Legislating Sexting: Another Rant Against the State

sexting in school california
Self-portrait of the author pretending to sext.

Life in Southern California comes with various aspects you can depend on for better and worse: Abundant sunshine, salacious celeb gossip, consistent traffic and government over-legislation.

While we can leave the future of foreskin up to city government (thanks San Francisco and Santa Monica), it appears that what our children can and cannot do with their mobile devices while in class will be determined not on a case-by-case basis or by school principals but in Sacramento — by the California State Legislature.

Senators unanimously passed a bill that would make sexting an infraction for which school officials could expel students.

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How Sustain LA Greens Local Festivals and Restaurants

Thanks to detailed sustainability planning and multiple trash-sorting stations at last weekend’s Silver Lake Jubilee, the event successfully diverted 90 percent of trash produced at the event from landfills. According to Sustain LA, of the trash generated by dozens of vendors and more than 10,000 attendees, 3,600 pounds of waste was diverted to compost & recycling (over 2,000 pounds to compost alone) leaving 400 pounds of trash to landfill.

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Interview: Ooyala’s Chris Wong on Trends in Online Video and Advertising

Digital Hollywood took over the Ritz at Marina del Rey for its Spring 2011 conference, a nice change of scenery for the hundreds of studio execs, advertising and entertainment execs, online video creatives, technologists, SAG members and agents in attendance. (Members of the Dallas Mavericks, who could be spotted in and around the pool area, apparently enjoyed their stay as well).

Between absorbing the latest trends as discussed by multiple panels we managed to interview a few executives from top online media companies.

In the video below, Ooyala’s Vice President of Biz Dev, Chris Wong, explains the importance of streaming video solutions providers, why most companies require DRM (digital rights management) to control copyright, and ponders the meteoric rise of Netflix and the potential impact of its competitors.



Click here to view on YouTube.