1984

An Important Year.

AT&T was broken up. Apple had a famous Superbowl commercial. The space shuttle Discovery makes its maiden flight. Vanessa Williams poses for Penthouse. Reagan defeats Mondale. Dune, Back to the Future, Amadeus, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were in theaters. Ride the Lightning and Purple Rain released. Summer Games in LA. Winter Games in Sarajevo. Cosby Show, Highway to Heaven, Jeopardy!, debut on TV. Michael Jackson's hair catches on fire. An important book comes out.....

A book that describes what it can be like to have a blog.

I've been watching the news recently and surprised to see reports of people losing jobs and (I think I heard this right....paying attention not good at 6AM) going to jail for their blogs. I can understand going to jail for publishing something illegal, but losing your job (when not publishing trade secrets or naming actual names)?

Its surprising that printed media seems better protected than electronic media. Printed media always has the first amendment. It is a federal offense to open someone elses mail. Apparently juries forget about the first amendment when it comes to electronic media. Also, (I am uninformed here) anyone can read an email....not just the recipient.

Food for further thought, isn't there something in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution stating that your words can not be used to indemnify you? I might be completely wrong here as the last time I learned anything in a classroom setting about history, the government, or politics was high school.

I think there should be some sort of rules protecting the creators of electronic media's written word in order to allow the personal publishing that Weblogs allow......