Author archives

Legislation to Restore Public Access to Presidential Documents

S. 1517: A bill to revoke and Executive Order relating to procedures for the consideration of claims of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure of Presidential records (introduced July 31). From the Congressional Record: July 31, 2003 (Senate), “Mr. Bingaman. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from Florida, Senator Graham, to introduce a very …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents

Maryland Establishes Special Court for Business/Tech Cases

Specialized Court for Tech Cases Starts to Operate in Maryland: “Maryland, with the enactment of Rule 16-205, effective on Jan. 1, has become the first state in the country to adopt a specialized court for business and technology cases. This specialized system is an effort to respond to the increased complexity of these cases arising …

Subjects: Courts

Tips and Tools for Saved Searches

Search query saving tips, by Gwen Harris: “Saving a search query for resubmission later is standard practice among users of for-fee information services. With some tweaking, this can also be done on the open Web. Saved searches can be used to watch for pertinent news stories on the major news search engines — Google, Alltheweb …

Subjects: Search Engines

New Gov’t Portal on Household Products

Health & Safety Information on Household Products Portal: this new database service from the National Library of Medicine is a portal to information on over 4,000 products arranged in seven categories (auto, home inside, pesticides, landscape/yard, personal care, home maintenance, hobbies & crafts). Users are provided with data on brands, manufacturers, health effects, handling/disposal, and …

Subjects: Legal Research

FTC Issues Warning on File Sharing

From the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Alert, File-Sharing: A Fair Share? Maybe Not: “…file-sharing can have a number of risks. For example, when you are connected to file-sharing programs, you may unknowingly allow others to copy private files you never intended to share. You may download material that is protected by the copyright laws and …

Subjects: Copyright

Google Adds New Search Feature

“Google introduced a new advanced search feature that enables users to search not only for a particular keyword, but also for its synonyms. This is accomplished by placing a ~ character directly in front of the keyword in the search box. For example, to search for browser help as well as browser guides and tutorials …

Subjects: Search Engines

Bad News on ID Theft

ID Theft Continues to Increase: “The number of Americans who fell victim to identity theft in 2002 grew 81 percent over the year before. And incidents reported so far in 2003 suggest a major rise over last year…More than 13 million Americans have fallen victim to identity theft or fraud since January 2001,” according to …

Subjects: Cybercrime, ID Theft

News About Google, E-Commerce and Rivals

Google targeted by search engine rivals: “The steady growth has turned Google into one of the Internet’s biggest success stories, and made the still relatively small company of 1,000 employees a target for some formidable foes. Both Yahoo! and Microsoft are searching for ways to steal Google’s thunder in a showdown that could reshape the …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Search Engines

9-11 Memorial Intelligence Reform Act

On July 31, Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) introduced the 9-11 Memorial Intelligence Reform Act, “aimed at overhauling the Intelligence Community to prevent another successful terrorist attack like the tragedy of September 11, 2001.” “Graham said a top priority is the creation of a Cabinet-level Director of National Intelligence, who would be appointed by the President …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Major Archive of TV News Programs Going Digital

“The Vanderbilt Television News Archive, the world’s most comprehensive collection of television network news programs, marks its 35th anniversary this week by going digital.” [Link] “Since Aug. 5, 1968, archivists at Vanderbilt University have preserved on videotape and indexed nearly 40,000 hours of network news just as they aired on television sets throughout the nation….the …

Subjects: Internet, Legal Research, Libraries

Non-Profit Fights Spam

The Inbox Defense Task Force is “a non-profit legal research organization dedicated to tracking down the true identities of spammers.” The organization lists the following goals on its website: Find the Spammers; Create Courtroom-Quality Documentation; Enable Prosecution and Private Legal Action. A lengthy review of this organization’s work, by Keith H. Hammonds, a Fast Company …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Mail, Privacy