The Digital Library: Study of Feasibility and Viability (PowerPoint), by Catherine Sanders Reach (ABA Legal Technology Resource Center), presented at the ABATechShow 2003, April 4, 2003.
By the same author, see also this related paper, Digital Libraries, which focuses "on the results of survey research regarding the feasibility and viability of a digital library, funded in part by the American Association of Law Libraries Aspen Law and Business Grant."
Via Slashdot, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts released 2002 Wiretap Report (For the Period January 1 through December 31, 2002), available in pdf. Data includes:
A single global patent system could simplify the international patent process. Will the United States sign on?
See also the Technology Review Patent Scorecard 2003, (full-text available here in pdf), "which tracks the U.S. patent portfolios of 756 of the world's top technology companies."
GovBenefits.gov, the offical government benefits website, now offers access to 417 agency and foundation programs.
Information Technology: Terrorist Watch Lists Should Be Consolidated to Promote Better Integration and Sharing. GAO-03-322, April 15, 2003; Highlights (both documents in pdf). See also this related news on the report: GAO Criticizes System For Tracking Terrorists(Washington Post, reg. req'd).
From Microdoc News, this useful recommendation on improving your search results using Google. "If you can find a sentence in the Google database which you have just lifted from a website, you can find information you are looking for by writing a sentence in which the information you are seeking may be embedded."
From the press release: "The Department of the Treasury, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the seven federal financial regulators today issued final rules that require certain financial institutions to establish procedures to verify the identity of new accountholders."
On April 29, Governor Mark R. Warner of Virginia signed two bills constituting the Virginia Computer Crimes Act (SB 1139 - became ch. 1016 and HB 2290 -became ch. 987), which in this press release is lauded as the "toughest such law in the United States,"...as..."half the world’s Internet traffic passes through the Commonwealth of Virginia." Twenty-six states have enacted anti-spam legislation, while the federal government continues to propose legislation, none of which has yet passed.
From PCWorld, "Some legal observers say that the Virginia law, which could land spammers in prison, faces enforcement problems."
United Nations Treaties and Principles on Space Law. "The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is the only international forum for the development of international space law. Since its inception, the Committee has concluded five international legal instruments and five sets of legal principles governing space-related activities." Via Metalfilter.
Spammers obviously continue to irritate a very raw nerve, and Capitol Hill is piling on. Recent federal legislation from Senators Wyden and Burns, Senator Schumer, and now Senator Lofgren's announcement of the introduction of the Restrict and Eliminate Delivery of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (REDUCE) Spam Act, added to state legislative efforts, indicate that the battle has not been forsaken. See also this summary of the Reduce Spam Act.
The Internet heavy-weight trio of AOL, MSN and Yahoo have also joined the fight, as the cost of spam continues to escalate, and to infuriate users and services providers alike.
"The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding a contract to examine privacy protection in the use of terrorist tracking applications, such as the DARPA-led Total Information Awareness (TIA) program." From Federal Computer Week.
Senator Charles E. Schumer announced the release of a new study (The Dark Side of E-Commerce: The EMail Spam Epidemic) indicating that "New York City residents receive 8.25 million junk emails a day and spend 4.2 million hours a year eliminating spam messages." This announcement also stated the Senator plans to introduce new legislation to combat spam, which would include criminal penalties of $5,000 or more for repeat violators. UPI reports on the bill here. See also my recent posting on the Can-Spam legislation introduced by Senators Wyden and Burns.
For an interesting perspective on just how long we have been plagued by spam, take a look at this article, Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of Spam by Brad Templeton, founder and publisher of ClariNet Communications Corp., the world's first ever ".com" company.
Interesting article from News.com that highlights how Ford Motor Company leveraged the technology of Ask Jeeves to analyze, design and implement more effective website features in response to consumer concerns during the Firestone tire recall, and thereafter.
This new report from the FTC, False Claims in Spam (16 page pdf), states that is the first extensive review of deceptive and unfair practices that appear in unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE). The study analyzed 1,000 spam e-mails drawn from a pool of 11,000 such messages, and concluded that at least one form of deception was evident in 66% of the aggregate.
See also these two related agency reports, Spam Email: Harvesting Your Email Address and Remove Me Surf. In addition, in related news, Web Sites Shut Down in Spam Fight.
The Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Healthgrades.com v. Northwest Healthcare Alliance Inc.
See In This Library's Tale, Seeds Of Mistrust and Hope in Iraq, from today's Wall Street Journal (subscription req'd) that provides new information concerning the whereabouts of much of the collection ransacked from Iraq's National Library. "Now, a prime chunk of the library is sitting in Sheik Timimi's mosque in a Baghdad slum, under the orders of the Shiite establishment." No doubt an evolving story. I will post updates as they become available.
The New York Public Library announced their annual Best of Reference list for 2003, which includes the following websites of note: The Scout Report and Archives; Librarians' Index to the Internet; Statistical Resources on the Web and Online Newspapers (onlinenewspapers.com & newslink.org).
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced the availability of a new book, Intellectual Property - A Power Tool for Economic Growth, to coincide with World Intellectual Property Day (April 26, 2003). A 21 page overview of the book is available here in html, and here in pdf.
News that the Florida House of Representatives pushed ahead the vote on pending Super DMCA legislation by one day, and passed H79, Relating to Communications Services, on Thursday, April 24, - YEAS 109 NAYS 0. See my previous posting on this and other Super DMCA legislation here.
The Consumer Electronics Association issued a press release today in support of Friday's decision in the file sharing case of Grokster and Morpheus. See also, Copyright Battle Now Turns to Other Fronts, from the LA Times (registration req'd), and not surprisingly, Kazaa applauds P2P ruling--heads back to court. Also, this Interview With the President of Grokster about the summary judgment.
In his article Management by Blog? author Jimmy Guterman indicates that blogs have not yet achieved corporate buy-in, although they may be on the crest of the wave as the next gen app even though big muscle KM systems still have a hold on the spotlight.
News about the release of the Melvyl-T catalog from the University of California, which "contains more than 23 million records for material held by the libraries of the 10 campuses of the UC system. The database is updated continually as material is ordered, received and cataloged by the libraries."
Over a year ago, health care attorney Jeff Drummond launched HIPAA Blog, where he posts information and resources on medical privacy issues. This site is well worth a visit for links to related federal and state legislation and regulations, association and government website postings, news stories, and of course, commentary. This link is via UnivAtty.
Via Cryptome, these photos of construction underway at the World Trade Center site in NYC. See also this design proposal, with its almost haunting images, which are the work of architect Daniel Libeskind.
On April 14, Secretary of State Powell issued this press release, Cooperation for the Safeguarding of Iraqi Antiquities and Cultural Property. See my related postings on the recent lootings of the Iraqi National Museum and libraries.
For reference, from the State Deparment website, see U.S. Laws and International Laws which address "the looting and destruction of archaeological sites and the theft of cultural property," as well as this recently launched website, Iraqi Cultural Heritage in Peril, which links to selected images of looted items. For additional information, see UNESCO's more extensive topical resource, as well as this site, Lost Treasures from Iraq, from the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, which has posted numerous images of artifacts, as well as a Bibliography of books documenting the contents of the Iraq Museum, et al. (pdf)
The International Herald Tribune reports that "More than 1.5 million Britons will have a chance to vote Thursday in 17 local elections using electronic voting systems that computer security experts on both sides of the Atlantic say are fraught with danger and an invitation to fraud." From the UK Electoral Commission, see Britain launches largest trial of electronic voting in Europe.
The 17 year old case of Air India Flight 182, which exploded off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985 killing all 329 passengers and crew onboard, is scheduled to begin today in the Supreme Court of British Columbia (BC). A new website, ONTRIAL/Air India, sponsored by the Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia, provides information on the case that has been released to the public, including background and history of the event, media links, judgments to date in the case, information on the justice system (Canada and BC), and details about how to follow the criminal trial process. My thanks to blogger Peter Scott for this link.
In a 34 page decision released this afternoon that surprised many, the entertainment industry at the top of the list, Judge Stephen V. Wilson (Central District of California) "denied a request to shut down Internet song-swapping services Grokster and Morpheus." The judge wrote, "It is undisputed that there are substantial noninfringing uses for (the) Defendants' software." See this Reuters article for more information. Also see RIAA reacts badly to court's file share ruling which states, "What makes this judgment even more interesting is the implication for ISPs. This judge has effectively ruled that those who have no direct control of the use of their services cannot be held responsible for any misuse of those services."
From News.com, Are file traders next? the author predicts that this defeat for the music industry will only result in an accelerated effort to sue individuals who have allegedly engaged in copyright infringement using P2P apps.
ABC News has highlighted the ongoing story on the battle being waged by libraries and booksellers against the Patriot Act (Sec. 215. Access to Records and Other Items Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) that permits government access to data about patron reading habits, Internet usage, and book purchases. Opposition to many aspects of this legislation is backed by a disparate coalition of liberals, conservatives and libertarians (including Rep. Bob Barr and Rep. Bernie Sanders). Sanders introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act on March 6, 2003.
Resources and news of note on Super DMCA legislation ("to combat broadband and communications piracy") that is proliferating at the state level, driven in large measure by relentless lobbying on the part of the Motion Picture Assocation of America (MPAA), and which, for the most part, is based on the organization's proposed model legislation. The Broadband & Internet Security Task Force, an industry sponsored organization, is also a key player in the effort to enact such legislation.
From the American Library Association (ALA), see this 'Super' DMCA State Legislation Table. Via Tech Law Advisor, this commentary on pending Florida legislation (H79 and S1078) contends the legislation "would take away your right to potentially own or operate a TiVo, network firewall, or WiFi device. Not to mention your right to privacy..."
From the Chronicle for Higher Education, a Michigan grad student moved his research on information hiding techniques (steganography) to a server in the Netherlands for fear of prosecution under Michigan's Public Act 672, which prohibits conduct with regard to telecommunications access devices.
And from Information Week, this article about software developer Tom Liston's network security application to fight worms, called LaBrea. Mr. Liston has been directly impacted by Super DMCA legislation enacted on January 1, 2003 in Illinois, such that he felt compelled to remove his software from public access via the Hackbuster site, on April 16.
Danny Sullivan presents Part II of his review of RSS services and applications that facilitate access to the continuously expanding world of news, blogs and topical information. He recommends several RSS search engines, including Feedster and rssSearch. Part I of his article is available here and lists examples of news aggregators and how to use them effectively.
The Department of Homeland Security had the daunting task of implementing an e-mail system that integrates 22 separate agencies. According to Federal Computer Week, the system will be launched this weekend.
Once again Judge John D. Bates (United States District Court for the District of Columbia) has ruled (55 page pdf) that Verizon Internet Services must reveal, within fourteen days, the name of an anonymous customer accused of using a peer-to-peer file sharing application (KaZaA) to pirate copyrighted songs. The judge's earlier ruling of January 21 also ordered Verizon to release the customer data, but the company sought a stay and continued to battle the RIAA, who contended the DMCA allowed them to subpoena customer data from ISPs based soley upon on an allegation of copyright infringement.
Verizon's senior vice president and deputy general counsel, John Thorne, stated in this press release, "We look to the Court of Appeals to decide this case in a narrow manner that avoids a chilling effect on Internet users' private communications, such as e-mail, instant messages or surfing the Internet."
Cary Sherman, President of the Recording Industry Association of America, stated, "A federal district court has again affirmed that the law which provides copyright holders with a process to identify infringers is both Constitutional and appropriate."
See the Center for Democracy & Technology statement on the decision here, and the response from the Electronic Frontier Foundation here.
O'Reilly & Associates, a leading publisher of books on computer technologies, announced it will adopt the Founders' Copyright from the Creative Commons project, "that allows copyright holders to voluntarily release their works to the public after the period envisioned in the original 1790 US copyright law--14 years, with the option of one 14-year extension." The Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended the duration of copyright, on works published on or after 1978, from 50 years to 70 years.
See also this PCWorld article that states O'Reilly is "...taking a dramatic stand against automatic extensions of U.S. copyrights by voluntarily limiting its own copyright protection."
Via an e-mail from Mary Alice Baish, AALL Washington Affairs Representative: "Thanks to a trio of very alert law librarians in Ohio, Billie J. Grey, Gail McCain and Al Podboy, for notifying us of a state bill, the Electronic Government Services Act (H.B. 145), that would prevent agencies from providing access to government information and services that are provided by two or more commercial entities...We are working together with them to energize and coordinate opposition to this egregious bill that flies in the face of government's ability to use the Internet to improve public access to important information created and paid for by tax dollars." See a copy of the Action Alert on this bill here. Mary Alice references this editorial from the Cleveland Plain Dealer opposing the bill: Don't take public data private. See also Bill would limit information on state Web sites.
Junkbusters Corp., an organization whose declared mission is to stop spam, sent a letter to the FTC on April 22 requesting that the agency investigate discrepancies in the privacy statements posted by eBay as they result in the dissemination of personal data without customer knowledge.
Junkbusters President Jason Catlett contends that eBay's use of two different privacy statements (a shorter version, and a longer version which discloses the release of customer data to third parties without their consent) constitutes a deceptive practice.
This complaint to the FTC was concurrent with another one made by EPIC about Amazon's privacy policies in regard to minors.
Movable Type founders Ben and Mena Trott announced that their company Six Apart Ltd. will soon release "TypePad, a hosted service providing powerful tools for creating full-featured weblogs." See also, Eyeing Blogger, Creators of Movable Type Expand. Looks as if Google now has some formidable competition in the BlogSphere!
Getting Wired Is Part of Research reviews technology options available to access online court dockets and filings from federal and state courts. Two services mentioned are the comprehensive CourtExpress.com (fee-based) and CourtWeb (which is limited to selected rulings from participating U.S. District Court judges).
From the ABA's Market Research Department, news that the 2003 ABA National Lawyer Population Survey is available here. In addition to this data, the site provides access to other ABA research and statistics about the profession (demographics, women in law, salaries, quality of life, law firm rankings, corporate counsel, etc.) as well as links to related information from other professional associations, legal publishers and consultants.
The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) posted an Early Release on April 11, HIPAA Privacy Rule and Public Health Guidance from CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (pdf). This 24 page report includes an overview of the new privacy rule, as well numerous links to related online resources from federal, state, association, non-profit and academic organizations.
The Centers for Disease Control has a launched a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) website, which is updated daily. This site is an excellent example of the power of a content-driven e-gov resource whose goal is to educate the public and disseminate accurate, topical, current information.
See also this excellent resource on the subject from the New York Public Library.
The EU announced a plan in December 2002 to create a European E-business Legal Portal with the stated purpose of facilitating electronic cross-border transactions. On schedule, the Commission launched the site, eBusiness Lex that "contains information and resources on a range of relevant issues, including contractual aspects, online payments, privacy and data protection and intellectual property rights. Other features include a frequently asked questions section, an e-business legislation database, and references to self-regulatory initiatives."
Google is onboard the money train with their acquisition of Applied Semantics, "a company that makes software that analyzes the content of Web sites in order to match them with appropriate advertising," according to this Reuter's story. See the Google press release here, which states, "Applied Semantics' products and engineering team will strengthen Google's search and advertising programs, including its fast-growing content-targeted advertising offering."
In the continuing saga of Napster, this news that venture capital firm Hummer Winblad Venture Partners was sued in U.S. District Court (LA) by Universal Music Group and The EMI Group for contributing to global copyright violations by the bankrupt file sharing service.
See also my previous posting on the new book about Napster. And on the broader topic of music piracy, see this recent report, commissioned by the Business Software Association (BSA), Expanding Global Economies: The benefits of reducing software piracy (pdf).
OCLC Research announcements are now available via RSS 2.0.
The New York Times published an extensive article on the challenges posed by the adroit and aggressive junk e-mail industry that has to date overcome all challenges preventing the delivery of their unwelcome messages to our home and work e-mail accounts.
Dan Farmer, a software engineer and computer security expert, and Charles C. Mann, an editor and author, have a two part article in the Technology Review titled Surveillance Nation. Part One appears to be available in full-text as premium content (subscription req'd). However, Part Two has no restrictions, and provides a perspective on the evolution of privacy issues, the collection and dissemination of personal data, and the development and deployment of increasingly sophisticated surveillance technologies.
As I posted previously, the Pennsylvania Attorney General has refused to release information about hundreds of websites, innocuous and otherwise, blocked by the states' recently enacted law, 18 Pennsylvania Statutes Sec. 7330. Yesterday the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) appealed the Attorney General's refusal to grant access to this information, citing the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law (65 P.S. Sec. 66.1 et seq).
The American Library Association (ALA) has a useful resource available on their site: USA Patriot Act Resolutions of State Library Associations. It offers an alphabetical list of states, along with either direct, or sometimes circuitous links, to their respective resolutions endorsing the ALA USA Patriot Act Resolution.
An interesting article from News.com addresses the legal obstacles (DMCA, patent claims) at the disposal of established companies who seek to block emerging technology competitors.
Building Trust on the Web, Consumer WebWatch's First National Summit on Web Credibility, April 24, 2003. Presentation topics include: Health Web Sites, Search Engines, Guidelines & Best Practices on the Web, Scams & Schemes: Why Don't Consumers Trust the Web?, and Toward a More Credible Web. See this link for Jim Guest's opening remarks.
Today's news release from the Federal Communications Commission states that the agency "adopted new rules to simplify and streamline the operation of the schools and libraries program of the universal service fund (USF). The measures adopted today seek to improve program administration, create a more efficient application process for program participants, and improve program oversight to prevent waste, fraud and abuse." See the Fact Sheet here, and my previous posting on this issue here.
College students are increasingly discovering that file sharing has serious consequences. Just ask 220 Penn State students accused of using an LAN to bypass the university's network bandwidth restrictions. They have lost the privilege of Web access in their dorm rooms.
See also my previous posting on four college students who were sued by the RIAA for using LANs to collect and distribute copyrighted songs. In addition, see this New York Times article, Recording Industry Goes After Students Over Music Sharing, that documents the responses of students and administrators at other colleges and universities throughout the country. Also, Univ. of Minnesota stuck in middle of music, movie download dispute.
An update on the Penn State students, April 24: "The 220 students caught last week trading copyrighted material received a slap on the wrist from the Office of Judicial Affairs after promising not to share illegal material again."
The Wall Street Journal recently launched The Afternoon Report, an opt-in e-mail update of breaking news, in text version, provided to subscribers twice daily. Yesterday, the e-mail update became available in HTML, and is now accompanied by lots of advertising as well. Readers may also choose to read the updates via a link on the front page of the site.
Today's Wall Street Journal has a brief comparison, in chart format, of some of the best features of the free services from Google, AOL, MSN, Yahoo, as well as the fee-based software, Grokker. The article also addresses the increasingly prominent relationship between search results and paid advertising.
Google Hacks by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest is given a big thumbs up by Lee Dembart in the International Herald Tribune. He also points out that Tara's steady stream of updates and resources on Google applications are available through her terrific Research Buzz site, and additional resources, since the book's publication, are here.
The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals launched a redesigned web site yesterday. Although much of the site's content requires a membership password, see this publications link for access to abstracts and some full-text articles without a fee.
The New York Times reports on a New Jersey program, beginning this summer, to implement digitized security features on the state's driver licenses to prevent theft and fraud. The features will include "holograms, a bar code and digital signatures."
The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider this Friday the case of Healthgrades.com v. Northwest Healthcare Alliance Inc. for their fall docket (No. 02-1250). This case is of considerable interest in light of the recent Internet jurisdiction decision from Australia, Dow Jones and Company v. Gutnick, which was back in the news last week.
For a well documented discussion of the 9th Circuit decision, Northwest Healthcare Alliance Inc. v. Healthgrades.Com, Inc., (C.A. 9 (Wash.), 2002 WL 31246123 (unpublished), please see 9th Circuit Adopts "Effects Test" in Online Jurisdiction Case.
EPIC, along with a coalition of 10 advocacy groups, filed a complaint with the FTC today stating that Amazon.com is violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 ("COPPA") by collecting and disclosing personal information about children. EPIC provides specific examples of children, with key information redacted to protect their privacy, who are registered users of Amazon.com, have reviewed products online, and whose personal data, including their respective e-mail addresses, name, gender, age, and home address, is available on the site. See also Is Amazon.com no place for kids? For an excellent topical resource guide, see EPIC's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) website.
From around the country, more articles on the escalating backlash against the Patriot Act as exemplified by defiant libraries and local governments. In Washington State, Libraries routinely toss data on patrons'. From New York State, Libraries, government at odds over Patriot Act, and from California, Local Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act.
On April 15, the Department of Homeland Security proposed new regulations for Procedures for Handling Critical Infrastructure Information. The rulemaking states: "The Department recognizes that its receipt of information pertaining to the security of critical infrastructure, much of which is not customarily within the public domain, is best encouraged through the assurance that such information will be utilized for securing the United States and will not be disseminated to the general public."
According to this article in PC World, "the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is currently considering a regulation that would let it ignore any public comments on its rule-making process sent to it through Web-based forms." The agency also intends to ignore comments sent using form letters and postcards that result from lobbying/advocacy efforts. Furthermore, the Forest Service does not participate in the e-gov initiative Regulations.gov, the portal through which users may "find, review, and submit comments on Federal documents that are open for comment and published in the Federal Register."
For reference, the origin of these proposed changes were buried here: National Forest System lands; projects and activities; notice, comment, and appeal procedures, December 18, 2002 Federal Register, for which the comment period has already passed.
Rep. Henry Waxman, Ranking Member, House Committee on Government Reform, Minority Office, sent a letter to the Committee on Energy and Commerce requesting an investigation into accusations that over the course of two years, Philip Morris destroyed e-mail relevant to the DOJ case filed against the company in 1999, alleging deceptive practices.
See also this resource, Document Destruction by Philip Morris, that includes links to correspondence (in pdf) between the DOJ and Philip Morris, the Deposition of Michael Wallmeyer, Philip Morris Information Services Specialist, and the transcript of the February 5, 2003 Status Hearing.
Ask Jeeves Inc., seeking to move out of the number two search engine position, today launched the new Ask Jeeves' "Smart Search" features that facilitate more effective searches "by helping narrow, broaden or more directly answer user queries." This announcement describes the new features and tools now available:
See Burn a Country's Past and You Torch Its Future: "Do libraries really matter for a nation's sense of its self? Evidently Iraqis felt the destruction of their national library, archives and museum in the past week as a loss of their connection to a collective past, something like a national memory."
Joe Clark, author of Building Accessible Websites, published a white paper on Accessibility implications of digital rights management in which concludes, "Digital rights management, as currently designed, will harm people with disabilities and others who rely on accessibility features."
See also Fiddling with the Internet Dials: Understanding Usability.
All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster, was reviewed in the Sunday Washington Post as "a richly reported behind-the-scenes account of the rise and fall of Napster Inc., the online music-swapping phenomenon." From the Boston Globe, see also this article by the book's author, Joseph Menn, The Man Who Hijacked Napster, adapted from his book.
Infomania is a blog with links to Iraqi related news and web resources, maintained by Elisabeth L. Donovan, Miami Herald Research Editor.
Web search: how the Web has changed information retrieval. "This paper suggests that the significance of the topical metadata controversy depends on the technological appropriateness of adding them to Web pages. This paper surveys Web technology with an eye on assessing the appropriateness of Web pages as hosts for topical metadata. The survey reveals Web pages to be both transient and volatile: poor hosts of topical metadata."
On April 18, the DOJ filed a brief with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that supports the RIAA's case against Verizon to compel the release of personal customer data of an individual who allegedly engaged in Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations through file swapping. The DOJ contends the government's position is a defense of the constitutionality of the DMCA. Verizon has sought to quash the court' subpoena as it "violates the constitutionally protected rights of free speech and due process of Internet subscribers." (quote is from this New York Times article.) See also this Wall Street Journal article and this Washington Post article for more background.
From the Washington Post: "An "e-government" program to make the federal government more citizen-friendly is $40 million short of its intended budget, which could hurt White House efforts to improve public access to regulations, information and services." See also this interview with Mark Forman, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's associate director of information technology and e-government.
Via Slashdot, this WTOP Radio Network (Washington, D.C.) report indicates that the USPTO has at a minimum a two year backlog for approval of a new patent. Patent Office Director James E. Rogan went on record to Congress warning that this backlog could rise to over one million requests by 2008.
Kevin W. Grierson comments: "Although the pendency period for patents is now over two years, it's not fair to say, as does the article, that there is a "backlog" of two years. The PTO's goal is to get a patent processed in 18 months. It would be difficult with no backlog at all to get one processed much faster than that. Right now, the time from application to issue, on average, is 27 months. That's too long, but it's not a two-year backlog."
New legislation introduced on April 10 by Senators Wyden, Clinton and Collins: To require public disclosure of noncompetitive contracting for the reconstruction of the infrastructure of Iraq, and for other purposes (S. 876).
Via FOIA requests, EPIC has obtained documentation on the federal government's contracts and pricing for access to database records of personal information on citizens from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, and Costa Rica, from public records group ChoicePoint.
According to social policy researcher and author Daniel Forbes, "the Russian military analysis Web site, Iraqwar.ru,....offered detailed predictions about coalition troop movements many hours or even days in advance," but was yanked off-line last week.
From Consumer WebWatch: Meta-search Sites Compile Results But Don't Always Tell You Who's Paying for Placement.
Professor Edward Felton, whose blog Freedom to Tinker focuses on information technology and law issues, was interviewed by Slashdot yesterday. Issues addressed include the DMCA, compulsory copyright liscensing and network identity.
The South Carolina Senate approved The Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act (S. 222) on April 16. The bill provides for the creation of an identity theft database by the Attorney General, expedited court proceedings for victims of ID theft, stricter verification of card holder identification by credit card companies, and blocks the distribution of inaccurate information about victims of ID theft by credit reporting companies. See also this article, New bill aims to protect SC consumers from ID theft.
Two recent articles focusing on the digital rights controversy merit noting: The Pirates Among Us: "The entertainment industry is battling the illegal distribution of copyrighted music and movie files-and will stop at nothing to enlist your help."
Pirates and Posses: The Battle over Digital Copyright by James L. Gattuso, Bruce Mehlman, Alec French, Gary Shapiro, Heritage Lecture #785. "The blessing of the digital age is that you can make an infinite number of perfect copies of any one piece of content at a very, very low cost. The curse is that you can make an infinite number of perfect copies of any content without paying for it." The authors suggest the following remedies:
Columbia University has published a searchable database of over 10,000 documents, from which scanned images were made, that comprise The Papers of John Jay, 1745-1829, Governor of New York and Supreme Court Justice.
See this link from LexisNexis for training materials and topical tutorials, links to research materials and a bibliography of articles on summer associate training programs.
As a follow-up to my previous posting on Massachusetts House Bill 2743, see these related articles: Activists assail antipiracy proposal - Argue civil rights would be violated under Mass. law and MPAA's Drive for Tougher Fraud Laws Hits Bump.
The innovative Yale Journal of Law & Technology (YJoLT) is now using a blog publishing application, provides links to other Yale sponsored blogs and legal-tech content, and offers readers the choice between viewing the journal articles in Word of PDF. See this article from the current issue, Copyright’s Digital Reformulation, by Brodi Kemp (YLS 2004). The author "argue(s) that content providers are 'recreating the bottle' around their intellectual property, using digital technologies to reinforce their business models and supplant copyright." Please note that a previous version of this article by the same author, dated September 2001, was published here.
On April 15, the Social Security Administration launched a redesigned website, Social Security Online, along with a new url. See the press release here, as well as the helpful fact sheet that details the new features and services available from the site, which now meets accessibility requirements. Please note that the agency continues to provide the Social Security eNews, which offers e-mail updates to subscribers in ten categories that include law & regulations, disability, and data studies & research.
The Department of Homeland Security has hired a Chief Privacy Officer, attorney Nuala O'Connor Kelly. According to this government bio, she was formerly Chief Counsel for the Dept. of Commerce Technology Administration, and prior to that, she served as Vice President-Data Protection and Chief Privacy Officer for Emerging Technologies of the online media services company, DoubleClick. According to the Washington Post, Ms. Kelly's appointment is being met with some skepticism by privacy advocates. See also Statement by Commerce Secretary Don Evans on Appointment of Nuala O'Connor Kelly as Chief Privacy Officer for the Department Of Homeland Security.
On April 14, New Jersey Governor James E.McGreevey signed S. 1355, which revises New Jersey's computer crime law to incorporate recent technological changes. See the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee statement for details of the bill, which "adds definitions of "Internet," "personal identifying information,""alter, damage or destroy", and "user of computer services" and makes other technical clarifications," to the state's 1984 computer crime law, P.L. 1984, c.184 (C.2C:20-23 et al.).
Trends in the Evolution of the Public Web, 1998 - 2002 "examines three key trends in the development of the public Web — size and growth, internationalization, and metadata usage — based on data from the OCLC Office of Research Web Characterization Project , an initiative that explores fundamental questions about the Web and its content through a series of Web samples conducted annually since 1998."
According to Federal Computer Week, the Dudley Knox Library of the Naval Postgraduate School, at the request of the DOJ, will create and implement a digital library of resources on homeland security issues to be made available to "students at the school, employees of the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and likely other federal agencies as well."
Pursuant to the E-Government Act of 2002, this announcement from the White House this afternoon: "The Office of Electronic Government was officially launched today, signaling a permanent commitment to the President's E-Government initiatives. Mark Forman, Administrator for E-Government and Information Technology, who is heading the new office, is leading a live on-line discussion on the President's E-Government initiatives now."
From the Library of Economics and Liberty, this April 7 interview with Larry Lessig covers the Eldred copyright case and the recent Supreme Court decision, the Creative Commons copyright project, and discussion of the following questions: "Should the law treat intellectual and physical property differently? What are the key economic aspects of digital property? How much, if any, control should we put over the Internet? How does the evolution of creative culture build on past creation?"
RSS: Gateway to News and Blog Content, Part 1
This column examines how content from blogs, news sites, and other sources is distributed via RSS feeds. Feeds are a great way for anyone to receive customized new information from a growing number of sources.
"AlltheWeb now links each query term and phrase to a dictionary lookup on dictionary.com." See their news update page for additional information.
On December 11, 2002, I posted on the High Court of Australia's ruling in the Internet defamation case Dow Jones and Company v. Gutnick. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Barron's (owned by Dow Jones) news bureau editor/reporter Bill Alpert (the author of the article at issue in the case) filed a complaint with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Alpert contends that "that Australian libel law infringes upon [his] rights...as enumerated under Article 19 of the Covenant, which deals with freedom of expression." The case is of particular interest "because it exemplifies the problems that can occur when information disseminated globally on the Internet comes into conflict with the existing patchwork of local libel laws and judicial jurisdictions."
For reference, the text of Article 19 states the following:
Business lawyer Bruce MacEwen's article, Planning a Web Site With Some Punch, reviews the best practices that now comprise standard content areas on most law firm websites.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a new report today: The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A new look at Internet access and the digital divide. Use this link to download the full-text report in PDF or to access each section of the table of contents. Amanda Lenhart, the Research Specialist who authored this report, "finds that 24% of Americans remain truly unconnected to the online world. They have never tried going online and are often quite removed from the connected population."
See also these March 2003 Internet Usage Stats.
The White House has launched Ask the White House, "a live online interactive forum where you can communicate with White House and administration officials." The forum is for one hour, 7pm - 7:30pm (ET), and questions may be submitted in advance. Guests are announced on the website.
Via AP, this story from April 15: "Looters and arsonists ransacked and gutted Iraq's National Library, leaving a smoldering shell Tuesday of precious books turned to ash and a nation's intellectual legacy gone up in smoke. They also looted and burned Iraq's principal Islamic library nearby, home to priceless old Qurans..." See also this first person commentary by Robert Fisk (as cited by Elisabeth McKechnie, Associate Librarian, UC Davis Law Library): Library books, letters and priceless documents are set ablaze in final chapter of the sacking of Baghdad.
Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), contributed an opinion column to The Daily Princetonian on the relentless music industry campaign against students who engage in file sharing on campuses across the country. He suggests, "We need to collect a pool of money from Internet users, and agree on a fair way to divide it among the artists and copyright owners."
From Kevin Heller, see Compulsory Licensing Makes Me Cringe and Facts and Myths of Compulsory Licensing.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has published an analysis and a group of very useful resources on the so-called Super DMCA legislation that is under consideration in state legislatures around the country. See their press release here, and the following links:
My thanks to attorney Walter Simon who responded to my request for assistance with a translation concerning yesterday's posting about the new German copyright law. Walter sent me this link to his blog posting of April 10 that references resources in English on the new law. In addition, he also recommended this link from the Lenz blog, by Karl-Friedrich Lenz. Along with primary source references to the new law and the EU Copyright Directive, Mr. Lenz links to this article, in English, Compromise reached over German copyright bill.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer delivered a speech before the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in which he addressed the need to protect civil liberties within the context of the fight against terrorism. As a counterpoint, please see my previous posting on recent comments by Justice Scalia that when the nation is at war, citizens can expect that civil liberties "...will be ratcheted right down to the constitutional minimum."
Princeton University student Joseph Barillari posted an essay, which has since been updated several times, titled An analysis of the RIAA's complaint against Dan Peng '05, on his blog. This document is a useful resource that contributes to the understanding of the specific technologies and their applications at issue in the RIAA's lawsuit on contributory copyright infringement against his fellow student. In addition, see this site by Zack Rosen, that provides a information capsule on each of the students involved in the lawsuits, with links to the complaints and the respective websites they operated, related news articles, and a well illustrated description of file sharing technologies across local area networks (LANS), an issue with which many of us are not familiar.
One ramification of the lawsuits is evident in this message to students from the Office of the Dean of Harvard College (Harry R. Lewis). Quoting from the letter, "The College, therefore, will terminate the network access of any student who is a repeat offender, that is, a student who has been warned about a first incident of copyright infringement and who is again found to have been downloading, reproducing, or distributing copyrighted material in violation of the copyright laws. The length of termination will be one year. Termination of network access includes all devices owned or registered by the student." Try going a week without web access, let alone a year, when you are in college! See also Lewis Threatens To Unplug Illicit File Traders. And while you're at it, see Will the RIAA Sue Google?
As a follow-up to my April 10 posting on troubles with UK e-gov sites, there is more bad news in that department. The Register reported a new survey indicates that in addition to accessibility problems, the government sites were rife with errors, at the rate of seven times that of "the UK's leading 100 companies." The sites which were singled out for special mention included: HM Treasury, with more than 6,000 errors, the Office of National Statistics, the Department of Health, and the Department of Trade & Industry, "which has over 2,700 broken links on the site alone."
