Lately, I’ve been doing a lot research for term papers. In the off-chance that anybody perusing this blog has any interest in them, or could offer some recommended reading, I thought it might be helpful to post the topics.

As a member of the Environmental Law & Policy Review, I am writing a note about homeowners associations and energy efficient home improvements. Specifically, I am interested in institutionalized impediments for green architecture. The paper is looking like a synthesis of Tim “Toolman” Taylor, Al Gore, and John Locke.

I had the opportunity to scope out the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathalon for my note during a recent trip to Washington, DC and had the same thrill that I imagine a lot of baby boomers had when attending Futurama II at the 1964 World’s Fair. Sure, it’s not the Jetsons, but the future is going to be okay after all.

And, while we’re on the topic, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the book Privatopia, and was pretty stoked to see that the author maintains a blog on the same subject. If you’re interested in the rise of private government, sprawl, etc. it’s a great book and a really good blog to throw in the good ole RSS reader for news updates on the subject.

I’m also writing a paper about the WHOIS database, domain registration, and freedom of speech on the Internet. Basically, anybody that registers a domain name to have a Web site has to submit their name, personal address, email account, and other personally identifying information. This can be a problem for those who want to make political statements on the net without fear of persecution. ICANN, the group that regulates the WHOIS database policies recently announced that they would not be changing their protocol for at least another year while they review their current privacy standards. Hopefully, my amateur legal analysis of contemporary first amendment case law and the Internet can make a tiny impact on policy formulation.

Finally, for a class on Consumer Law, I think I will be writing a comparison of the FTC’s “Do Not Call List” and the proposed “Do Not Track” system for online advertisers that do behavioral targeting. Though, I’m not quite sure yet. If anybody has an interesting research topic in the field of consumerism, pretty please hit me up. Maybe I should look into typos on the Internet again? The Ritz for $.01, who can argue with that.

Just tryin’ to get fly like paper planes…