Author archives

NY Bar Associaton Reports on Human Rights and Detainees

From the Association of the Bar of the City of New York press release issued April 30, 2004: “The New York City Bar Association released a report today comprehensively analyzing the multitude of domestic and international laws prohibiting torture and regulating interrogation processes, and making recommendations for how the U.S. should interrogate detainees.” Human rights …

Subjects: Legal Research

Website Usability Study Indicates Progress With Room to Improve

According to a new survey by Web usability guru Dr. Jakob Nielsen (presented at the Web Usability 2004 conference), net users are achieving greater success locating specific information using search engines than was previously the case. This is in large measure to improvements made by the search engines themselves, as well as more precision used …

Subjects: Web Site Accessibility and Usability

Gartner Reports Rise in Web Fraud

Gartner Study Finds Significant Increase in E-Mail Phishing Attacks: “Phishing attacks by hackers against online consumers have become so widespread that an estimated 57 million Americans likely have received these fraudulent e-mails, according to a new study released today by Gartner, Inc. Direct losses from identity theft fraud against these phishing attack victims cost U.S. …

Subjects: E-Mail, ID Theft

Use of “Cut-Off” Dates for FOIA Searches

DOJ Office of Information and Privacy, FOIA policy guidance:Use of “Cut-Off” Dates for FOIA Searches: “…all federal agencies should be mindful of the proper use of “cut-off” dates in their administration of the FOIA. Only with proper attention to this basic mechanism for determining a FOIA request’s full scope at the outset of their handling …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Government Documents

Database Nation: Privacy, E-Commerce & Gov’t Info Mining

From the June 2004 issue of Reason magazine, take the time to read this article (10 pages, pdf), Database Nation, The upside of “zero” privacy, by Declan McCullagh: “Focusing on government power would keep intact the advantages of databasifcation – such as lower prices and cheaper mortgages – while limiting possible abuses by law enforcement. …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Government, Privacy

Copyright Regulation and Access to Web Document Archives

New Lawsuit Spotlights Thousands of Copyright “Orphans” That Should Be in the Public Domain: “The plaintiffs in Kahle v. Ashcroft are the Internet Archive and Prelinger Associates, both Web libraries that make thousands of works freely available online, including audio, books, films, and software. In general, these works must be in the public domain, unburdened …

Subjects: Copyright, Internet, Legal Research

Survey on Proposed WIPO Broadcasting Treaty

From the Union for the Public Domain (UPD), a non-profit citizens group since 1996, whose goal is “to protect and enhance the public domain in matters concerning intellectual property,” news of this Survey of National Government Representatives Regarding the WIPO Broadcasting Treaty, “being used by volunteers to collect information about national positions on the proposed …

Subjects: Intellectual Property