Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
On October 15, Project Gutenberg marked a milestone in the publication of free ebooks online, with this link to the Magna Carta. The pioneering project has now published 10,000 ebooks since its inception in 1971. [Slashdot]
According to today’s New York Times, Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Joseph Lieberman, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter on October 16 to Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the escalating privacy controversy concerning JetBlue Airways’ acknowledgement that the company shared millions of passenger data records with government contractor Torch Concepts, news of …
The European Legal Studies (CELS) of the University of Exeter hosts the European Private Law Homepage, which “provides a starting point for legal research on European private law. It contains original material in the form of a comprehensive overview of all secondary Community law relevant to private law scholars and practitioners.”
From the FTC press release: “Consumers registered with the National Do Not Call list have filed more than 15,000 complaints against telemarketers who continue to call them. The Do Not Call list, which opened to consumer registrations on June 27, 2003, currently contains 53.7 million telephone numbers. Telemarketers began accessing the Registry on September 2, …
Yesterday Judge Michael J. Davis of the United States District Court of Minnesota released a 22 page decision, Vonage Holdings Corporation, Civil No. 03-5287 (MJD/JGL) Plaintiff, v. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, following his October 8 bench ruling. From the Judge’s summary: “Plaintiff Vonage Holdings Corporation (“Vonage“) provides a service that permits voice communications over …
From the USA Today: “The State Technology Office is privatizing several of its functions, including the MyFlorida Web site and maintenance of the state’s technology systems.”
The Virginia Pilot (Hampton Roads, Virginia) has a blogger (Kerry W. Sipe, News Online Coordinator) providing real-time updates on the trial of John A. Muhammad, one of the two alleged Beltway snipers. TV coverage of the trail has been banned.
The Congressional Joint Inquiry Commission on 9/11 will issue its first subpoena, “to the Federal Aviation Administration because of serious deficiencies in (that) agency’s production of critical documents.” [Link]
This afternoon the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Committee on the Judiciary approved the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act of 2003, (H.R. 3261). See my previous postings on this legislation here and here. The Chair of the Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, stated: “Databases …
From VeriSign’s press release: “VeriSign, Inc, the leading provider of critical infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the Network Solutions business unit to Pivotal Private Equity. Under the terms of the agreement, VeriSign will receive approximately $100 million…” The company will retain its …
EPIC filed an action under FOIA in the U.S. District Court, DC, “seeking the expedited release of Justice Department records concerning the lobbying efforts of federal prosecutors to oppose revisions to the controversial USA PATRIOT Act. Despite widespread media coverage of the lobbying campaign, and questions as to its legality, DOJ has refused to expedite …
This New York Times article focuses on the growing interest in, and use of “text mining, a technique that academics have been experimenting with for years but for which tools have only recently become commercially available. The prospect of rapidly scanning through reams of documents is stirring interest among researchers and analysts faced with more …