If you are interested in the latest news, reviews and competitive pricing on cellphones, wireless, PDAs, laptops, and the wide world of gizmos, along with reading Brett Burney's Gadgets for Legal Pros column on LLRX.com, take a look at Gizmodo, the gadgets weblog.

The New York Times reports that sales of the 9/11 Commission's 567 page report, released on July 22, have reached 350,000 copies, and the authorized publisher of the book anticipates printing several hundred thousand additional copies.

BestBookBuys: "Compare prices on new and used books."

The NaturalResources WebLinks page, sponsored by the University of Denver College of Law, includes links to: primary legislation and secondary resources specific to individual countries, resources organized by major topics, newsletters, journals and other legal publications, legislative resources by topic or geographic area, treaties, reference materials, organizations and associations, and comprehensive sites. A valuable addition to your intranet or research portal.

From Marcus P. Zillman, another terrific web guide, Finding People Resources and Sites on the Internet.

Thomas Legal Record (Research Lawyers on FindLaw) allows users to "to access a lawyer's litigation record, articles and more...Search by Name and Search by Experience."

Gumshoe Librarian: "Where in the World Is..." - A Bibliography of Recommended Websites for Global Research Issues By Barbara Fullerton and Sabrina I. Pacifici.

The Washington Post reported that the Archivist of the United States John Carlin, appointed in 1995 by President Clinton, resigned under pressure, subsequent to a telephone call from White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. Mr Carlin has spearheaded NARAs Electronic Records Archives Program. "NARA appraises, manages, stores, and declassifies classified government records."

On July 22, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs held a Nominations Hearing for Allen Weinstein to be Archivist of the United States. Prof. Weinstein's statement to the committee (7 pages, PDF).

Spawning a Culture of Secrecy, by Mark Tapscott, July 28. [Secrecy News]

Amazon Prods Reviewers To Stop Hiding Behind Fake Names (WSJ, $$):
"Amazon changed its rules to end anonymous customer critiques in a bid to bring greater integrity to its rating system."

From internetnews.com an analysis of the issues involved in Overture's patent infringement suit against Google.

Paid Listings Complicate Search for Quality Lawyers Online:

Earlier this month I posted Maryland County Considers Regulating Cable Modem Service, and as a follow-up from today's Washington Post, this article (reg. req'd) reports that Montgomery County has passed new consumer protections requiring that "cable companies must answer the phone within 30 seconds, complete repairs within 36 hours, and refund customers for Internet service interruptions."

ClinicalTrials.gov, launched in early 2000, "provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers." Users may browse for information by condition, status or sponsor, as well as search the database using keywords. This Washington Post article (reg, req'd) reviews the positive features of the service while noting that it does not include critical data deemed proprietary by pharmaceutical companies.

The site, located here, currently states, "This page is not yet ready."

Consumers still falling for phish: "Fake e-mails fool users 28 percent of the time, study finds." See these additional resources:

"The MSNBC Newsbot (beta), powered by MSN Search Technology, is an experimental, automated news service. Newsbot gathers news from over 4,800 sources on the Internet to speed your discovery of the information you care about most. Enter a topic, interest, or news story you want to learn more about and MSNBC Newsbot will bring you up-to-the-minute coverage from around the Internet." [Link to About Newsbot]

Life has gotten even shorter in digital age

Publishers Dueling for No. 1

From Susan Kuchinskas, interesting news of the continuing saga concerning Google's domain name challenges, as documented in Of Boobles, Froogles and Googles. See also Google's challenge of Froogles.com name rejected.

"The Center for Digital Government is pleased to announce the results of its all-new 2004 Digital States Survey, a comprehensive study on best practices, policies and progress made by state governments in their use of digital technologies to better serve their citizens and streamline operations." [Link]

The Report on Cost Estimates for Security Classification Activities for 2003 from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). [Link]

RSS Feeds: NPR News and Information Delivered to Your Desktop

Security at your fingertips

Via Findlaw:

Correcting the Record on Sept. 11, in Great Detail

From the Boston Globe, this article reports the story about a DOJ directive to GPO concerning the destruction of five government documents on the prosecution of asset forfeiture cases. The data contained therein is already part of the public record, raising questions about the directive by the library community.

One in Five Americans Has Experienced Employment Discrimination, Says New FindLaw Survey

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Policy and Legislation Database:

A look at Internet Explorer alternatives (Part 1). This installment covers Mozilla and Opera.

Pentagon Finds Bush's Guard Records. This AP article states that the records located do not provide any information about the President's whereabouts the summer of 1973. In June, AP filed a FOIA lawsuit to obtain copies of all the President's service records.

Elections: Electronic Voting Offers Opportunities and Presents Challenges GAO-04-975T, July 20, 2004.

Blog's the word in big business: Microsoft has about 1,000 unregulated employee blogs according to this article.

CAPPS-II to be renamed and/or merged into traveller registration program

"Representative Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, and three other congressmen introduced the E-mail Privacy Act of 2004 on Thursday. The bill would require that e-mail be subject to federal wiretap law that requires a court order for real-time interception of communications." [Link]

An Examination of S. 2560, The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004, Senate Judiciary Committee Full Committee, July 22, 2004

Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations - Buyer Beware: The Danger of Purchasing Pharmaceuticals over the Internet - Day 2, Federal and Private Sector Responses, July 22, 2004. (Day One)

Dow Jones reports that the http://www.sec.gov">SEC is considering allowing public companies to submit filings using XBRL, eXtensible Business Reporting Language.

Press release today: "The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today approved by roll call vote, S. 2281, the VOIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004. Senator Sununu (R-NH) introduced the legislation on April 5, 2004. This legislation is designed to provide a structure for the regulatory treatment of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) applications."

A University of Texas at Austin study evaluating how often 30 newspapers refresh their respective website content indicated that "only 12 updated their home pages frequently, and the rest made few or no changes during the day." [Link]

IEBlog, the Microsoft Internet Explorer Weblog, launched July 21.

Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Official Government Edition

From Findlaw:

House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Inter-governmental Relations, and the Census hearing on "The Science of Electronic Voting Machine Technology: Accuracy, Reliability, and Security," July 20, 2004.

"First Lawsuit Over Cell Phone Spam - Legal ambiguity doesn't stop Verizon Wireless from slapping text-message spammers with unprecedented litigation." [Link via Slashdot]

The Information Architecture of Email

Today's WSJ has another article on blogs (that's two this month!), Law Professor's Web Log Is Jurists' Must-Read

HHS Press release: Strategic Report Outlines Steps to Implement Widespread Adoption of Electronic Health Records and New Nationwide Interoperable Health Information Network.

"The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is offering The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States both online through GPOAccess and in the official Government print edition, beginning on Thursday, July 22, 2004 at 11:30 a.m. GPO will provide public access to the report at no cost through http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html."

From today's San Francisco Chronicle, this article reviews some alternatives to search engine powerhouses Google and Yahoo, several of which you may have heard of and/or use now, such as clustering engine Vivisimo and Topix.net (which bills itself as "The Internet's Largest News Site). But other suggested sites may be new to you and worth a try. These include Find.com, focused on sources for business research (in beta, and offering a range of search features that include Boolean operators, stemming, proximity and grouping) and the open source engine Modex (which was unavailable at the time of this posting).

Using P2P applications, Download for Democracy is providing free access to a growing database archive, currently comprising "600 government memos, communications, and reports, all of which were obtained from mainstream media sources, respected legal or academic groups, or the federal government itself." For background and commentary on this new website, created and maintained by a law student whose maternal grandmother is a librarian (yeh!), see this July 19 Wired article.

The implementation of RSS by InfoWorld.com has caused a significant increase in hourly traffic to the site which has resulted in "some aggravating scaling issues," according to the site's CTO. [Hot Links]

On July 14 the Markle Foundation issued this press release and link to the accompanying report, Achieving Electronic Connectivity in Healthcare, A Preliminary Roadmap from the Nation's Public and Private Sector Healthcare Leaders (PDF, 67 pages).

Assessing the accessibility of fifty United States government Web pages: Using Bobby to check on Uncle Sam:

Consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to EU financial sanctions

A press release from the Commission today states that its final report will be released to the public on July 22, at 11:30 am.

From today's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) press release: "The Whistleblower Program webpage...provide[s] a single source for obtaining detailed information on the laws with whistleblower protections that are administered by OSHA...The webpage includes direct links to the 14 laws with whistleblower protections administered by the agency, and lists the regulations governing the procedures for handling complaints under the various statutes."

From the press release today: "State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced the settlement of a lawsuit against email marketer Scott Richter and his company, OptInRealBig.com, LLC. The suit alleged that unsolicited emails, or spam, sent on defendants' behalf contained falsified headers, falsified routing information, and deceptive subject lines, and were illegally routed through a worldwide network of more than 500 vulnerable computers."

Kerry Building Legal Network for Vote Fights: both parties are implemeting legal strategies in anticipation of a possible recount in the November election.

Press release, July 16, 2004: Blackwell Halts Deployment Of Diebold Voting Machines For 2004:

There appears to be contradictory information concerning the demise of the CAPPS II program. A Federal Computer Week article clearly shows how DHS and TSA have reached different conclusions as to whether the program will indeed continue. To make the situation even more confusing, here is an article from Wired today, The Man Who Helped Kill CAPPS II.

Several sources (Wired, the ACLU) report that Homeland Security's controversial CAPPS II program may be terminated by the TSA. However, there is speculation that a similar project may appear in future.

This article from TIME states that the 9/11 Commission's upcoming final report will provide information linking Iran with Al Qaeda.

S. 2672 - To establish an Independent National Security Classification Board in the executive branch, and for other purposes, July 15, 2004.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology: What the Future Holds for Commerce, Security, and the Consumer, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, July 14, 2004.

As posted on the LLSDC listserv, by Rick McKinney, Assistant Law Librarian, Federal Reserve Board:

By downloading the Google Toolbar, users may take advantage of a new Browse by Name feature to "save time by typing names instead of URLs in your browser's address bar."

Remarks by the President at Signing of Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act this morning.

Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons dated 14th July 2004 for the Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction. Report of a Committee of Privy Counsellors. [216 pages, PDF]

Reed Elsevier Announces The Acquisition Of Seisint, Inc. For $775 Million

Homeland Security: Communication Protocols and Rick Communication Principles Can Assist in Refining the Advisory System, GAO-04-682, June 25, 2004, Highlights (both in PDF):

Today the DOJ released a 29 page report to Congress detailing the manner in which the Patriot Act has been applied in the fight against terrorism. [Link]

Online used-book sales concern some publishers: "Is Amazon.com becoming the Napster of the book business?"

"Free RSS feeds - Now you can access Alexa's Hot Search Terms, Movers & Shakers, or Top Sites with RSS." [Link]

From the New York Times, July 11: "The Central Intelligence Agency's decision to delete extensive sections of a Senate report on faulty Iraq intelligence has so outraged Senator Trent Lott that Mr. Lott, the former majority leader, is calling for an independent commission to govern classified information."

From Secrecy News (all reports in PDF):

Alphabetical List of Online Government Documents (archival materials) [David Dillard]

"They've been trying for more than a decade. They've built more than 2,000 databases to do the job. They're spending nearly $19 billion a year. But, despite all that effort, Defense Department officials still haven't come up with a way to track the Pentagon's supplies, finances or people, according to a new congressional report." [Link, Wired, July 9, 2004]

AlwaysOn Network is hosting a blog for FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell, who published his first posting on July 8. There are also comments enabled from community members.

Today the Senate Committee on Intelligence released a report detailing intelligence failures prior to the invasion of Iraq.

This article from yesterday's Washington Post (reg. req'd, articles archived 14 days after publication) reviews the pioneering proposal under consideration by the Montgomery County Council to regulate service standards for cable service providers.

The press release and the decision (20 pages, PDF).

CyberJournalist.net has a list, which will be updated, of bloggers who have been credentialed for the Democratic Convention.

From the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse - Avoiding Online Job Scams: Critical Tips for Job Seekers

Statements of Administration Policy (July 7, 2004) H.R. 4754, Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 2005 [Link, 3 pages, PDF]

The Four-Letter Word That Can Get People Excited About Your Products:

Statement of Dara Corrigan Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General Department of Health and Human Services on Thomas Scully and Richard Foster Investigation (PDF)

Today the House Administration Committee held a hearing on Electronic Voting System Security.

From the WSJ Personal Technology site, Blogs Can Help You Cope With Data Overload, If You Manage Them, addresses how newsreaders can help blog aficionados stay current with all the latest postings from a burgeoning community of content. Of note, Bloglines will be adding "unobtrusive Google-style ads to bring in revenue." The author also mentions five popular, topical blogs.

The AALL Blog: Boston 2004 (includes RSS feed) provides program and meeting updates, info on receptions, roundtables, and links to local area resources, both practical (such as a page on Internet access in the area) and pleasurable (recommended dining, book stores, sight seeing).

According to this National Security Archive press release, more than 2.4 million FOIA requests have been filed since the law was signed on July 4, 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson, "at a yearly cost of just over $1 per citizen." The Archive commemorates the importance of this law by publishing "an itemized list of 38 noteworthy news stories from the last 12 months that cited documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act."

From the WSJ today ($$), A Guide to Some of the Internet's Best -- And Most Overlooked -- Health Sites. For more substantive treatment of this issue (no pun intended), see the monthly column on LLRX.com, Metaforix@Health, and Gloria Miccioli's Researching Medical Literature on the Internet -- 2003 Update.

According to AP, Clinton's collection of presidential materials and documents, totally about 630 tons, of which 80 million pages are designated as official documents, are now on their way to his library. The Clinton Presidential Center currently allows the public to "browse over 20,000 documents in 400+ categories."

Knowing Their Politics by the Software They Use. Democratic campaign party websites are using open source apps, and the Republicans are using Microsoft.

According to the Center for Digital Governments' 2004 Digital Counties Survey, the list of the top 10 digital county governments is led by San Diego County, California, followed by Johnson County, Kansas, Prince William County, Virginia, Roanoke County, Virginia, and Charles County, Maryland.

This PCWorld.com article doesn't cover any new territory, but it succinctly examines the increasingly competitive quest of search engines for greater profits and the resulting impact on search results.

From the Freedom of Information Center, State FOI Laws: "The following sites contain basic statutes about open meetings and open records. Many states have multiple statutes that provide exemptions." The page indicates the last update was May 1, 2004.

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) now provides users with keyword, Boolean and field search options.

The President and COO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathon Schwartz, launched a blog on June 28. Other Sun bloggers comment on his effort: What's missing from Sun blogs (or, is Executive Blogging enough)? and Sun has gone Cluetrain.

Company Plugs RSS as Alternate to E-Mail Marketing

Libraries Choose to Filter or Not to Filter As CIPA Deadline Arrives

Ben Hammersley created an RSS FedEx Package Tracker.

"Artificial Intelligence Resources is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the Internet on Artificial Intelligence on the Internet." [from Marcus P. Zillman]

From the press release: "In the first state enforcement action taken since the January 1 inception of the federal CAN SPAM Act, AG Reilly is alleging that DC Enterprises, an unincorporated business, and company principal Willliam T. Carson of Weston, Florida, have sent thousands of misleading email messages from a business address in Newton, where the company has no physical presence."

"Access to Celex menu search is free of charge from 1 July 2004. Nevertheless the use of a login and a password is temporarily required. Please use the login enlu0000 and the password europe." As posted on INT-LAW by Lyonette Louis-Jacques.

"The Government Open Code Collaborative is a voluntary collaboration between public sector entities and non-profit academic institutions created for the purpose of encouraging the sharing, at no cost, of computer code developed for and by government entities where the redistribution of this code is allowed."

From EPIC, this statement providing follow-up information to testimony from a Congressional hearing. See also EPIC's Social Security Numbers resource page.

Government Printing Office: Actions to Strengthen and Sustain GPO's Transformation, GAO-04-830, June 30, 2004, Highlights:

From the press release: "Governor Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Speaker Sheldon Silver today announced that they have reached agreement on legislation that will expand the use of the State's DNA databank and enhance New York's status as a national leader in the use of DNA technology. The agreed upon legislation will add close to 100 new crimes that require a convicted criminal to provide a DNA sample to the Statewide DNA databank."

REVIEW: Sony E-Book a Revolution for Eyes:

From the Federal Register, June 20, 2004, National Archives and Records Administration, Public availability and use: Federal records and donated historical materials containing restricted information; access restrictions:

My PC power supply was zapped. Lesson learned. Turn everything off and just wait until it is all over.