Questions for "Inside Minnesota Politics"

I sent the following email to the folks at Inside Minnesota Politics:

Mike Et Al,

I'm Mitch Berg. I'm the proprietor of "Shot In The Dark", and a cohost of the Northern Alliance Radio Network. I'm also - it should be no surprise - a supporter of MDE.

I have a few questions related to your attempted lawsuit against MDE. If it's not a problem, I'm sending them in this email; if you're interested, email me the answers when you get a moment.

1. What are, in your opinion, the grounds for a copyright or "Fair Use" suit against MDE? What, according to you, was his error?

2. How, in your opinion, did MDE's response to your notification of violation of copyright laws not make him compliant under the law?

3. Your attempt to get MDE's DNS registration is seen by some, given what some would consider the weakness of your copyright case, to be an attempt to uncover MDE's identity. Response?

4. Your personal view of MDE as a blogger?

5. Your personal view of anonymous political bloggers?

6. MDE has gotten the DFL very exercised over the past year. Some might say (as indeed I might say) that IMP's action is basically carrying water for interests in the DFL who want to shut down MDE. Response?

7. Given the presumed weakness of your copyright case (let's at least operate in that context for the moment), do you believe that a lawsuit on the grounds you propose threatens to have a chilling effect across the board, affecting political blogs of all political stripes (especially given the anonymity of many prominent liberal blogs and bloggers)?

I'd appreciate your feedback, when you get a moment or two.

Thanks,

Mitch Berg
"Shot In The Dark" and the "Northern Alliance Radio Network"

I'll let you know when/if I get an answer.

Posted by Mitch at November 23, 2005 11:17 PM | TrackBack