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Pamela Samuelson

@pamelasamuelson.bsky.social

9.6K followers 1.3K following 170 posts

Professor, Berkeley Law School, who writes about challenges that new information technologies pose for intellectual property & other laws. Past Chair & member of Electronic Frontier Foundation Board & of Authors Alliance Board. Gardening is my best hobby .. more

Pamela Samuelson is an American legal scholar, activist, and philanthropist. She is the Richard M. Sherman '74 Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1996. She holds a joint appointment at the UC Berkeley School of Information. She is a co-founder and chair of Authors Alliance and a co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. She is recognized as a pioneer in digital copyright law, intellectual property, cyberlaw and information policy. .. more

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Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 5h

Pro-voting groups warn that if the Supreme Court rules to strike down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, it could give the GOP at least 19 more U.S. House seats — seats that were directly created by the provision. https://bit.ly/4q7aQ7D

GOP Could Lock in House Control for a Generation if SCOTUS Ends Key VRA Protection, Report Warns

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 1d

The biggest news story of the week that you may have missed is the real possibility that TikTok will go MAGA. Subscribe now to have all of Democracy Docket's premium content, including my exclusive newsletters, sent straight to your inbox. hubs.ly/Q03CbHTt0

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson, Henry Jones

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 2d

No one is covering the GOP's scheme to rig congressional maps for 2026 as closely as Democracy Docket. It is providing gavel to gavel coverage of the ongoing hearing over whether the Texas gerrymander will be in place for the midterms.

Support its work by subscribing now. hubs.ly/Q03M8rql0

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

AnnieOakleyinGA @annie1x.bsky.social · 2d

The murders of the Venezuelan and Colombian fishermen are crimes against humanity. Can’t the people that ordered this and carried it out be prosecuted? Does the SC’s immunity ruling protect trump? I don’t want people who co-sign murder on the Supreme Court!
abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

Colombian president says US military struck Colombian boat, killed his citizens

The last boat struck by the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea was Colombian with Colombian citizens inside, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday.

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 2d

there's a secret domestic terrorism watchlist if anyone cares
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/senator-wa...

Senator Warns of Trump's Secret Watchlist for Americans

NSPM-7 finally gets Congressional attention

www.kenklippenstein.com

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Pamela Samuelson, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 1 more Kim L. Scheppele, Pamela Samuelson, Rosemary A. Joyce, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 2d

At 11am I will try to live-blog, for @lawfaremedia.org , the hearing in Abrego Garcia’s civil (habeas corpus) case in federal court in Greenbelt MD. Abrego is seeking release from detention under a SCOTUS precedent called Zadvydas v Davis (2001). ...
/1
tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Kevin Collier @kevincollier.bsky.social · 2d

Here's the concern: It's technically possible for a committed amateur to make chem or bioweapons (variants of smallpox, polio, anthrax). The information's out there on the internet. It's just obscure and incredibly hard to learn. But now we're building "PhD level custom tutors" for everyone.

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Christopher Terry @christopherterry.bsky.social · 2d

Breaking Down The Intersection Of Right-Of-Publicity Law, AI www.law360.com/classaction/...

Breaking Down The Intersection Of Right-Of-Publicity Law, AI - Law360

Jillian Taylor at Blank Rome examines how existing right-of-publicity law governs artificial intelligence-generated voice-overs, deepfakes and deadbots; highlights a recent New York federal court ruli...

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 2d

SILS faculty says they “were told the new school will be “operational” by July 1, 2026. The University has not released a formal timeline.

The faculty member wrote that Roberts pushed for the new school despite lacking a “cogent idea” as to what the “School of AI” will entail, teach and stand for.”

UNC schools of data science and information science to merge, forming unnamed ‘School of AI’

SDSS Dean Stanley Ahalt will be made dean of the new school while SILS Dean Jeffrey Bardzell will stand as the University’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and Vice Provost for AI.

dailytarheel.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Kevin Collier @kevincollier.bsky.social · 2d

New: We jailbroke four versions of ChatGPT to get instructions on how to create viruses and chemical weapons.

The instructions were all flawed, and the it didn't work on GPT-5. But 4 of the 5 big AI companies have internally found their top models are close to being able to tutor bioterrorists.

ChatGPT safety systems can be bypassed to get weapons instructions

NBC News found that OpenAI’s models repeatedly provided answers on making chemical and biological weapons.

www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson, Laurent Pech

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 3d

From the Supreme Court opinion granting Trump immunity:

"Investigative & prosecutorial decisionmaking is the special province of the Executive ... allegations that the requested investigations were shams or proposed for an improper purpose do not divest the President of [his] exclusive authority"

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d

Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals

Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals

Prosecutor who sought charges was installed amid Trump frustrations with pace of investigations against rivals * US politics live – latest updates A federal grand jury indicted Letitia James, the New York attorney general, for bank fraud on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, personally presented the case to the grand jury on Thursday, the person said. US attorneys do not typically present to a grand jury. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 4d

The deluge of AI-generated videos featuring deceased public figures has already forced OpenAI to change the way Sora handles copyrighted works.

Dead celebrities are apparently fair game for Sora 2 video manipulation

OpenAI’s likeness protections for living “public figures” don’t apply to “historical figures.”…

arstechnica.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Derek Slater @derekslater.bsky.social · 5d

See also variety.com/2023/artisan... (from 2023)

www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus... (from this year)

‘Hollywood 2.0’: How the Rise of AI Tools Like Runway Are Changing Filmmaking

Visual effects artists are turning to green screen AI tools from companies such as Runway to save time and money on productions.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Jan W. Mueller, Joe R. Feagin , and 12 more Joanna Bryson, Jan W. Mueller, Joe R. Feagin, Brendan Nyhan, Pamela Samuelson, Scott L. Greer, Daniel W. Drezner, Melanie C. Green, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Rebecca M. Bratspies, Michael D. McDonald, Mark Rice, Andrew Rudalevige, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 5d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 5d

Genuine question - what are OpenAI’s Sora and other video generation tools good for?

I am honestly trying to understand what is so important that it’s worth the cost. If you have examples, I would be interested to hear them.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

People Are Making Sora 2 Videos of Stephen Hawking Being Horribly Brutalized

People are using OpenAI's Sora 2 to generate videos of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking being brutalized in ghoulish ways.

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 5d

Grijalva: The frustration for me is that it seems as if Speaker Johnson is not willing to swear me in because our politics are a little different, or because I’m going to be the 218th signer—he can just continue to drag this along with no end in sight.

That is not a foundation of our democracy.

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson, Orin S. Kerr

Anna Hickey @annahickey.bsky.social · 5d

There's an overwhelming amount of litigation surrounding the Trump administration so over at @lawfaremedia.org we have tried to make it easier to parse it. You can find district court, appellate level, and SCOTUS cases all in one place!

Check it out ⬇️

Pamela Samuelson @pamelasamuelson.bsky.social · 5d

Timeline cleanse. Not enough Cabernet grapes to make wine but good on cereal

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson, Rebecca Tushnet, Prokla Redaktion

Greylace @greylace.bsky.social · 5d

The recent ICE raid which emptied an entire apartment building was apparently at the request of Wells Fargo, which is trying to foreclose on the building.

flipinidaho @flipinidaho.bsky.social · 5d

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

The building is in a 27 million dollar foreclosure filed by Wells Fargo. The next day, Wells Fargo filed an emergency motion for receivership. The fascist regime kindly emptied the building for donor Wells Fargo.

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Patti Olivier EPSTEIN FILES NEVER FORGET @patti3333.bsky.social · 6d

LIAR
HE KNOWS

GHISLAINE MAXWELL
He knew what SCOTUS did

Pardon on the horizon?

Swear in Adelita Grijalva
Release the Epstein Files
#EpsteinFiles

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 6d

'Judge April M. Perry of Federal District Court in Northern Illinois, a Biden appointee, pressed Trump administration lawyers for more information about National Guard assignments in the, describing herself as “very troubled by the lack of answers.”'

{ gift link } www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Frank Calabrese @frankcalabrese.bsky.social · 6d

Judge April Perry just set oral arguments for the National Guard lawsuit for Thursday. Illinois v. Trump.

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Edward Hasbrouck @edwardhasbrouck.bsky.social · 9d

Note that most authors will only get $1,500 per book -- the publisher will get the other half. More from the NWU: nwu.org/anthropic/

Settlement of AI lawsuit gets tentative approval; some writers will get paid, but mostly only if they make claims | NWU

On September 25, 2025, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California gave preliminary (tentative) approval to a proposed $1.5 billion settlement of some of the...

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson, Paul M. Schwartz

UC Berkeley Law @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social · 9d

Dean Chemerinsky comments on “a pattern of ignoring court orders or trying to circumvent them,” and "a case in which he represents University of California faculty and researchers challenging Trump administration cuts to NSF funding." www.latimes.com/california/s... via @latimes.com

Trump uses repeated funding cuts to pressure California, complicating state's legal fight

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has sued the Trump administration more than 40 times. He says President Trump disregards the rule of law and overstates his control of federal funding.

www.latimes.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Pamela Samuelson, Juan Cole , and 9 more Anna O. Law, Pamela Samuelson, Juan Cole, Alan Richardson, Suzanne de Cheveigné, Rebecca M. Bratspies, Dana R. Fisher, Erin O’Donnell, Toni Haastrup, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Paddy Hillyard, Dunlap

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

🚨🚨 My dear friend and fellow academic, the Palestinian American sociologist @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social has been taken by the Cook County Sheriff near Chicago. They have not mirandized her. Please signal boost. All eyes on Broadview for Eman and the community she was defending 🚨🚨

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · 10d

Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

It's also a violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment of the Constitution

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson, Christopher Wright

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 10d

By my read, the only way for a university to comply with this compact is to gut their social sciences, arts, and humanities, and a good chunk of their sciences, too.

www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u...

www.washingtonexaminer.com

Reposted by Pamela Samuelson

Lawrence Solum @lsolum.bsky.social · 10d

Is Humphrey’s Executor headed for Slaughter? - SCOTUSblog www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/is-h...

Is Humphrey’s Executor headed for Slaughter?

Major Questions is a recurring series by Adam White, which analyzes the court’s approach to administrative law, agencies, and the lower courts. Please note that the views of outside contributors […]

www.scotusblog.com