INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
October 27, 2002
Tom MighellWelcome to Issue #87 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is send an e-mail to ilrw-subscribe@topica.com. It’s free!
If you didn’t visit Inter Alia this week, you missed out on NINETEEN stories (that’s 19, folks!) you aren’t reading in this issue. That’s nineteen potentially very helpful computer or research tips (or fun stuff) for you to use! What are you waiting for?
And away we go…..
News Update
Deep Trouble
If you're interested in the deep linking controversy, here's aninteresting article on the subject, with an emphasis on my hometown paper the Dallas Morning News. What is news to me in this article is that the DMN's position on the deep linking controversy is not based on copyright or trademarkinfringement, but on a breach of contract.A Few Google Headlines
SearchKing, a search engine and web hosting service, is suing Google. The lawsuit is based on SearchKing's placement of text ads for businesses on websites that had a high PageRank from Google. According to SearchKing, Google responded to this by lowering the PageRanking of SearchKing and the sites it hosts.And a Harvard University study finds that Google has excluded about 113 websites from its German and French listings. The sites are mostly anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi, or white supremacist in nature.
Who's the freshest?
Search Engine Showdown has updated its Freshness Showdown, showing how recently the major search engines have refreshed their links. Unsurprisingly, Google, MSN, HotBot and AltaVista all have new pages as early as 1 day old. Beware of Wisenut and Teoma -- the newest pages found on those sites are over 4-6 months old.When OR is better than AND
This nice article from Information Highways shows how to teach your favorite search engine how to get around and as the default boolean search connector:Gee, that was quick
A federal judge in Florida has already ruled in a case against Southwest Airlines that I first mentioned October 8. The judge ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply to the Internet, and dismissed the lawsuit against Southwest. The judge ruled that since Congress was so careful to specifically define the physical spaces covered by the ADA, it's clear that virtual spaces such as the Internet were not included. Read the court's 12-page ruling.WestLaw now offering images of cases
At hearings, some lawyers I know insist on providing a judge with cases copied directly from the reporter (instead of the formatted version you can print off WestLaw or Premise). West has heard the cries of these lawyers, and announces the introduction of West Reporter Images, which provides PDF images of cases. Who needs those old lawbooks anyway?Computer Problems after hours?
Find help online If your computer goes down this weekend, or anytime when your IT department isn't around to help, Law.com offers a listing of websites that offer free computer advice. This is only useful if you're able to actually go online, of course...
Georgia Legal Research on My Mind
It has been a while since we visited the legal research sites of one of our fifty states, so let's visit the Peach State this week. In the latest survey on e-government, Georgia ranked 38th in the nation, which means it is among the lowest in providing certain options to its citizens. Let's see how the state's websites fare in terms of legal research.
We start, as always, with the State of Georgia home page. It is a simply designed site, with most features available from a menu on the left. Select from Transportation, Family & Health, Education & Training, Tourism & Recreation, Business Services & Employment, Government, and Legal & Public Safety. Clicking on one of these sections will take you to a list of links to other sites, which provide most of the actual information. Nothing amazing, but it appears to get the job done. Note -- I got confused while looking at some of these sites, because Georgia apparently updated its home page recently, and there are three domains that are still in various states of use: georgia.gov, the new domain, ganet.org, and state.ga.us. Take care to make sure you're on the right site when navigating the interior pages, because you may be on a page that hasn't been updated in some time.
If you need to find information on a particular Georgia state agency, a page is available that lists all agencies. The Georgia Corporations Division takes you to pages where you can search for corporations or view, print, or order records online. You can visit Governor Roy Barnes and you can view his Initiatives, press releases, biography, information about the First Lady of Georgia, and more.
On to the legislative branch. The Georgia General Assembly has links to both the House and Senate, as well as legislative information dating back to the 1995 Legislature. The Georgia statute page is very disappointing, because there is no way to browse the individual titles; you can only search by keyword or code number. The Georgia Administrative Code allows you to search by title -- you can find it
and other state rules at the Georgia Register. If instead you're searching for municipal codes, Municode provides the ordinances for 93 Georgia municipalities .The centerpiece of Georgia's judicial branch is the Supreme Court, whose motto is "Let Justice be Done, Though the Heavens May Fall." Here you can make a case/docket inquiry, look at upcoming and current calendars, and read opinions, among other things. Here again I'm confused, because on the Supreme Court website the opinions date back only to September 2001; however, on the Georgia Court of Appeals page you can search Supreme Court opinions (as well as Court of Appeals cases) back to 1997 . Georgia's lower courts do not have much of an online presence, but what courts are available can be found at Courts.net or FindLaw. Georgia is part of the Eleventh Circuit and has three federal district courts: Northern, Middle, and Southern. There is also a bankruptcy court for each (Northern, Middle, and Southern) district.
Unfortunately, there aren't many good general legal research sites from Georgia -- most of the ones I found were related to major law sites, FindLaw and ALSO!. Mercer University's Law Library has a set of Georgia Legal Research Links, which includes several guides to Georgia Legal Research. None of them are very useful, however. The best is probably Mercer's Guide to Georgia Legal Research, but it hasn't been updated since August 6, 1999. Three of the other links are from Georgia State University, and none of them work.
Finally, if you're looking for information on Georgia lawyers (or on becoming one), check out the Georgia Bar Association, which sports a new and improved site. The site looks pretty simple, but the categories expand into a long list of features. Choose from Member Resources, Public Resources, Legal Resources, and Ethics/Discipline.
Do you know of a good site for Georgia legal research that I didn't mention? Drop me a line at tom@inter-alia.net and I'll include it in an upcoming issue!
Help DeskYou're getting ready to leave work for the day, and you've already closed all of your programs, when you remember you forgot to send an important e-mail. Rather than restarting your Outlook program, just try this shortcut. Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select New and then Shortcut. In the box that appears, type mailto: in the Command line. Click Next, and then give the shortcut a name (like New Mail). Click finish, and you'll have a shortcut that opens up an e-mail without actually opening your e-mail program.
I know this works with my Outlook 2002, as well as with Outlook Express, but I don't know if it also works with other e-mail clients like Eudora.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail– I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!
Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet
Franchising Law
This site is maintained by Franchise Opportunities, a company that identifies, creates and distributes resources in franchising and business in order to initiate and sustain prosperity for current and prospective stakeholders. The front page provides an overview on franchising law, and there's a box at the top of the page to search for franchises in various industries. This site is primarily for entrepreneurs who are looking to invest in franchises, but the summary of franchising law is still a nice tutorial.Index of Congressional Research Service Reports
U.S. Representative Mark Green (Wisconsin) provides this page with a listing of CRS Reports, written products tailored to specific issues, which are used by members of Congress for research and analysis. Here you'll find an index of Issue Briefs, which contain general information on each issue, from abortion to wetlands. There's also a list of "Short" (6 pages) and "Long" (7 pages or more) Reports on more specific issues.Kompass.com
Kompass describes itself as the "Business to Business Search Engine." I tried a search for "aviation fuel pumps," and got a listing of 112 companies that manufacture the product. Selecting Ram Pumps took me to a full overview of the company, with a link to the company's e-mail. I couldn't get to more information without purchasing a subscription, and all of the sites that came up in my search were outside the United States. As a legal research tool, you're probably better off with the Thomas Register -- this site is designed primarily for businesses.MedWatch
A service of the Food and Drug Administration, MedWatch provides safety and adverse event reporting to healthcare professionals as well as consumers. You can review reports made in the past two weeks or as far back as 1996, and make a report yourself. You can also become a member of the MedWatch E-List, which delivers timely information on medical products, drugs, and devices, often every day.reCap ($$)
The service provided by this company is promising: an on-line searchable video database of Washington hearings, floor action, briefings, and press conferences. As a research tool, this could be invaluable; unfortunately, this is the kind of brochure site I hate to review, because there's nothing informative on this website. Just a phone number for you to call and get more information. The only reason I mention it is that the kind of service this company's offering is nifty -- I hope it lives up to its promise.
Since it's Halloween, let's visit a few sites to get you into into the spirit (but not literally):
Check out FrightBytes, "when you're hungry for a little fright." Just the music alone gives me the chills.
If that site doesn't scare you away, you'll want to tour the Caverns of
Blood and play some spooky Halloween games, including the Magic Ouija Board of Horror.Do you have someone in your neighborhood who goes all out at Halloween or Christmas in decorating their house and yard with as much "stuff" as possible? Are you one of those people? Then visit Yard Haunts, which helps you find haunted yards in your area.
Head over to Haunted America, a site with lots of scary (if slow-moving) graphics.
Learn more about the history of Halloween, from the History Channel.
Home and Garden Television offers some fun ideas on throwing a Halloween party, making costumes, and spooking up your decor.
Finally, a useful site. Tired of telemarketers? This "counter-script" of questions may actually make you want to answer the phone when they call.
Well, that’s it for Issue #87 – I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.
Tom Mighell
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