New York Law Journal: Court upholds dismissal of claims against Seinfeld creators

Lexington Herald-Leader: Danville Dairy Queen is paid with a $200 bill bearing Bush likeness

AuctionWatch: Auction sites ban sale of EverQuest characters (also see CNET report, Slashdot thread, players’ web site)

Ananova: Scrap metal workers find thousands in old cash machine

Fox News: ‘W’ controversy: Man’s vanity license plate gets yanked

Internet.com: West Group acquires FindLaw (also see Pioneer Planet report)

ZDNet/WSJ: Net filter spies on kids’ surfing (software maker sells data for $15,000/year to marketers and others, including the Department of Defense; also see Wired News report)

SatireWire.com: Parker Bros. replaces Monopoly money with cheaper Euro

The Oracle of Kevin Bacon

NewsNet@BYU: Playboy advertisments target BYU students

Washington Post: Democrats had most voided votes in Florida (the head of Florida’s election division says that some people intentionally invalidate their ballot by casting multiple votes)

Washington Post: Judge halts village ban on smoking in public (Montgomery County, Maryland)

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (of Wisconsin, obviously) was busy this week … he introduced 17 bills, including the Democracy for Dairy Producers Act, the Dairy Farmer Viability Act, the Dairy Promotion Fairness Act, and (my personal favorite) the Quality Cheese Act of 2001.

Wired: DeCSS allies ganging up

CNET: Battle lines harden over Net copyright

CNET: Privacy group seeks review of Net access to court files

Who is suing Jeremy’s wallet? (Canadian Tire Corp. files copyright infringement suit against web page author who posted a picture of his Canadian Tire credit card and called it “a sign of virility and sexual prowess”)

Privacy.Org: Bush opts-out of e-mail use while in office (see also NewsFactor report)

CNN: Museum wins Howdy Doody TV puppet custody battle

Industry Standard: Can this bill cut spam? (see also Spam Laws, H.R. 95)

Press release: Despair, Inc. secures official trademark registration for “:-(“, announces plans to sue millions for trademark infringement (also see TM registration)

InternetNews: Damages slashed in mySimon case (court reduces award from $27m to $50k)

U-Wire: U. Virginia students treat their profs to lunch for free

SatireWire: Study: Internet twins scandal won’t hurt B-tail sales

CNN: Study shows rats dream about running mazes

InternetNews: Texas 7 caught before building web site

CNET: Amazon auction sellers face new fees, rules

CNET: ISP takes stand in dispute over DVD-cracking code

E-Commerce Times: Report: Wired kids ready to leak private info (75% of children give data to marketers)

CNET: DEA data theft raises privacy concerns (DEA agent charged with selling data)

CNN: Constipated Scots jewel thief gives up loot

Translations: Babelfish, InterTran, FreeTranslation.com, and Worldlingo can translate text and web pages into several languages. Specialized translators are available for Aussie, Buckwheat, Cockney, Dubya, Ebonics, Elmer Fudd, Hacker, Jethro, Jive, Moo, Moron, Pig Latin, Porno, Redneck, Smurf, Spam, Swedish Chef, and Valley Girl.

National Law Journal: Texas DA probes clerk signing bonuses

CNN: ‘Bozo Show’ clown Cooky, dead at 68

CNET: Shoppers seize unauthorized discounts at Macys.com (update)

CNET: DOJ concerns shutter file-swapping service (FreeDrive drops utility used for pirating software)

CNET: FTC drops probe into DoubleClick privacy practices (also see InfoWorld report)

Chronicle: Community colleges want a more eminent domain (“.edu” restrictions criticized)

The Virtual Punchcard Server

SatireWire: Californians start email campaign for energy conservation

BBC: A database too far? (UK plans to expand DNA database)

Financial Times: Online recruiter wins ban on rivals web links (German court enjoins framed deep links)

ComputerUser: Privacy concerns reduce online sales

InternetNews: Groups clash over Hotmail spam filters (Peacefire criticizes blacklisting of spamhaus ISP)

InternetNews: EBay victorious in courtroom battle (sports memorabilia class action dismissed)

CNET: Advocacy group fights ruling on DVD cracking case (EFF says DeCSS hyperlinks are protected speech)

SatireWire: Microsoft will admit to affair with Lewinsky