INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
June 1, 2003
Tom MighellWelcome to Issue #114 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!
Only 3 weeks until Bar None! This year, the Dallas Bar Association presents My Big Fat Geek Lawyer, June 18, 19, 20, and 21 at the Greer Garson Theatre on the SMU campus. For tickets and more information, visit the Bar None website.
And away we go…..
Find your image, all in one place
Michael Fagan introduces his image search engine page, with links to search engines, meta searches, graphic and clip art galleries, stock photography, science and nature, and other image sources. Just plug in your search terms, select a search engine, and you're off!A challenge for spam blockers
Declan McCullagh writes that some of today's new spam-blocking programs may actually wreak e-mail havoc. These programs use "challenge-response" technology, which requires human non-spammers to click a link or type a word in a box to make sure their e-mail gets to you. Apparently, much of this software is poorly designed, forcing individuals well-known to the recipient to continually respond to the "challenge." What a hassle, especially for mailing list operators.Big things ahead for search engines
They're talking search engines in Budapest, and a lot of smart minds have been thinking about how to make them better than ever. Some pretty cool ideas here.Not Just For Information Geeks
Chris Sherman admits that he's a "full-fledged information geek" in a SearchDay article this week, where he reviews the electronic journal Information Research.Resources from the ABA
The ABA Section of Litigation offers some great law practice management resources, including Civil Trial Standards, Guidelines for Conduct, Uniform Task-Based Management Systems, and Civil Discovery Standards.Technology in the Courtroom
In a New York Times story, the rise of technology in the courtroom is discussed. The story features the Courtroom 21 Project, a joint effort of William and Mary School of Law and the National Center for State Courts.More from Detod
Gee, Chad Williamson over at Detod sure is busy. First he launches the great Blawg Search tool. Now he's got MyDetod, a blawg aggregator a la DailyWhirl. Here you can read the latest headlines from your favorite law-related weblogs without having to use a newsreader.Offender Registry suffers setback in Massachusetts
A judge has ruled that Massachusetts's sexual offender law does not permit the state to post photos and other identifying information on the Internet.Search Privacy, Part 2
Danny follows up last week's article with Part 2 in the series, comparing Google and Yahoo! privacy policies.Tools to pop pop-ups
CNet reviews eight applications that take care of those pesky pop-up ads and other adware.Blawgs of the Week
Some terrific new additions to your law-related blogroll this week. First, Larry Bodine of the LawMarketing Portal now publishes the LawMarketing Weblog, complete with RSS feed. The 10b-5 Daily offers news and events related to securities class action litigation, from Lyle Roberts, a partner in thesecurities litigation group of Wilson Sonsini. Also worth reading is The Niqabi Paralegal, a blog about legal issues facing Muslims in the United States, and other topics of interest. It is published by a Muslim paralegal student. Next is blueblanketblog, the personal, non-viewpoint-attributable-to-the-united-states blog of a young government environmental lawyer. Last but not least is Strategic Legal Technology, a new weblog from Ron Friedmann of Prism Legal Consulting.Over the next few issues, I'll offer some tips on making Outlook and Outlook Express a little more user-friendly. This week, I'll show you how to add an address from any message to your address book. In Outlook, just open the message and right-click on the name you want to add. Choose Add to Contacts, and you're done. In Outlook Express, highlight the message in your Inbox, then select Tools | Add Sender to Address Book. You can also do this from the message window itself, by choosing Tools | Add to Address Book, then Sender | Everyone on To: List, or an individual's name.
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
National Center for Education Statistics Newsflash Service
Anyone with an interest in educational statistics will find this service from the NCES very useful. To sign up, just provide your e-mail address and select the types of updates you want to receive. There appear to be almost 30 different topics, including publications and data, conferences and training workshops, adult literacy, crime and safety, education finance, staffing, and more.RealCorporateLawyer
This busy-looking site is just chock full of great resources for the corporate or securities lawyer. Down the left-hand side of the page you'll find the FAQ Library, on topics from Analyst Communications to XRBL (I didn't know what that meant, either). The rest of the page is taken up with SEC News, Conferences, Developments, and Special Features. You can also register for the free monthly e-zine. There's even more to explore from the menu bar at the top of the page, including the Law Center, E-Zine Archives, SEC Rules, Regulations, and Guidance, and a link to EDGAR filings.SingingFish
I mentioned this search engine a few months ago on Inter Alia, but never had a chance to check it out. SingingFish is a search engine specializing in finding streaming audio and video on the Internet. The engine finds such formats as RealMedia, WindowsMedia, QuickTime, and MP3. Although the current top 10 searches on the site all involve pop music, legal researchers can also use this site to find audio or video clips on news topics. A search on "Trent Lott" found 42 clips, from such sources as National Public Radio, the BBC, Voice of America News, and other news stations. Since none of the major search engines include streaming audio in their results (in a meaningful way, at any rate), this is a terrific addition to your search arsenal.The Justice Project
The Justice Project describes itself as "a nonpartisan organization dedicated to fighting injustice and to creating a more humane and just world." To do that, the project has three current programs: the Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform, Nuclear Threat Reduction Campaign, and the Artists' Call for Justice. Each program has its own page with resources on the issues, including a database on state legislation on preventing wrongful convictions. Most of this site is designed to get you to join the fight for criminal justice reform, but there are some nice resources scattered throughout.TrueWhoIs
Finding the owner or sponsor of a particular website is an important step in determining the quality of the information found on that site. TrueWhoIs can help you learn the identities of registered owners, and it's easy to use, too. Just type in the name of the domain you're investigating, and instantly you'll see the registration information for that site. Unfortunately, TrueWhoIs will not allow you to search by IP address, like some other WhoIs services; still, this is a good site to visit when you really need to know the name behind a website.
Finally, some fun and useful sites for you this week:
Take the Geek test and let me know how big a geek you are. I was surprised to learn that I am only 9.07298% geek.
Headline of the week: "Terrifying bill passed during NBA playoffs." My favorite line from the article: "The swift passage of this very important law proves what I [President Bush] have always believed: that government works best when spared the constant carping and criticism of naysayers."
Here's a way to have some fun with all those Nigerian scam e-mails. Enter the Nigerian Spam Scam Contest, and compete against others to see who has been promised the most by those wealthy Nigerians. The current top scorer has been promised a total of $4.073 billion from 277 e-mail messages. I'm jealous.
Our useful site this week is useful only if you regularly exceed the posted speed limit. The Speed Trap Exchange is a database of known speed traps around the US, with tips on how to avoid them, and how to fight a ticket you receive in a speed trap.
Well, that’s it for Issue #114 – 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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