INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
June 12, 2005
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #194 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....
How safe are you online, really?
A recent study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that many Internet users are "dangerously ignorant" about the information web sites collect about them. Before you read the official report (PDF file), take this test on Seventeen Facts American Shoppers Need to Know -- But Don't (PDF file). You may be surprised by your answers.An Anti-Tutorial on E-Mail
I'm always telling people the right way to manage their e-mail -- here's a list of things you should never do. It's called How To Lose Friends and Alienate People With E-Mail, Parts 1 and 2. Good wisdom here.Search Engine no more
Gee, that was quick -- it was only at the beginning of April that I reported Search Engine Watch's naming of Jux2 as the best meta-search tool around. Well, it didn't last for long; as of last week Jux2 is offline due to lack of funding, time and resources. Too bad.Search Engine Reviews
Tired of the same old Google and Yahoo! Ready to try out a different search engine for awhile? CNet peeks under the hood of the nine major search engines in Searching Beyond Google and Yahoo: Nine Online Search Engines Compared. There's even a handy chart comparing the features of each. After you have read this, you may find yourself back where you started; as expected, CNet still gives highest ratings to Google and Yahoo. The rest are far behind.More RSS Goodness from PubSub
The terrific PubSub has unveiled its new PubSub Government, which offers feeds on all sorts of government officials. You can subscribe to a feed for your Senator, Representative, and Governor, as well as Supreme Court Justices, Congressional Committees, and Cabinet Officials. Whenever that person or committee is mentioned on the Internet, you'll receive notice of it in your newsreader of choice. Pretty cool!Blawgs of the Week
This week, another heaping helping of law-related weblogs. First, the Trial Advocacy Blog is brought to you by the folks at the Temple Law Library, and they describe the blog best: "Temple University's Beasley School of Law has one of the best programs in the country in Trial Advocacy. The Law Library has created this blog as a forum to provide information and discussion on Trial Advocacy." Tom Collins is the CEO of Juris, Inc., and he's also blogging at morepartnerincome.com, which is dedicated to "ideas and techniques for the financial management of the law firm with the objective of increasing the income of equity partners." Now, there's a niche you don't see covered in the blog world. The Your Legal Rights Blog is a new blog by Mobile, Alabama lawyer James A. Johnson. He's discussing consumer and personal injury law as well as the use of technology in the law office. Cyblawg features the musings of Elizabeth Fletcher and Shanon Vollmer on cyberspace law, and particularly "Analysis and commentary on the law as it relates to evolving communications tools and technologies and the media." A Michigan lawyer named Chadwick C. Busk is penning The Fine Print: Musings of a Contract Lawyer. An anonymous would-be lawyer is writing about her musings and misadventures at Frequent Citations. Finally, Joel Schoenmeyer is a Chicago-area attorney who is commenting on estate planning, administration, and real estate issues at Death and Taxes.
We're up to #7 on our list of "Things to Do Before You Call Tech Support":
Number 7: Know Your System. When you call tech support, they are going to ask a lot of questions about the type of computer you are running. Make sure you know the model numbers for all your hardware (use a program like Belarc - www.belarc.com to make an inventory of all the hardware and software on your computer). Try to remember any new software that you have installed lately. You can also get a lot of information about your system by selecting Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information.
Next Issue: IRQ?
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
Guide to Foreign and International Law Databases
The NYU Law Library has this nifty Guide to Foreign and International Law Databases, which lots of links on the subject. Individual categories include Constitutions, Human Rights, International Criminal Law, Taxation of International Businesses, United Nations, European Union, Treaties, Intellectual Property, and much more. Each category has a nice selection of links on the particular topic. A good pathfinder for your international law research.Penal Law: A Web
Penal Law: A Web is maintained by Markus Dirk Dubber, the Director of the Buffalo Criminal Law Center. Its goal is to harness web technology to capture the structure, diversity, and scope of modern penal law. The Web technology used here is pretty basic, but you'll still find information of value. There are separate areas for the Analytic Structure of American Criminal Law, Constitutional Criminal Law, Statutes and other Penal Norms, and Court Opinions. You'll also find a Penal Code Comparer and Penal Code Analyzer, to see how various codes compare against others. Note: There are absolutely no dates on this site, so there is no way to tell whether it has been recently updated. For this reason alone, you may not want to rely on this site. But give it a look anyway -- it has a lot of great information.Institute of International Economic Law
Georgetown University's Institute of International Economic Law aims to "encourage thoughtful and scholarly attention to a broad range of subjects that concern the relation of law to cross-border economic activity." In addition to information on the faculty and the ongoing projects of the Institute, the Research area has a lot to offer. Both the Research Tools page contains a ton of interesting resources, including a nice page for Researching Economic Law on the Internet. The Useful Links area also provides a heap of sites to peruse, on such topics as Academic and Research Institutes, International Organizations, Think Tanks, Statistical Data, and Other Useful Resources.Free Expression Policy Project
A project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the Free Expression Project provides research and advocacy on free speech, copyright, and media democracy issues. Across the top you'll find the major issues on the site -- Censorship (art, youth, sex, and the history of), copyright, information commons, internet, media policy, political speech, and violence in the media. You can also view commentaries, court and agency briefs, fact sheets, and a nice page of links to other pages on free speech and censorship issues.The Supreme Court Historical Society
Want to learn a little about the nation's highest court? This site provides a nice introduction to the inner workings of the supremes, from people who are dedicated to preserving the history of the Court. The "History of the Court" page has a lot of information, including a timeline of justices and several documentary features on important moments in Supreme Court history. Take a few moments to take one of the Court History Quizzes, or learn more about specific cases in the Learning Center.
Finally, a few fun and useful sites to add to your bookmarks:
The Friendly Plumber presents Plumbing 101, with friendly advice and do-it-yourself articles for when you don't have time to find a plumber.
See how popular your baby's name has been through time with NameVoyager.
Well, that’s it for Issue #194 – 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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