Amazon:
(1) Is completely reasonable.
(2) Features some shocking arguments from Amazon to the contrary.
(3) Is a good example of the kind of everyday administrative law that is at risk from the current Supreme Court.
https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/pdfs/recall/lawsuits/abc/142%20-%20In%20the%20Matter%20of%20Amazon.com%20Inc.%20Decision%20and%20Order.pdf?

2024-05-29 22:40:18

S and M own a house as joint tenants. Following a dispute with their neighbors, M raises an upside-down American flag on the flagpole in their yard. S asks M to remove it, but M refuses. S then says, “there were no additional steps that I could have taken to have the flag taken down more promptly.”
Which of the following best explains why S is wrong?
(A) M’s flying of the flag was an ouster of S.
(B) M committed waste.
(C) The flag created a nuisance.
(D) S had an undivided right to possession.

2024-05-20 23:36:45

Before anyone starts arguing that what OpenAI did was okay because there's no law against sounding like a celebrity, yes there is! You can't use someone else's recognizable voice in an ad.
Frito-Lay hired a guy to sing like Tom Waits for a Doritos commercial. Lawsuit!
Ford hired one of Bette Midler's backup singers to cover one of her songs for a Mercury Sable ad. Lawsuit!
Louis Prima and Olive Garden, Bert Lahr and Lestoil, Nancy Sinatra and Goodyear Tires. The hits just keep on coming.

2024-05-01 03:45:00

By way of perspective, someone set off a literal bomb in the law school during exams my 1L spring. I would say it generated less than a tenth of the police response, a hundredth of the disruption, and a thousandth of the media attention that the Columbia administration's mishandling of campus protests has.