INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
March 14, 2004
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #148 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…..
A toolbar to end all toolbars?
Mary Ellen Bates has a review of the new Groowe toolbar, which provides you with different toolbars for 17 different search engines, as well as shopping, job, and download sites. It's a little too busy for my taste, but it's definitely interesting.Social Networking, Microsoft Style
Microsoft is getting into the area of social computing, starting with your contacts. The idea of "Inner Circle" software will be to maintain and update a list of about 20 people with whom you e-mail and IM the most. The list is based on your behavior -- the software will keep track of the people you communicate with the most, and keep those contacts close at hand.Spyware: the government finally gets involved
Last week, Congress introduced legislation aimed at stopping spyware. Not to be left out, several states are also getting into the act, including Utah, which passed the first state spyware bill.What you can do to stop hijacking
Browser hijacking, that is. When you're surfing the Internet willy-nilly, it can sometimes be easy to pick up unwanted guests that take over your web browser, change your home page, throw pop-ups at you left and right, and expose you to unwanted pr0n. As I have mentioned before, use one of the spyware tools to keep your computer free of these nasty hijackers -- SpyBot, Spy Sweeper, and Ad-Aware are all good programs. In fact, use more than one of these, because each of them will detect spyware that the others can't.Is Congress limiting access to facts?
That's what some people think. Congress is currently considering the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act, which would make it a crime for anyone to copy and redistribute a substantial portion of data collected by commercial database companies and list publishers. As you might expect, Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw are supporters of the bill. In an article over at Wired.com, opponents of the law say it could impact Internet research by preventing news and information sites from displaying previously free materials.Search Engine Fun
If you have multiple searches that you want to view on the same page, give GoogleBlaster a try. Just enter your query in the box, each on a separate line, and your Google results will come back in a tabbed, easy-to-navigate format. Another fun feature from Queryster is Search Fight, which pits two search terms against each other for Internet supremacy. Just plug in two terms or phrases, select your search engine, and the one with the most results wins.How seriously do YOU take privacy?
With a title that makes you want to say duh, "Study: Identity Theft Worries Consumers" reports that despite an increased awareness about the need to protect privacy online, consumers do a consistently poor job of managing their passwords.Keeping up on the Internet
If you consider yourself a serious web searcher, make sure you subscribe to these Top 10 Newsletters to keep up with what's going on out there.Searching for different file types
Sure, finding Web pages in your research is great, but greater content can often be found in the PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint presentations, and other type files located on the Internet. Nowadays, most search engines allow you to narrow your query to search for such file types -- in Fiddling with File Types, Greg Notess lays it all out for you.Blawgs of the Week
Another week, another crop of great law-related weblogs. M. Sean Fosmire, who publishes the great yclipse tech journal, is tackling a completely different topic at his new weblog, Logos. The blawg will discuss and analyze legal cases and, more generally, legal and constitutional issues pertaining to the proper role of religion in American society. The Construction Law Blog is published by fellow Dallasite Donald Hawbaker; I think this may be the first weblog on construction law issues. Chan Stroman, principal of Landlord Counsel LLC, has been blogging the Commercial Leasing Law Blog for a week now. Matthew Lerner is an attorney with Goldberg Segalla in New York, and he puts his knowledge of New York law to use at the New York Civil Law blawg. Farther west is the Colorado Appeals Blog, brought you by Blaine Myhre, an attorney with Isaac, Rosenbaum, Woods & Levy. IrishLaw is not really a blawg about legal issues in Ireland; it's really a blawg about politics, culture, Catholicism, and law, from a Domer at Ohio State. All Rise is written by a recovering lawyer, now performing legal research and analysis for one of the cable news networks. He plans to focus on the latest developments in high-profile legal proceedings. Finally, Martin has just started writing Boilerplate, a weblog "dedicated to elegant drafting in contracts: plain English, clarity, legal precision, appropriate risk allocation and commercial sense." Hear, hear!Here's an easy way to send e-mails quickly to those you communicate with frequently; just create a custom Outlook toolbar button with their names.
First, create the custom toolbar button:
Now that you have your button, add e-mail addresses. The Customize dialog box is still open at this point.
click Open.Next time you want to send an e-mail to that person/distribution list, just click your new menu button, and an e-mail appears, already filled in.
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
Foreign and International Government Resources
A number of universities around the country have web pages devoted to international government resources. This is just one of them, with hundreds of links on the subject. The site is divided into three areas: Treaties, Databases & Statistics, and Other Resources. Most of the links provided here are to outside sources, including international pages from other universities.Chemical Guide
The American Chemistry Council presents this site in an attempt to improve environmental, health and safety performance of chemical companies through science-based and economically efficient public policies, and health and environmental research and product testing. There are 139 chemical company members of the ACC, and you can learn about them here. You can also search for chemical plants in your area and learn about the chemicals they produce, how they are involved in your community, and the commitments they are making to make it safer.CCH CORSearch ($$)
CORSearch's goal is to provide "the most thorough, accurate and professional trademark and copyright research services available in the industry." For that you'll pay a fee; here you can to select from North American Trademark Services, Corporate Name Services, Title, Copyright, and Document Retrieval Services, and more, all at various prices. Once you register (it's free), you can set up your own "My Page," which will contain all of your trademark searches and other research.InsWeb
This isn't really a legal research site, but it's darned useful. With InsWeb you can comparison shop for auto, life, health, homeowners, and other types of insurance. Just fill in the relevant information, and receive quotes from major insurance brokers. There are also Learning Centers which provide more information about buying auto and life insurance.Justice Research and Statistics Association
A national nonprofit organization, the JRSA provides access to current information on state criminal justice research, programs, and publications, training in the latest computer technologies for records management, data analysis, Internet, forecasting, and other cutting-edge topics, reports on the latest research being conducted by Federal and State agencies, and more. Search ISAR, the InfoBase of State Activities and Research, for statistical information on just about any issue you can imagine.
Last but not least, a look at some fun and useful sites:
Are you a gadget junkie? There are three great weblogs that talk about nothing but gadgets: Engadget, Gizmodo, and Gadgetopia. Give them a look.
Have you ever wondered how your name stacks up against others? Name Statistics takes information from the U.S. Census and ranks names.
When you need a job done right, you can only go wrong with Acme Products.
Well, that’s it for Issue #148 – 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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