October 31, 2004

Welcome to Issue #170 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!

Yahoo Search becomes more Googlish
The Yahoo! Search page was already pretty bare-bones in its layout. Now look at it -- remind you of any other search engine?

Phishing the social network
Remember a number of months ago when social networking sites like Orkut and LinkedIn were the latest rage, and everyone was joining up with their friends? Well, experts are thinking that these social networks may be the next breeding ground for phishing attacks.

Try satellite radio for free
I have been an XMRadio subscriber since last Christmas, and it's just about the only radio I ever listen to nowadays. Having access to commercial-free, CD-quality radio 24/7 makes me wonder why I ever listened to commercial radio at all. And now you can see what all the fuss is about. XMRadio is offering three days of free Internet access to its stations, to see if you like it. Check it out.

It does more than just e-mail
It was a partnership that was bound to happen. Blackberries are almost de rigueur for lawyers nowadays, so it was only natural that Lexis would try to horn in on the action. Last week Lexis announced the availability of its content on Blackberries for attorneys and law firms. Now lawyers who need a quick case cite while in court are only a few clicks away.

Blawgs of the Week
Another week, another couple of law-related weblogs for you to peruse. Anthony Cerminaro has yet another blog, this one called Deal Attorney. In it, he discusses "commercial and financial transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, intellectual property licensing, product distribution, strategic partnerships and joint ventures." Another blog from the Law Professor Blogs is up and running. This time it's the AntitrustProf Blog, and it's written by Shubha Ghosh, a professor at the University of Buffalo Law School.

While I sure would be happy if my computer came pre-configured to single-handedly combat all the viruses, spyware, phishing scams and other bad things lurking on the Internet, I think this whole security thing should be, and is, a joint effort, and a smart computer user is an essential part of the equation.

I disagree with Nielsen's assertion that user education doesn't work, at least to the extent that we're talking about computer users who are actually concerned about protecting their computers from harm. While it's probably true that most computer users don't have (and don't want to have) the technological expertise to know everything about computer security, I find that users who recognize the problems are willing to (and do) learn how to guard against them.

No, this is not the Wild West, where everyone carried a gun to protect themselves. However, we also don't leave the front doors of our homes wide open for just anyone to walk in. We take basic precautions to protect ourselves, and I would argue that anyone who doesn't is asking for trouble.

As I said, having a computer come with all of the solutions Jakob proposes would sure be nice, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Until then, I think I'll continue to advocate user education, because an educated computer user is hopefully a safer computer user.

Help Desk

Ever wish you could change the subject line of a received e-mail to more accurately reflect its subject? No problem. Just open the message and make your changes to the Subject line. If you want to make changes to the message itself, click Edit and select Edit Message. When you're done, click File and then Save. That's all there is to it!

Clarification: In last week's tip, I showed you how to type symbols using the ALT key. I failed to mention that you need to use the keypad to type numbers, and not the numbers across the top of your keyboard, to type these symbols.

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!

Using Primary Sources on the Web
A page featured on University of Washington Library's website, it offers basic information on searching primary resources for historical research. You'll get an overview of primary sources as well as a number of links to collections and other helpful sites. This page hasn't been updated in a year, so it wouldn't ordinarily make the newsletter. But I think most of the information on this page holds up pretty well over time.

National Health Information Center
The NHIC is a health information referral service provided by the federal government. There are links to referral organizations and publications, but the heart of this site is the Health Information Resource Database, which includes 1,400 organizations and government offices that provide health information on request. This site won't necessarily get you the health information you need, but it will get you closer to its source.

SmartSettle ($$)
It's hard to tell exactly the services provided by this site. The folks here want to make it easier for you to settle or resolve your dispute, and they have a software program that is designed to facilitate that process. There's apparently also a way to have a facilitator mediate the process, but it's not clear how that happens. Anyway, this looks like an interesting use of technology to resolve disputes.

SupportGuidelines.com
I love sites like this, that are designed to be a comprehensive resource on a particular topic. In this case, it's child support guidelines around the country. You'll find new cases, news, and publications, but the real meat can be found through the Resources link. Available there are child support guidelines from all 50 states, support calculators, state bar associations, and family law sections, links for laypersons, and much more. This is a terrific resource.

The Psi Cafe
The Psi Cafe is dedicated to providing links to high quality web sites that emphasize psychological issues. There's a lot of advertising on this site, which is surprising, considering that it's a part of Portland State University's website. But there are some interesting resources in the "Resource Section" area, which you should stick to. The Top 25 Psychology Resource Sites link contains lots of sites that aren't even relevant to psychology, which suggests that the folks who monitor this site don't do a very thorough job of upkeep. With that in mind, the legit psychological resources are pretty handy.

For election week, I want to offer some fun and useful election-related sites; you won't see this again for four years.

First up are some good articles from LLRX. Diana Botluk offers Election Concerns: Will Your Vote Count? Are You Sure?, with tons of links on election issues. And Kathy Biehl updates her Federal and State Election Resources. Great stuff!

Still undecided? Check out PowerVoter, a site designed to help you better understand the issues and candidates on the November ballot. I wish this site were a bit more complete -- I tried to pull up a page with Texas candidates and was told they would set it up after 5 people from my area requested it. Who knows -- maybe one's already set up for your state.

Slap the Candidate allows you to take out your frustrations on the candidate of your choice.

Hate having to search through the tiny listings in your local newspaper to find where your polling place is located? Try My Polling Place; just enter your street address and zip code, and get the name of your polling place along with a map and links to driving directions.

Maybe you have a friend who is still undecided. Help to make up his mind by sending your own endorsement of your favorite candidate, with Vote-O-Matic.

Well, that’s it for Issue #170 – 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.

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Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net.