In The News: Jobs, Books, Babies, Stupid Lawsits, Cable Porn, and Data Caps

Things I've read in the news lately:

• The dismal market for law school graduates may be the public sector's gain, if this story out of Virginia is to be believed.  Cash strapped public sector offices are hiring unpaid summer interns.  Law kids, apparently, are desperate for experience and exposure that may give them an edge in landing a job after completing law school.  One unpaid intern in Norfolk gets her money from a second job teaching dog obedience classes.  I suppose there is something to that as well, laying down the law to our canine friends.  More on this in the Virginian-Pilot.

• This article in the Washington Post highlights Rare Book School, an annual five week program hosted at the University of Virginia where the object is as much the focus as the information that it holds.  This article in The Atlantic suggests that the future of books that are studied in this program is in digitization.  Google's way ahead on that one, with most of the efforts here not having any copyright problems or lawsuits.

• There is the heartwarming story of the Northwestern Law Grad who started contractions during the second day of the Illinois Bar Examination and gave birth two hours afterwards.  Her biggest concern at the time was not disturbing her fellow bar takers.  That's very considerate for someone undertaking two high stress activities.  The child, a 6.6 pound boy does not have a name as of yet.  More is in the ABA Journal.

• Then there is the very un-heartwarming story of the gentleman who is suing the Hilton Hotel chain because when he stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, he assumed the copy of the USA Today outside his door was free.  It wasn't.  He is outraged, outraged I tell you, that he was charged 75 cents for the paper.  He is seeking class action status in federal court for him and all the other poor souls who suffered the same conduct.  Note to Hilton:  If the amount-in-controversy defense doesn't work to dismiss this claim, I suggest you add an arbitration clause to your room agreements.  If the Supreme Court says it works for AT&T, it should work for you too.  It's this kind of stuff that gives lawyers a bad name.  I wonder how he would have felt if his pants weren't pressed right.  More in the San Francisco Chronicle.

• Ever wonder if the adult channels on cable or satellite contribute to the provider's (no pun intended) bottom line?  Apparently they would but for the fact that free Internet porn has cut into sales.  The problem is so acute that Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt complained about the erosion in takers for his company's high margin offerings.  If the Internet is a den of filth, it's stopping legitimate companies from making more money off that same filth.  Sad.  More on this from CNET.   

• And finally, AT&T announced late last week that it intends to throttle the speed of the heaviest users who remain in an unlimited data plan on its wireless networks.  Those individuals can still have unlimited data, but, if they abuse the privilege, at a slower speed.  The new terms take effect on October 1.  I'm guessing that we shouldn't expect class action suits here as the likely terms of contract for this data plan will have that pesky arbitration clause.  More in Ars Technica.  [MG]