INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
March 9, 2003
Tom MighellWelcome to Issue #104 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
Update on Sex Offender Registries
Internet sex offender registries have been in the news this week. First, the Supreme Court ruled in two separate opinions that states have the right to post information about sex offenders on the Internet, including pictures of those required to register. The two opinions were filed in Smith v. Doe and Connecticut Department of Public Safety vs. John Doe.And the Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa sex offender registry is full of outdated and incomplete information. A staff member estimates it would take "26 years to sort through cases to identify offenders at risk to commit more sex crimes." Gee, if a state the size of Iowa is overwhelmed, I wonder how the other states are doing with their data.
How did your congressman do?
The Congress Online Project has released Congress Online 2003, its second annual report on congressional websites. The report provides an assessment of the websites of all 610 Congressional Member offices, and how they can be better designed to serve their constituents.A new facelift for AllTheWeb
Although it insists it has nothing to do with its purchase, search engine AllTheWeb has rolled out a new look, just a week after being bought by online advertising giant Overture. While many of the changes are cosmetic, there are also some structural improvements, including updates to the Advanced Search page.All modesty aside...
I was quizzed by Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association as part of his "Interview With the Bloggers." Finally, my article "Every Blog Has Its Day" was published in the Dallas Bar Association's monthly publication Headnotes.Blawgs of the Week
Chris Holmes, a former law firm colleague and longtime good friend, is now working in the world of academia, advising university officials and such. UnivAtty, his blawg on the law of higher education, is a welcome addition to the blogosphere.Glenn Garnes had been busy this week. First, he transformed his LawTech site into a weblog. Then he debuted Res Ipsa Blawquitur, a community weblog designed to give lawyers (and others, I suppose) an opportunity to give blogging a try. Lawyer Randy Tunac introduces us to Manifest Border, the web's first immigration blog. Decnavda's Dialectic presents news and information on tax court opinions. And the brand-spanking-new International Trade Law and Policy debuted this week, covering the World Trade Organization and other international trade legal and policy issues.
Finally, the Network of Trial Law Firms has a weblog that apparently has been around since December 2000, making it one of the early law-related blogs.
Help Desk
The past few weeks we've looked at the basic computer systems you'll need for basic productivity or music and movies. This week, let's look at the minimum system requirements for those of you interested in video and image editing:
- Top of the line processor, such as a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 or 2.13 GHz Athlon XP 2600+
- At least 80GB hard drive for large video and image files
- 19-21 inch CRT monitor, or 15-17 inch LCD (flat-screen) monitor
- High end graphics board
- Midrange sound card
- Basic speaker set
- At least one IEEE 1394 port (for a Firewire connection)
- Video or image editing software package
- DVD-Recordable drive
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
Lambda Legal
If you follow the U.S. Supreme Court, you may know that on March 26 it will hear arguments on whether the Texas sodomy statute is constitutional. This is only one of the cases brought by Lambda Legal, a "national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, the transgendered, and people with HIV or AIDS through impact litigation, education, and public policy work." There are some tremendous resources here. Just click on Issues, and you'll find a listing of current topics affecting the LGBT community, including civil unions, employment, housing, military, reproductive rights, youth and schools, and more. Each link provides more links on cases and publications on each issue.MDEX Online ($$)
This site is designed primarily for the plaintiff's personal injury bar, but there are helpful resources here for the defense side as well. The highlight of the site is the "Daubert Tracker," which lists every Daubert-related opinion issued to date, opinions, dockets, and transcripts in cases with Daubert issues, regular "web lectures" on Daubert issues, an e-mail update service, and a quarterly journal. MDEX also has experts available to review medical records, perform litigation support, assess economic damages, and consult on social security issues.QuickTopic
Need to have a conversation with a group of people, but you can't because 1) you can't get everyone together for a conference call, 2) e-mail is too cumbersome, and/or 3) you don't have your own personal extranet? QuickTopic to the rescue! This site allows you to create your own online discussion space. Just register and create your topic -- QuickTopic provides you with an e-mail to send to others with instructions on how to join the group. You can create a bulletin board where everyone can comment on the topic, and all comments can be viewed at once. Users can choose to have topics e-mailed to them if they choose. There's also a Quick Doc Review that allows users to view and comment on an HTML or MS Word document, rather than mailing the documents around and waiting for comments. A terrific collaborative tool, and it's free to boot.National Rehabilitation Information Center
NARIC is an organization that provides information services on disabilities and rehabilitation. Legal researchers will find two areas particularly helpful: the Instant Disability Information Center, and the NIDRR Program Directory. The Instant Disability Information Center allows you to search by keyword or through browsing the individual databases. There are over 47 databases broken down by subject area, from AutoImmune Disorders to Universal Design. The NIDRR provides the abstracts to the Intro and 8 chapters of the program directory, which you can browse by chapter. You will only find abstracts in the Instant Disability Information Center as well.Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The CBPP states it is one of the leading organizations in the country working on fiscal policy issues and issues affecting low- and moderate-income families and individuals. The home page provides information on new reports from the Center, as well as in-depth issues, projects and initiatives, special series, and more. A pull-down menu will take you to the publications library, as well as areas devoted to unemployment insurance, Federal Budget and Tax, Social Security, poverty and income trends, among others. If you find a report you like, you can download it in either HTML or PDF format. A *lot* of information presented here.
The Trademark Blog
I know, I know -- I talk about weblogs a lot. Every now and again I like to highlight a particularly interesting or useful weblog, and Martin Schwimmer's Trademark Blog definitely fits that criteria. Schwimmer is a New York intellectual property lawyer, and here he provides daily information to those interested in trademark law, with a few personal musings mixed in. In addition to his weblog posts, Schwimmer also offers a fantastic Trademark Metasearch from this page, which allows you to search for trademarks from 11 countries simultaneously. If your interests lie in trademark law, this site is a must- bookmark. (or "must-aggregate," if you have a newsreader)CAROL
CAROL stands for "Company Annual Reports Online," and that's pretty much the sum of what the site provides. After you complete the free registration, you're able to search for the annual reports of listed companies in Europe and the United States. There's also a large collection of Investor Relations sites, with links to stock exchanges, information sources, professional bodies, vendors, and the media.American FactFinder
Provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the American FactFinder is a statistic junkie's dream -- well, statistics about population, economic, housing, and geographic data, anyway. Start with popular tables and maps for basic census facts, then make your way through more comprehensive data sets. You can even narrow your search to a single city block if you are so inclined. There's way too much information here for me to tell you about -- you'll just have to visit the site to find out the rest.DTStatelaws ($$)
This site claims to provide "the most comprehensive reference tool for information dealing with drug and alcohol testing laws affecting the workplace." To find out, you'll have to pay $149.00/year subscription fee. Members will receive a CD-ROM with the information, with a frequently-updated website to supplement the software. On the website you'll get access to the State Library, which provides links to statutes, caselaw, and employer notes for each state. There's also an Issues Forum, Federal Library, General Q&A, and a page to assist in the development of a workplace drug testing policy. The resources here look pretty significant -- hopefully they are worth the subscription price.Fair Judges
Fair Judges is a project of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, its mission "to help educate the American public...about the individuals nominated to steward the judicial branch of government." What's clear about this site is that it is certainly not non-partisan; most of the content on this site is concerned with opposing the current administration's nominations to the federal judiciary. That being said, if you are one of those against the nominations of Charles Pickering or Miguel Estrada, among others, you'll find a lot of support here.
Finally, a useful site for you:
Come on, admit it -- you use the same password for everything, don't you? If you do, you should definitely check out Password Security, which tests the strength of your particular password. You'll also get tips on making your password stronger. Caution: don't use your real password at this site -- use one that's similar to it.
Well, that’s it for Issue #104 – 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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