Just wanted to say I'm troubled by the viciousness of the insults being hurled at these lawyers. First, no one can get through law school if they're an "idiot" or a "moron." Second, the fact that they were working pro bono is to be commended, and I'm sure it's not very encouraging for them to have their techniques be ripped to shreds by people who -- however closely they may have been following the case -- weren't in the courtroom and probably haven't studied the matter as closely as the people involved.

That said, I think the lawyers did make a mistake in taking on this case. There are some file sharing cases which should be defended as vigorously as possible, like where the RIAA is targeting the wrong person, or the file sharer has a plausible fair use claim. But here? It just sounds like the file-sharer is a greedy dumbass who knew what he was doing was wrong, did it anyway, and thought he'd somehow avoid getting in trouble. Tenenbaum is the idiot, not his lawyers.

Tell that to every doctor I'd ever seen in my life (being visibly malnourished, and complaining of symptoms associated with malnutrition), until I was 33 when my celiac was self-diagnosed and confirmed by testing. And to my cousin and grandfather (both on my mother's side of the family) who died of gastrointestinal cancers, both associated with undiagnosed celiac. And to my mother, sister, and another cousin who all have celiac which was undiagnosed until I brought this condition (so common I don't like to call it a "disease") to their attention.

In the U.S., it is standard medical practice to misdiagnose celiac, and most people have to self-diagnose in their 30's, 40's or 50's (keeping in mind that this is a genetic condition, and so present from birth). Or more likely, stay undiagnosed and die of a gastrointestinal cancer, or some other condition caused or worsened by malnutrition. Celiac affects 1 in 133 Americans, but only 1 in 5,000 is diagnosed.

Unless you're saying that 1 in 133 of your patients (or more, if you see many patients with gastrointestinal symptoms) has been diagnosed with celiac, then you have no business saying it's "not a difficult diagnosis."

Celiac disease is always my first thought when I hear of a somewhat geeky underweight person. Undiagnosed celiac is associated with Asperger syndrome. For more about this, see Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder by Karyn Seroussi.