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We are reviving a TIME tradition, a Law section, which will be written by Reynolds Holding, a lawyer and former executive editor of Legal Affairs, who has been posting a regular online column for us called Legal Opinion. In our litigious society, the law is a useful prism through which to examine trends. This week he looks at the perils of taking on spammers and what it means for the tension between freedom of speech and a right to privacy.
I've always believed that TIME makes a difference in people's lives but that we need to find a way to help readers make a difference in other people's lives. To that end, we are starting a section called The Power of One, in which we report on how individuals can make a positive contribution to their communities, their cities, their nations and the world. The revered economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, who led the U.N. Millennium Project, will be a regular contributor. This week he writes a moving piece about what it would take to rid Africa of malaria and the cycle of desperation the disease creates.
Finally, no look ahead to the coming year can be complete without focusing on the story that will preoccupy a great many of us, the 2008 presidential campaign. In this issue, correspondent Perry Bacon Jr. profiles John Edwards, who declared his candidacy in New Orleans last week. Perry is our point person on the ground in the early decision-making states, Iowa, New Hampshire and now Nevada, and in the coming months he will be reporting on what candidates are up to in those key states.
Getting this first new issue closed on time and into your hands has been wonderfully orchestrated by assistant managing editor Bambi Wulf, formerly our chief of reporters. In the coming weeks and months, you will be seeing more changes and innovations in the pages of TIME and on TIME.com Let us know what you think. And here's to a terrific 2007. Richard Stengel / Managing Editor
[Corrected from original published edition. Lincoln Caplan was editor and president of Legal Affairs. Reynolds Holding was executive editor]