INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
January 26, 2003
Tom MighellWelcome to Issue #98 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 visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!
And away we go…..
News Update
This past week, Jerry Lawson, Genie Tyburski and I engaged in a dialogue on our respective sites on the issue of legal research and finding the best resource. All of the entries deserve a read -- Read them in this order, and let me know what YOU think.
Jerry's Comment
My Reply
Genie's Rejoinder
My Reply to GenieThe dangers of too much knowledge, Part II
Last month I wrote about the mother who got sued because she checked out her prospective son-in-law's credit record. Now the California Department of Motor Vehicles has banned Allstate from checking driving records online, because employees were caught snooping through the records of friends and family.Tainting juries across the country
Wired reports on the Canadian judge who has banned foreign journalists from publishing certain details revealed in a murder trial, even on the Internet. There's no question that geography can no longer be a sufficient barrier to prevent a jury pool from gaining access to information. I don't see why the news organizations are up in arms about this -- if they are prohibited from publishing certain information on a trial, why can't they understand it applies to all media, and that there isn't an Internet exception?Another week, six more blawgs
Again this week, I found even more law blawgs for you to read. First up is Is that Legal?, from North Carolina law professor Eric Muller. Law Week Colorado, a fee-based service, regularly reports on news of interest to Colorado lawyers. Greg, a first year law student at Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, just started Law Is Fun this week -- literally. One of my favorite blawgers, Ernest Svenson, debuted PDF for Lawyers, devoted to the creation of the paperless office. If you ever saw the movie Fletch, you'll recognize the reference to law student Tobias James Stern's new blawg, Sugar, Mr. Poon? Finally, Internet News, a new blog (new to me, anyway -- it's been around since February) on Internet research.Another cool extension of Google
Looking for a movie to see this weekend? Google can help you find the critic's choices with GoogleMovies. The application uses Google to search for movie reviews, and then it automatically generates an overall opinion about whether the reviews are favorable, so-so, or unfavorable. Very cool, although for movie reviews I prefer MetaCritic or even the very basic but incredibly thorough Movie Review Query Engine.An even COOLER extension of Google
Check out Googlert, a new service that keeps track of your Google searches and e- mails you when new results are found. All you need is a Google API Key, which only requires an e-mail address and password. I haven't used the API key before, but I plan to learn soon. This is VERY cool.Teoma, Version 2.0
Gary Price and Chris Sherman report on the improvements and updates made to the Teoma search engine.Feel free to comment
On federal regulations, that is. After some delay, Regulations.gov was launched this week. The site allows the public to locate and comment on proposed federal rules and regulations from over 150 government agencies.Google wins first round
Remember the lawsuit against Google filed by SearchKing? The judge in that case denied SearchKing's request for a preliminary injunction, essentially adopting Google's view of the case. Probably the most crucial part of the opinion is the judge's acceptance that Google's PageRank is opinion protected by the First Amendment.
Help Desk
For the next few weeks, we'll be examining helpful tips to get the most out of your mouse. Do you hate to have to hold the mouse button down as you select text or other objects, or move items across the screen? Your mouse might be able to help. In your Mouse Properties dialog box (which we talked about last week), click the Buttons or Activities tab -- if there's an option called Turn on ClickLock, check it and click Apply. Now, when you need to move something, click and hold the mouse button for a few moments, then release the button and move the mouse -- your item should be moving without you having to press down on the mouse button. This won't work on every mouse, so don't be disappointed if you can't find it.
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
PoliticalWeb.info
Produced by researchers at the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, the study presented at this site explores the effect of the Internet on the 2002 elections. Specifically, they inquire how the political candidates made use of the Web to further their election goals. A very interesting study, with some good research links.Internet Resources for Journalists
Who says you need to be a journalist to use this site? I won't tell if you won't. Reuters editor Jonathan Oatis provides this nice set of research links for journalists, that can really help any online researcher. First check out Business Resources for Journalists, broken down into such categories as Search Engines, Financial News Sources, Investor Hangouts, Company Information, Calculators, and more. You'll also find a nifty page of links that can help you find public records online, as well as a guide for finding Internet software.United States Counties
If you have ever wondered about the names of all the towns in your county (or any county, for that matter), the National Association of Counties wants to help. Just select a state, and you'll get a list of all its counties. You'll get a listing of elected county officials (with e-mail address if available), as well as links to the cities in that county, Census Bureau Quick Facts, and Capital Impact Data. A valuable resource just chock full of good information!Oregon Prescription Drug Research
This site, maintained by AARP, claims to be "the first publicly funded, unbiased source of information comparing the effectiveness and safety of prescription drugs." As of this writing, there are only four reports available: high cholesterol drugs, chronic pain drugs, heartburn, stomach acid, and ulcer medication, and joint pain and arthritis drugs. There's a listing of drugs in each category, and a report comparing the effectiveness of each product. Not as much information as I would like to see; let's hope this is just the beginning.Applied Ethics Resources on the World Wide Web
The University of British Columbia provides this site, with more ethics links than you can shake a stick at. Select from Health Care, Business, Computer, Environmental, Media, Animal Welfare, Research, Public Sector, and other ethics subjects. Once inside each section, find codes of ethics, publications, ethics institutes and organizations, topics, and much more. This is the place to satisfy your ethics research needs.
Now for some fun and interesting sites:
Did you just miss your anniversary? Forget your mom's birthday? Shame on you. Now Re-Date can help you remember the next big anniversary, right down to the second. Want to find out when you turn 300 in Venusian years? It's right here.
Before you use that new wireless keyboard halfway across your house, make sure it's on the right channel. Otherwise, what you type might show up on your neighbor's computer.
If you like to doodle (or if you just have some time to kill), head over to G.E.'s Imagination at Work. You can create a drawing, save it, and even e-mail it to your mother so she can put it up on the refrigerator.
And if you're wondering when the Singapore Fashion Festival is...Check out Gary Price's guest column on searching for happenings around the globe over at SearchDay. It starts on March 16 -- the Singapore Fashion Festival, that is.
Well, that’s it for Issue #98– 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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