INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
May 11, 2003
Tom MighellWelcome to Issue #111 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!
For the month of May and first part of June, the newsletter will come to you as "ILRW-Lite." I'm in rehearsals for Bar None, a charity show we do here in Dallas. This year's show is called "My Big Fat Geek Lawyer," and it promises to be a lot of fun. If you're interested, head over to the Bar None website and take a look. You can buy tickets there, too.
And away we go…..
What's new with the major search engines
Check out Greg Notess's Internet Search Engine Update to catch up on what's been happening the past few months in the search engine world. Greg has also updated his terrific review of search engine HotBot.Refresher on Search Engine Indexing
Yesterday's SearchDay provides a quick tutorial on how search engines make sense of the web through indexing.Feel free to comment on eBay
Back in January I mentioned the story about the California attorney who sued eBay, alleging it was responsible for a seller's negative comments about one of its bidders. Yesterday a judge dismissed the lawsuit, finding that eBay was immune under the Communications Decency Act.How Experts Use Google?
Check out my comments on Dr. Elwyn Jenkins' study of Google searching behavior.More on the new Yahoo! search
Danny Sullivan at SearchDay offers a look at Yahoo's new search interface.Searching by file type
Mary Ellen Bates offers this nice tip on searching by file format. Now that search engines like Google, AllTheWeb and others search for document types other than HTML, this is a handy syntax to use in your research.Become a Hunter
There's an article over at vnunet that addresses a real danger of the Internet age: that search engines make us dumb. See my comments on the idea that search engines limit our ability to discover.Blawgs of the Week
Every week brings a fresh new batch of law-related weblogs. First up is 306taint, from a self-professed "con law jock" who promises no legal advice whatsoever. WeirdoftheNews features a regularly updated guide to random legal news. And from a soon-to-be-2nd-year law school student, Concur in Part. Finally, Martin Censor, who's behind the terrific BenefitsEssentials site (reviewed in the March 30, 2003 issue of the newsletter), has created a weblog that provides news, trends, and developments on employee benefits and human resources issues.Here's a brief refresher course on Boolean search operators:
- AND retrieves hits that contain both of the terms
- OR retrieves hits that contain one or both of the terms
- NOT retrieves hits that contain the preceding term but not the following term
- NEAR retrieves hits where both both terms appear proximate to one another
Most search engines default to the OR or AND operators when one isn't specified, and some recognize + and - as substitutes for AND and NOT. To learn more, check out this terrific page on Boolean Searching on the Internet.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – 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
3-D Model Search Engine
I'm not sure everyone will find this site useful, but I'm fascinated with it. The Princeton Shape Retrieval and Analysis Group has created a search engine for 3D polygonal models -- their goal is to investigate issues in shape-based retrieval. Just enter a word that has a form -- heart, Porsche, cabbage, whatever -- and the search engine will return 3-D models of those items found around the Internet. Don't know how to describe the shape you're seeking? Just draw it in the search box, and the engine will return models of shapes that are similar to your drawing. Cool concept.Workplace Violence
Part of the info-packed Department of Labor website, this page presents guidelines and recommendations to reduce worker exposure to violence in the workplace. You'll find many helpful links in the areas of Recognition and Control, Compliance, Training, and other issues. The materials come from the federal government, state agencies, and medical sources.Spam Laws
David Sorkin, associate professor at the Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law at Chicago's John Marshall Law School, has put together this very basic set of links to spam laws nation- and worldwide. You can review the text of the bills introduced or laws passed in Congress and the various states, as well as a nice summary of the laws in each state. Also available are links to spam laws in other countries, as well as a list of selected cases involving spam. An excellent collection of resources.Old Bailey Online
The Old Bailey, London's central criminal court and one of the most famous courthouses in the world, has a rich and interesting history. This website provides a fully searchable database of criminal trials held between 1673 and 1834. Currently there are over 22,000 trials available from 1714 through 1759. You can search for trials by name, crime, punishment, date, or other modifiers, or you can browse by date. The reports give details on the crime, the verdict, and the punishment decreed. The defendants are also cross-referenced, so you can see if Thomas Rowland was a habitual criminal (he was).WebLaw
WebLaw is a joint project of several Australian law librarians, providing a cooperative subject gateway to Internet resources for Australian legal researchers. These librarians have responsibility for different subject areas, and provide annotated records for quality Internet research sites. You can search by keyword, or browse the various subject guides, which include administrative law, criminology, dispute resolution, human rights, native title,
taxation law, and government, among others. There's also a discussion list you can join (you have to apply to join the list), a thesaurus, papers and presentations, and other great resources.
Finally, some fun and useful sites for you this week:
Get up-to-the-minute flight information at FlightArrivals.com. Check arrival and departure times, and also check out delays at various airports.
And when you want to recharge your cell phone, never, EVER recharge it in your microwave.
Well, that’s it for Issue #111 – 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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