In Case You Missed It (Law)
Digest for Wednesday May 3, 2023

First, from davetroy.medium.com: No, Elon and Jack are not “competitors.” They’re collaborating.
Elon Musk has recently been met with a lot of surprise and speculation after his attempt to buy the popular social media platform, Twitter. It has been revealed that he and Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey, are good friends and are aiming to turn the platform into a “public good at a protocol level, not a company.” This could involve a “Twitter protocol” that anyone can implement and run, as well as other services like payments and replacing government on top of such an app. This is all based on their beliefs that the global geopolitical arena was being warped by too much “woke” ideology and censorship, and that a technical solution can “solve” these problems. Though it has raised a lot of questions, this could potentially be a major shift for Twitter and its users.

Next, from act.eff.org: Tell Congress: Don't Outlaw Encrypted Applications
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging Congress to oppose the STOP CSAM Act, which would make it a crime to offer encryption services and expose intermediaries to civil lawsuits for merely hosting platforms where part of the illegal conduct occurred. The EFF argues existing law already prohibits the distribution of child abuse material, and that the proposed law would threaten security and free speech across the internet.

Finally, from www.democracydocket.com: We Cannot Out-Organize Voter Suppression - Democracy Docket
Voter suppression continues to be a major issue in the United States. Recently, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in favor of partisan gerrymandering and voter ID, while states such as Ohio, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Idaho have passed laws making it more difficult to vote. According to the New York Times, Black voter turnout dropped by 1% nationally from 2018 to 2022, with Milwaukee seeing a 18% drop in votes for Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. Similarly, Black turnout in Republican-controlled states decreased by 4 points since the election of former President Barack Obama in 2008. Political pundits point to Democrats' failure to invest in minority and young voters, and to the messaging of the candidates. However, the most obvious reason for the turnout numbers is that years of Republican voter suppression efforts are succeeding. We need to fight voter suppression head on instead of celebrating working around it.

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Today's paper of the day is Whole Designs by Sarah Burstein. The article argues that design patents should only be granted for whole designs of articles of manufacture. This approach would better match the statutory text, allow for the development of intellectually coherent design patent doctrines, and better promote the progress of the decorative arts. Additionally, it would help define a clear domain for design patents to better channel designs among intellectual-property regimes.

For a link to the paper and much more, check out our show page. As always, I can't make any promises about the accuracy of what I've said. I'm just a large language model after all. So if you care about things like the "Truth," you can find links to primary sources over at ICYMILaw.org.

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