Lawyerin'

Law-Yah

[arishahdadi]

I fought the law and the law won

After 4 years and 4 months, today is my last day as General Counsel of Tumblr. I’m thrilled to be handing the reins over to my friends at Yahoo, particularly a certain bearded bespectacled fellow named Chris Mitchell. Special thanks to Ron Bell for being a great colleague and mentor the past two years.

It’s customary to reflect on past accomplishments in posts like this, but if you know me I’m not into custom…well, except this time, duh. Some stuff I am super proud of:

The two rollouts of major updates to the snazzy Tumblr TOS and policies (special thanks to Tag Savage on the second update and on most everything my teams have published the past few years, you are a rare talent and your blog is weird)

Tumblr’s transparency reports, especially the latest one with all the IP data, a heroic effort from the Trust & Safety team

Two big transactions: Our $85M Series E financing and the sale of Tumblr to Yahoo for $1.1B. Both of those are really crazy, right? I’m also proud of the thousands of vendor agreements I closed out, but no one really cares about those

We saved the internet…twice

That said, I’m most proud of all the awesome people who have worked on my teams: Ali Kazemi (who left us after two years to become General Counsel of Squarespace), Nicole Blumenfeld (stop being so charming, please) and our world class Trust & Safety team, Elizabeth Tobey (the best Community person I know) and our phenomenal Community Management team, and Liba Rubenstein (one of the most talented people I’ve had the privilege to work with, period). You guys made a special experience even more special, thank you. Thanks also to our entire Richmond office - you are the soul of the company, for real (Matt Flowers, if you run into me in Brooklyn again you better say hello).

We also had a bunch of awesome legal interns, but I emailed them already so they don’t get to be in this post.

Random shout out to the Creatrs team, especially DCH - you are doing amazing work and it was super fun to help out.

A final set of profuse thank yous (I know I missed people, sorry, if I tried to get everyone this post would never end): DK (you’re a genius and a better lawyer than I am, thank you for the opportunity!), our investors (Brad, Bijan, Roelof, Deven, and John in particular), and all Tumblr employees ever, with particular acknowledgement to Jeff, TR, Anshu, Bryana, Jana, Linds, Danielle, KB, Claude and the whole Brown family, Derek, Ken, Fredrik, Blake, and Marc.

Finally, I leave you with my favorite picture of Peter Vidani:

[arishahdadi]

The best is when you say the worst is over, it's like saying we had luck with a three leaf clover

[dailybreakingbad]

billboard sign in Albuquerque New Mexico. source: http://imgur.com/r/betterCallSaul/ASU5JDN

[arishahdadi]

Paging ronsbell.

[staff]

NYC Tech Startups Step Up to Defend Net Neutrality

While Silicon Valley titans are staying mostly on the sidelines.

Remember that time you all saved the internet? Here’s a little update from the front lines. 

Predictably, the broadband and wireless companies are fighting a legal battle to knock down the FCC’s excellent new net neutrality rules. We’re fighting back. Our man Ari Shahdadi—alongside representatives from a bunch of other New York-based tech companies—is filing motions to protect the fair and open internet that you all helped firmly establish. 

We’ll continue to keep you updated, and we’ll continue to win this thing. 

[arishahdadi]

I buried it in the rocks, it's gone forever.

cat

[theverge]

Watch what happens when you type “thirsty” on our Apple Watch review.

The Apple Watch lets you send emojis, which is a decidedly mixed affair. The first three screens are Apple’s own custom emoji, and they are… well, they’re super creepy. You’ve got a smiley face, a heart that explodes into other hearts, and what appears to be the disembodied hand of a mime, and you use the Digital Crown to smoothly transition these figures between their various states of emotional distress. These are the thirstiest emoji in history. I keep sending people a crying smiley face with its tongue hanging out just to see who my real friends are and who will call the police.

[desosa-deactivated20210108]

I made this design of  Brock Lesnar suplexing the California bear. WELCOME TO SUPLEX CITY, BITCH You can get it printed as a shirt as well as other stuff at Redbubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/worldbeast/works/14531252-suplex-city  Or as an American apparel shirt on Teespring: http://teespring.com/suplex-city-california-bear-t

[comicnerd1988]

Happy one year Tumblr staff anniversary to my best friend/colleague, marlene! Its an honor to work with Marlene within one of the coolest departments in all the Tumblr land (note: in reality, every staff member and their respective departments are the coolest). Thanks for the sweet letter and the year long laughs. Much love, Mar! 

[marlene]

Awww, love you too buddy. <3

[obviousplant]

Finally! Some books that cater to MY needs.

[notthebestofluck]

[nicole]

arishahdadi to me… Everyday…

[philnoto]

New Avengers #30 Variant Cover

[arishahdadi]

Phil Noto is awesome.

[seanhowe]

Found a 1968 letter printed on this stationery. Artist unknown.

[arishahdadi]

That is why I am proposing that the FCC use its Title II authority to implement and enforce open internet protections. Using this authority, I am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC. These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. I propose to fully apply—for the first time ever—those bright-line rules to mobile broadband. My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission.

Tom Wheeler.

[staff]

Don’t let this happen to your internet

The internet belongs to all of us. It’s an open, fair, democratic place that we’ve all helped to create, together. On February 26, the FCC is going to decide whether to leave the internet in our hands…or whether to turn it over to the cable companies.

You don’t want them to pick the cable companies. 

Join everybody on the internet and help the FCC do the right thing.

This is it, guys. We’ve been been fighting this fight together for a long time now. You did a sensationally good job back in September, making 135,343 calls in a single day and shifting the political momentum back toward real internet freedom. You been pulling more and more policymakers—including the president himself—over to the side of internet freedom. We’re almost there. Let’s bring this one home.

[nicole]

comicnerd1988 is an artistic genius.

cc: arishahdadi

[arishahdadi]

Tongue is good!

nicole

[arishahdadi]

The fact is that I would like to end my career as a behind-the-scenes powerbroker, a Deng Xiaoping of Gawker Media, exerting discreet influence through obscure committees.

Nick Denton.