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Boston University School of Law Research Paper Series, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper No. 02-15 by Tamar Frankel, Professor of Law Emerita, Boston University School of Law Introduction Since its inception, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was criticized for lack of legitimacy, accountability and oversight. ICANN faces difficulties in financing its operations at least in part because of these...

Like many others, I receive each day a hefty number of e-mails and letters. Many are sent on behalf of political candidates or on behalf of needy people and animals. Letters ask for money. Some letters contain money or an equivalent--a 5 cent coin, a calendar, and sometimes even a large piece of useful cloth, such as an apron. Many include pictures of deformed children and animals. The themes change from support for a political candidate or...

Emails The structure and substance of the e-mails concerning political voting are almost identical. The e-mails start with a request for information about the recipient’s opinions, wrapped with a compliment—your opinion is SO important. As no payment is made or perhaps even if payment is made the notices continue. The continuous notices include continuous shrieking of a disaster. Thus, the messages include: (i) disaster (ii) compliments to the...

This is a lament over the United States (US), slow but sure move towards becoming the Disunited States (DS). We should learn from the virus that has attacked us so effectively. How could a small, insignificant, living unit, kill so many humans, who are far smarter and stronger than this tiny unit is? Why do some human countries manage to reduce the number of dead hit by this virus, while others, like the US, are failing? US is a rich and large...

On July 10, 2020, The Wall Street Journal published a short article entitled “The Supreme Loser: Pelosi’s House” by Kimberly A. Strassel.”[1] This is an interesting heading worth considering. The word “Supreme” does not necessarily mean the Supreme Court. Yet “Supreme” is followed by the word “Loser.” Usually, Supreme party does not lose, because the word “supreme” is the highest of something, and is used by the title of the Supreme Court....

Article appears in Bloomberg Law, Sept 28, 2020 (https://news.bloombergtax.com/coronavirus/insight-securitizing-the-notes-of-needy-small-businesses-and-workers-1) and University of Bologna Law Review, Volume 6, Issue 2 (https://bolognalawreview.unibo.it/article/view/13812/13340). Businesses, restaurants, and shops, whether small or large, are currently closed and many of their employees are laid off. The government lends money to small...

Reviewed by Tamar Frankel, Professor of Law Emerita, Michaels Faculty Research Scholar, Boston University School of Law, USA. Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, by David Livingstone Smith (St. Martin's Press, 2004) is a fascinating book about a fascinating subject. Two related general themes run throughout the book. The first theme is that lying is deeply embedded in our subconscious as a result of...

Introduction to the Lecture of Nobel Prize Holder Eli Wiesel on Anti-Semitism Nov. 10, 2003 Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a special honor to introduce to you Professor Eli Wiesel.* Only a great artist could turn a boyhood horror into the voice of those who suffered the horror. Only a great writer could reach the hearts and minds of those who did not know that such events were at all possible. But it is the truly greatest person who could...

Jews and Muslims can live together and bring prosperity to each other. Neither has to behave precisely like the other, but they have to respect each other's traditions and culture. I lived with Moslem Arabs most of my life in Israel. I learned Arabic. I went to school with Arabs. I was their lawyer, and they were devoted clients and good friends to my father before he died. Many Arabs and Jews retained this approach. There were always...

Change, regardless of what, when, and how, involves four aspects of uncertainties. First, we are unable to compute the structure of the current existing environment, in which a product will be treated, or an action will be avoided or performed. Second, anticipating all the possibilities of a changing environment, in which the product or action will be bought or performed, is even less possible for us. Third, we are unable to compute with...

There comes a point in one’s life, when age beckons a highly probable death in the near future. At that point, one’s view of the world may change, because the viewer will no longer participate in the current and near future world actions and inactions. A person could “die” while still alive, or “live” after death, even when the person knows that whatever the person says or does will have no effect on the person himself. The effect of the dead...