Offshore Internet Gambling Conviction Upheld, July 31, 2001
Internet Defamation Lawsuit is Dismissed, July 31, 2001
AltaVista Searches for Results, July 31, 2001
FBI Nominee Promises Respect for Privacy, July 31, 2001
Microsoft Expects EU to Merge its Two Antitrust Cases, July 31, 2001
SC Law Requires IT Workers to Report Porn Found on Computers, July 30, 2001
New Patent to Guard Content, July 30, 2001
Internet Worm Expected to Make a Move Tonight, July 31, 2001
RIAA Seeks Reversal Of Judge’s Aimster Rulings, July 30, 2001
EBay Files Trademark Suit Against Rival, July 30, 2001
Court Ruling Affirms Internet Posting Rights, July 30, 2001
Modest Growth Prevails on the Web, July 30, 2001
Microsoft Pushing MSN Icons on PC Makers, July 30, 2001
Experts: DOJ Pressing Ahead on Microsoft Case, July 30, 2001
NJ Case Tests Legality of FBI’s PC Surveillance, July 30, 2001
School’s Out for Virtual University, July 30, 2001
Report: The Cost of Selling Online, July 30, 2001
Yahoo Testing Pop-Under Ads, July 30, 2001
BMG Tests Copy- Protection CDs, July 30, 2001
Government, Private Officials Sound Alarm Over “Code Red” Worm, July 30, 2001
New Software, New Scrutiny for Microsoft, July 30, 2001
Organized Crime Case Raises Privacy Issues in High Tech Age, July 30, 2001
Suit Filed in Registration of Domain Names, July 30, 2001
The Ever-Troubling EU Draft Convention on Cyber-Crime, July 30, 2001
NY Times Alters Policies on Free-Lancers Amid Lawsuit, July 30, 2001 (WSJ)
Congress Is Set to More Than Double The Number of Federal Copyright Cops, July 28, 2001
Virulent Worm Calls Into Doubt Our Ability to Protect the Net, July 27, 2001
Instant Messaging Isn’t Everyone’s Next Best Thing, July 27, 2001
EPIC Complaint to FTC Against Microsoft XP, July 26, 2001
More Great Search Engines You Should Check Out, July 26, 2001
HotMail: How Much Filtering Is Too Much? July 26, 2001
AOL Might Join ‘Identity Service Battle’, July 26, 2001
Are Libraries the Next Napster? July 26, 2001
Taming the Wild, Wild Web, July 26, 2001
New Microsoft Systems Erode Privacy, Groups Say, July 26, 2001
Court Rejects Govt. Move To Toss Net Porn Filtering Case, July 26, 2001
DOJ Opposes Microsoft’s Call for Rehearing, July 26, 2001
Law Can’t Keep Up With Technology, July 26, 2001
Sorting Out Bundling and Antitrust Law, July 25, 2001 (NYT)
OMB Forming E-Gov Task Force, July 25, 2001
EFF: Free the Russian Hacker! July 25, 2001
Privacy Chief Picked at DOJ, July 25, 2001
Senator Wants to Block Windows XP Release, July 25, 2001
Huge Identity Theft Uncovered, July 25, 2001
Does Bush Care About Technology, July 25, 2001
Microsoft Refutes Privacy Concerns Surrounding XP, July 25, 2001
Amazon: AOL Can Make Buyout Bid, July 25, 2001
.kids: Safe Sites for Kids, July 25, 2001
Congress No Haven for Hackers, July 25, 2001
EPIC, Privacy Groups to File Complaint at the FTC Regarding Windows XP, July 25, 2001
Judges Question Government On Web Lawsuits, July 25, 2001
The Music Industry Tries Encoding CDs to Stop Piracy, July 25, 2001
States Get Grants to Connect Justice Systems/Crime Related Data, July 24, 2001
Long Distance by Internet Always Cheaper, July 24, 2001
Pentagon Thwarts ‘Worm,’ Reopens Web Sites, July 24, 2001
Home PCs Are At Risk for Use by Hackers, July 24, 2001
Movie Studios Agree on Anti-Piracy Technology, July 24, 2001
Russian Still Held Despite Adobe Plea, July 24, 2001
Whitehouse Web Site Moves to Linux, July 24, 2001
Study Says Net Users Stressed, Not Depressed, July 24, 2001
Should the Government Fund Online Content?, July 23, 2001
Microsoft Meets with State and Federal Prosecutors , July 23, 2001
Judge: U.S. Internet Smut Law May Go to Trial, July 23, 2001
Yahoo Launches Subscription Service to Sell Wall Street Research Online, July 23, 2001
Scholars Defend Russian Graduate Student Jailed in Las Vegas Encryption Case, July 23, 2001
Adobe, Electronic Frontier Foundation Call for Release of Russian Programmer, July 23, 2001
Napster Users Fan Out in Search of Filing Swapping Apps, July 23, 2001
Traditional Publishing’s Latest Horror Story: An ATM for Books, July 23, 2001
Hit By Virus, Pentagon Web Site Access Blocked, July 23, 2001
Amazon.com Selling Online Market Research, July 23, 2001
AOL Takes $100M Stake in Amazon.com, July 23, 2001
Gallup Poll: Email Has Changed the Lives of Those Who Use it, July 23, 2001
Record Labels Prepare Their Online Assault, July 23, 2001
Financial Institutions Ignore Identity Theft Risks, July 23, 2001
ALA Speaks Out Against Sale of .us Domain, July 23, 2001
Net Reporting at Stake, July 23, 2001
Microsoft, DOJ May Talk Settlement This Week, July 23, 2001
Happy Birthday to the PC, July 23, 2001
Legal Experts Says Microsoft is Trying to Buy Time for Windows XP Release, July 22, 2001
Bush Lawyer in Recount Fight Named to Lead Microsoft Case, July 22, 2201
Electronic Publishers Coalition Condemns Criminal Use of DMCA, July 22, 2001
WashingtonPost.com Wins 2001 Digital Edge Award for Best News Site
DOJ Creates Anti-Hacking Units, July 20, 2001
Microsoft Argues Against Expediting Case, July 20, 2001
Napster Alternatives on the Rise, July 20, 2001
Fire in Baltimore Snarls Internet Traffic, July 20, 2001
Online Jury Duty Sign-Up Wins Top E-Government Prize, July 20, 2001
Flurry of Products Available to Block Pop-Up Ads, July 20, 2001
Boycott Adobe Campaign Launches, July 20, 2001
Harvard U. and 3 Publishers Develop Experimental Online Archive, July 20, 2001
Free Speech Lawsuit Charges Ahead, July 19, 2001
“Code Red” Worm Has Compromised 100,000 MS Web Servers, July 19, 2001
Government Must Reply to Microsoft Request for Rehearing by Aug. 3, July 19, 2001
Airlines Stall, Web Travel Sites Glide, July 19, 2001
New Porn Software for PDAs Brings Legal Questions, July 19, 2001
VeriSign Accuses Competitors of ‘Slamming,’ Turns to ICANN, July 19, 2001
Amazon Begins Peddling E-Documents, July 19, 2001
Supreme Court Has Spoken, Now Victorious Freelances Look for Payment, July 19, 2001
Digital Signatures Issued by VeriSign European Affiliates Gain Legal Status, July 19, 2001
AT&T Rejects Comcast Bid for Broadband, July 19, 2001
FCC Launches Redesigned Website, July 18, 2001
Microsoft Petitions for Browser Rehearing, July 18, 2001
Appeals Court Says Napster Can Go Back Online, July 18, 2001
Microsoft Softens Anti-Piracy Feature, July 18, 2001
Copyright Protected CDs Quietly Slip Into Stores, July 18, 2001
Britannica.com to Charge $5 per Month, July 18, 2001
U.S. Arrests Russian Cryptographer as Copyright Violator, July 18, 2001
Internet Users Storming Online in UK, July 18, 2001
Microsoft Pulls Back Support for Java, July 18, 2001
Web Takes Bigger Role in Airline Service, July 18, 2001
Web Carriers Court Records into the Open, July 17, 2001
FTC Urged to Go Public on Privacy Investigations, July 17, 2001
Deadline for Napster Appeal Set, July 17, 2001
Commercial Alert Files Complaint Against Search Engines for Deceptive Ads, July 17, 2001
Legal Battle Over Downloading Patent Goes Another Round, July 17, 2001
Private Suits Put Microsoft at Little Risk, July 16, 2001
Internet Music Start-Up to Obtain Licenses, July 16, 2001
Paying for Play on the Web, July 15, 2001
Cable’s Long Reach, July 15, 2001
Yahoo to Add Info on Clinical Trials, New Therapies, July 15, 2001
Music Match Settles with RIAA, July 15, 2001
U.S. and 18 States Agree to Microsoft Ruling, July 14, 2001
Justice Dept. Says Rein in Microsoft Soon, July 14, 2001
Microsoft’s Passport Sparks Concern, July 14, 2001
New Rules for Magazine Pricing, Online Editions Approved, July 14, 2001
ICANN Stamps on Critics, July 13, 2001
679 Sites Defaced in One Minute by Hacking Group, July 13, 2001
Web Users Not Bound By Software Licensing Agreement For Free Software, July 13, 2001 (NYT)
Site Launched to Settle B2B Disputes Online, July 13, 2001
Intellectual Property Owners Stump for Better WHOIS Data, July 12, 2001
RealNames Makes Web Searches Easier, July 12, 2001
House Backs Drug Sales by Net, Mail, July 12, 2001
CNN To Cease Personalized Internet News Services, July 12, 2001
Microsoft Cuts Deal with New Mexico in Antitrust Case, July 12, 2001
U.S. Online Education Firms Run into Trouble, July 12, 2001
IBM Releases Artificial Intelligence Software for Help Desks, July 12, 2001
Napster Makes Peace with Metallica and Dr. Dre, July 12, 2001
Library “Radicals” Targeted in Latest Copyright Battles, July 12, 2001
Federal Judge Says Searches of Computers in Campus Labs Are Legal, July 12, 2001
Court Rules for AT&T on ISP Open Access, July 11, 2001
Congressional Hearings Focus on VeriSign’s Whois Database, July 11, 2001
NJ State Appeals Court Allows Anonymous Postings to to Web Message Boards, July 11, 2001
Microsoft Unbundles IE from WinXP, July 11, 2001
Federal Judge Rules That Vonnegut and Styron Retain E-Book Rights, Not Random House, July 11, 2001
Appeals Court Upholds Judge Who Struck Down Virginia County’s Open Access Requirement, July 11, 2001
New File Sharing Program May be the Next Napster, July 11, 2001
Film Industry’s DVD-Copying Case Back in Lower Court, July 11, 2001
Judge Patel Orders Napster Not to Resume Service, July 11, 2001
Can Privacy Rights Survive? July 11, 2001
Web Use At work Jumps 24% to 42 Million, July 11, 2001
Microsoft Ruling May Help Plaintiffs In Other Suits, July 11, 2001
Netscape Ruling a Boost for Online Privacy, July 11, 2001
Americans Want More Online Rules, July 11, 2001
NFL’s Internet Deal May Be the Largest Ever, July 11, 2001
Microsoft, VeriSign Announce Internet Tie-Up, July 10, 2001
UK Readies Privacy Charter, July 10, 2001
Court Denies AOL Effort to Derail Privacy Class Action, July 9, 2001
Survey Shows Support for Internet Rules, July 9, 2001
Consumer Groups Raise Red Flags to Comcast Bid, July 9, 2001
Search Engines Still Searching for Profitability, July 9, 2001
SEC: Internet Company Bilked Investors Out of $3.7M, July 9, 2001
Busting the Web Bandits, July 16 Issue, Newsweek
As Computer Records Replace Paper, Some See Weakness in Record of Our Time, July 9, 2001
New E-Rights Case May Go to Supreme Court, July 9, 2001
Microsoft Sees Clear Victory on ‘Bundling,’ July 9, 2001
Privacy Foundation Reports 1/3 of Workers Under Constant Virtual Surveillance, July 9, 2001
Online ‘Browse-Wrap’ Software License Agreement Not Binding, July 9, 2001
Napster Users Write Eulogy As Service Goes Dark, July 8, 2001
Yahoo Results to Be Watched for Non-Ad Revenues, July 8, 2001
Outside the Courtroom, Mixed Reviews for Microsoft, July 7, 2001
Guidelines on Patient Privacy Rules Issued, July 7, 2001
Authors Guild Suing NY Times Over E-copyright, July 7, 2001
MSN Outage Enters Fifth Day, July 7, 2001
Internet Broadcasters Reach Deals With Ad Agencies, July 6, 2001
Mass Web Banking Hack Probed, July 6, 2001
Commerce Dept. Privacy Web Site Exposed Proprietary Information, July 6, 2001
Freelancers Fear Blacklisting Following Tasini, July 6, 2001
ICANN Completes .Name Contract, July 6, 2001
More Writers Sue NY Times in Wake of Tasini Ruling, July 5, 2001
Major Cybersquatting Decision Headed for Appeal, July 5, 2001
Microsoft Ruling Makes ‘Tying’ An Issue, July 5, 2001
FirstGov Portal Deluged With Citizen Email, July 5, 2001
Internet Creates Freelance Copyright Headaches for New York Times, July 4, 2001
UK Websites Notoriously Inaccurate, July 4, 2001
Eli Lilly Has Privacy Lapse, July 4, 2001
Consumers Favor Quick End to Microsoft Case, July 3, 2001
AAA On the Way to a New Portal, July 3, 2001
Car Rental GPS Speeding Fines Illegal, July 2, 2001
Microsoft’s Gamble Leaves it Vulnerable, July 3, 2001
U.S. Charges Internet Operation Was A Huge Scam, July 3, 2001
Net Gambling May Hit the Jackpot with Nevada’s Welcoming New Law, July 2, 2001
Social Security Admin. Web Site Offers Multilingual access to Information, July 2, 2001
February Trail Date Set for CIPA, July 2, 2001
Virginia County Library to Filter All Computers, July 2, 2001
Tasini Fallout Begins: The New York Times Says It’ll Pull Content, July 2, 2001
If You Missed This Years ‘Opt-Out’ Mailing, You’ll Get Another Chance, July 2, 2001
Porn Sneaks Past Filters, July 2, 2001
Publishers, Writers Face Off Over Landmark Ruling, July 2, 2001
Judge Will Settle the Dispute Over Iomega’s ‘Click of Death’, July 2, 2001 (WSJ)
All Eyes on New Antitrust Chief, July 2, 2001
Napster Deploys Upgrade; Irritates Users, July 2, 2001
Microsoft Rules Out Settlement, July 1, 2001
Web Firms Scramble to Obey Privacy Law, July 1, 2001
Cyberstalking Being Taken Seriously, July 1, 2001
Other Sources for Breaking Tech News
General
Law-Related
Library-Related
Library Web Manager’s Reference Center Current Awareness
Legal Publishers’ List – tracks mergers in the legal publishing field, and periodically posts related news items.
LLRX Newstand Archives
| Breaking News | Other Sources for Breaking News | Tech Trends | CongressLine: Federal & State Legislative News |
Good E-Mail Communications Requires Hard Work, July 31, 2001. The E-Collaboration Research Center (ERC) at Temple’s Fox School of Business and Management conducted a study indicating serious flaws in online communication due to the lack of ability to convey the wide range of human emotions generally evident via in-person or even telephone communications.
The New York Times and Napster, July 30, 2001. According to Prof. Anunpam Chander, “In granting a victory to freelance writers, the Supreme Court’s June decision in New York Times v. Tasini may also have handed Napster a possible new lease on life.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Software Called Capable of Copying Any Human Voice, July 31, 2001. ATT Labs has developed a new state-of-the art speech software called Natural Voices. It apparently overcomes the current barrier of a mechanized sounding speech reproduction and offers, after considerable training, a realistic reproduction of the nuances of individual speech.
Jail Time in the Digital Age, July 30, 2001. In this opinion piece by Stanford University professor Lawrence Lessig, he argues in defense of the Russian programmer jailed for a violation of the DCMA, Sec. 1201. Circumvention of copyright protection systems: Something is going terribly wrong with copyright law in America. Mr. Sklyarov himself did not violate any law, and his employer did not violate anyone’s copyright. What his program did was to enable the user of an Adobe eBook Reader to disable restrictions that the publisher of a particular electronic book formatted for Adobe’s reader might have imposed.
San Diego Newspaper Shuts Down Archives, July 30, 2001. The Union Tribune has made a determination that in light of the Tasini decision, they will block user access to all content on their archives prior to January 1, 2000.
Medical Web Site Explains Lab Tests to Consumers, July 30, 2001. Lab Tests Online (http://www.labtestsonline.org) has launched a new, free site, to provide consumers with news and information, available via drop down search menus, on major medical conditions, their lab related tests, and advice on recommended preventative screening tests for all age groups.
Libraries in Lurch as Microfilm Flaws Surface , July 30, 2001. This article follows in the steps of those before it in taking up the cause of the de-acquisitioning of newspapers, periodicals and other materials in favor of microfiche to save space and to convert deteriorating works to a format which supposedly outlasts print. The argument continues!
OCLC Abandons Proprietary Software for Oracle Standard, Institutes Web Document Archiving Service, July 30, 2001. Barbara Quint reports that OCLC will make a huge change in an effort to remain on the cutting edge of technology for libraries by abandoning the software interface and backend they developed over thirty years ago.
Tracking Bloggers With Blogdex, July 30, 2001. “MIT’s Media Lab is experimenting with a tool for indexing the most popular hypertext links across thousands of weblogs and has ambitious plans to turn it into a resource for the mass media. Launched last week, Blogdex is like a search-engine spider that visits about 9,000 weblogs a day looking for hypertext links. It extracts the links and ranks them by popularity. The top 10 are published daily on the Blogdex site.”
10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained, July 27, 2001. Author Brad Templeton answers common myths about copyright seen on the net and covers issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.
Online Library in Public Beta Testing, July 26, 2001. ebrary has a beta test site at http://learningnetwork.ebrary.com/ that is offering selected, free copyrighted titles from Random House, McGraw-Hill, Pearson PLC, Taylor & Francis, Cambridge University Press, MIT Press and Yale University Press. Fees are triggered for printing or downloading the titles.
The Humiliation Virus , July 26, 2001. How Sircam can help turn your most private documents into a worldwide joke.
Westlaw Wins Reader’s Choice Award, July 26, 2001. In a national survey of Law Office Computing magazine readers, Westlaw – West Group’s premier legal research service – took first place in the Online Legal Research category. Westlaw has won Law Office Computing’s Readers’ Choice Award five consecutive years and six times in the seven-year history of the award.
FindLaw’s Career Center Features New Diversity Center, July 26, 2001. “FindLaw recognized that legal professionals of diverse backgrounds have unique career needs,” said John Crump, executive director of the National Bar Association. “FindLaw’s Diversity Center offers an excellent resource to address these needs by providing a central site full of useful information, links to local and national resources and powerful career tools.”
Search Engines and Editorial Integrity, July 24, 2001. The author questions whether “the jig is up for honest search results,” in light of the movement toward the rapid growth of paid advertising that accompanies search results, as well as determines the ranking of search results.
Plug.In – Appeals Could Bring Uncle Sam Into Royalty Disputes, July 23, 2001. Although arbitration is planned for the dispute between record labels and Webcasters over the divisive issue of payment for streaming content, years of litigation is inevitable. The parties, the Digital Music Association and the Recording Industry of America, are engaged in various lawsuits over copyright protection of streaming music, which is cached and then played on the users computer.
ATABOK Releases Product That Allows Opened and Read E-Mails to Be Recalled, July 23, 2001. ATABOK VCNMail 2.0, which is compatible with Microsoft Outlook and Louts Notes, allows users to protect, manage and recall files. In addition, users can specify whether their emails can be saved, forwarded, copied or printed.
Almost All E-Mail Users Say Internet, E-Mail Has Made Lives Better, July 23, 2001. According to this recent poll of e-mail users: more than nine in 10 say that both e-mail (97%) and the Internet (96%) have made their lives better. The typical e-mail user is on the Internet seven to eight hours each week, and 37% indicate they use it more than 10 hours per week. Sending and reading e-mail is the most common activity for people when online, much more so than searching for information, paying bills or using Instant Messages (IMs). Nine in 10 say they use e-mail at home, and more than eight in 10 say they use it at work.
Russian Hacker Arrested, July 23, 2001. This commentary/analysis highlights the DCMA, copyright protection and first amendment rights, and useful links to documents related to the case from Adobe, the government and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as various news articles.
The Key to Freedom: Encryption, July 2001. Caspar Bowden is a former UK investment banker and strong proponent of encryption as a means of protecting electronic privacy. In this interview, he discusses user vulnerability on the Web, the RIP Act, and the power of encryption.
New Technologies to Burn CDs Your Way, July 23, 2001. Two, next generation CD drives are available from Sony and Yamaha.
Fast Launches World’s Freshest Internet Search Engine, July 23, 2001. From the press release: Upgraded version of FAST’s AlltheWeb.com, indexing more than 625 million web pages, is completely refreshed every nine to twelve days.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Arrest Raises Stakes in Battle Over Copyright, July 23, 2001. The 26 year old Russian programmer detained under the DCMA for decrypting Adobe’s e-book software, has become a cause celebre around the world. Not just a copyright case, this case is now championed by various groups as a first amendment issue.
Pop-Up Ads Pose a Measurement Puzzle, July 23, 2001. The pop-up/pop-under ad formula has catapulted X10.com to the rank of the Web’s fourth most visited site. This demonstrates how easy it is to skew web stats, and other advertisers are not pleased with negative user reaction to this format.
From a Free Service to a Business That Charges, July 23, 2001. “The imperative for Internet companies to diversify their revenue streams has led to more attempts to get consumers to foot some portion of the bill.”
Amazon.com: Was it Only a Mirage? July 23, 2001. Perhaps the most prominent name on the Internet, Amazon.com is in its 17th consecutive quarter without showing a profit. Many industry analysts are predicting the imminent demise of the 6 year old e-commerce king, as it spends down its working capital at an increasingly accelerated rate.
A Victory, Of Sorts, For Spouting Off, July 20, 2001. Anonymous critics, using the Web as a forum to communicate their views, have scored victories for their positions in New Jersey Appellate Court July 11, and in federal court in California in May. This article offers some warnings for those who plan to likewise post negative comments about companies using online message boards.
Free-Lancers Protest at New York Times, July 20, 2001. Protesters from several unions, as well a high profile authors, demanded that the Times initiate bargaining talks with them to determine appropriate compensation for their materials, as they will not accept no payment for electronic publication.
MSNBC.com Weathers Bad Economy, July 19, 2001. Although the site has yet to make a profit, it is arguably the number one online news site, and continues to add newspaper partners.
Revenge of the File-Sharing Masses, July 20, 2001. “By smashing Napster, the music industry has pushed its customers to seek alternatives that won’t be so easy to shut down.”
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Using the Internet To Cut Telephone Calls Down to Size, July 19, 2001. Is Internet telephony ready for prime time? This article is a good primer on Web based phone calls.
Cracking the Code of Online Censorship, July 19, 2001. Seth Finkelstein is the low profile but nevertheless important Internet guru and founder of the Censorware Project, an anti-filtering advocacy group. He is a pioneer in the movement to decrypt web filtering software, and has played a role in related law suits including the Virginia public library filtering case.
Portals to the Future of Legal Information, July/August 2001. “Law librarian Carol Ebbinghouse highlights established commercial online services … LexisONE and FindLaw – and the breadth of information, from court opinions, statutes, and dictionaries, to court forms, bar exams, discussion groups and forums, that can be found via portal links.”
The Final Word? July 19, 2001. Copyright lawyers say a pair of opinions on authors’ rights raise more questions about online works.
FindLaw Introduces Breaking Documents and Weekly Documents, July 18, 2001. From the press release: Breaking Documents and Weekly Documents are the latest editions to FindLaw’s expanding library of free legal newsletters. This list includes 17 daily and weekly topic newsletters, 21 daily opinion summaries from federal and state courts, and 14 weekly practice-specific opinion summaries. See http://newsletters.findlaw.com.
Arrest of Russian Programmer Will Test Copyright Law , July 18, 2001. Adobe apparently played a major role in the FBI’s investigation and arrest of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov. This is the first case in which an individual will face criminal prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
See also: http://www.usaondca.com/press/html/2001_07_17_sklyarov.html, press release from the US DOJ, United States Attorney, ND California.
A copy of the criminal complaint is at: http://www.usaondca.com/press/assets/applets/2001_07_17_sklyarov.pdf.
Thank G-d for the Internet, July 18, 2001. ” In his new book “Next: The Future Just Happened,” the author of “Liar’s Poker” and “The New New Thing” looks at the emperor-has-no-clothes effect that the Net has on many of the so-called experts in fields like law and finance and how new technologies like TiVo and Replay are undermining entire industries.”
California Courts – Self-Help Center
Specifically stating that the site does not provide legal advice, this service does offer free access to a range of resources targeted at individuals without representation. It is sponsored by the California Judicial Council.
Dow Jones Newswires has an enhanced version of its fee-based web site, according to Editor & Publisher. Included are the option to create customized news filters, and enhanced search functionality.
A Library to End All Libraries, July 23 issue, 2001. The Digital Object Identifier is an effort to build an extensive online library comprised of e-books . Backing comes from heavyweights including The McGraw-Hill Companies, professional societies, and tech companies. The objective is to assign aDigital Object Identifier (DOI) to all published material, thus allowing unique identification of materials, and easier retrieval.
Time to Reel in Financial Portals? July 23 issue, 2001. Securities regulators are closely reviewing independent financial portals to determine the need for new regulations to protect consumers from essentially unregistered broker information and services.
West Group Chosen to Publish New York Official Reports, July 18, 2001.
Practising Law Institute, West Group Create Online Continuing Legal Education Alliance, July 16, 2001. ” West Group today announced an exclusive co-distribution agreement with Practising Law Institute (PLI) that will make continuing legal education (CLE) programming produced by PLI available online through West LegalEdcenter. The partnership significantly expands West LegalEdcenter’s growing library of authoritative, accredited CLE courses, creating the Internet’s largest collection of CLE programming and participation tools.”
American Lawyer Media, West Group to Provide Online Continuing Legal Education Programming, July 16, 2001. “West Group today announced that West LegalEdcenter™ will provide continuing legal education (CLE) courses produced by the Law Journal Seminars™ and LegalTech® divisions of American Lawyer Media Inc. (ALM), the nation’s leading legal journalism and information company.”
Stop the Trash Trucks: A Tasini Case Damage-Control Proposal, July 16, 2001. Barbara Quint examines the ramifications to authors, publishers and consumers of removing vast quantities of archival data from database services.
Iceland’s Dilemma: Progress v. Privacy, July 15 Issue. DeCode, a U.S. genomics company, has undertaken a controversial project with potentially wide reaching consequences for medical science and personal privacy. The company has an exclusive, 12 year license to develop and administer a huge database composed of all of Iceland’s medical record. They may also use the genetic and genealogical information from these records to create new drugs.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Faking It: the Internet Revolution Has Nothing to Do with Nasdaq, July 15, 2001. This article does not really concern Nasdaq, but rather is a commentary on the impact of the Internet on many facets of our personal and professional lives.
Checking Out E-Books, July 12, 2001. Public libraries around the country have instituted digital book lending programs, but the success of such programs has been hindered by several factors; lack of publicity about the services; the high cost of the e-books, and lackluster interest on the part of patrons.
West Group Delivers Personalization with My Westlaw, July 12, 2001. With My Westlaw, researchers can now select the databases, shortcuts (e.g., quick entry points for Find or KeyCite®) and search tools (e.g., thesaurus, preferred terms) they want – resulting in a faster, more productive research session.
U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO)
Telecommuting: Overview of Potential Barriers Facing Employers. GAO-01-926, July 11. This is a 20 page report, in PDF, that provides information on potential tax, regulatory and liability barriers that employers face when they establish telecommuting programs for their employees.
30 Essential Bookmarks, July 12, 2001. Included in this California oriented list are sites to convert currency, find a great restaurant, locate California state legislation, and information about area road conditions.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Judge Grants Authors Victory in Fight Over Digital Book Rights, July 13, 2001. Judge Stein of Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that RosettaBooks could publish digital versions of eight books currently in print by Random House.
Through the Looking Glass to Holographic Data Storage, July 12, 2001. “Two researchers from Canada and Spain have devised a glass-based material that they say may one day safely store huge amounts of data in just such small spaces.”
A Quick Way to Search for Images on the Web, July 12, 2001. Google Search Image, currently in beta, allows you to search for more than 150 million images imbedded Web pages.
Ambitious 24-Year-Old Pushes Plan to Buy Salon and Turn It Into a Clearinghouse for Other Publications, July 11, 2001. Will Salon’s 37- person editorial staff receive pink slips soon?
American Public Favors New Approaches to Provide Greater Online Protections and Responsiveness, July 11, 2001. According to this new study on governing the Internet: 64% of the public feels government should develop rules to protect Internet users, even if it means some regulation; The public feels industry has a key role to play but 58% indicates it does not want industry self-regulation alone; 70% feels non-profits should have a significant role in making rules for Internet. The full report, in PDF, is at: http://www.markle.org/news/InternetAccountability.pdf.
France Archived Web Content, July 11, 2001. The French government is apparently close to enacting a law to allow the mass collection, indexing and subsequent archiving of data from the French Internet.
How Annoying Can Online Ads Get? July 11, 2001. The ubiquitous X10 “pop-under” ads are raising the hackles of Web users and generating lots of complaints. You may disable the ads using a free app called Pop-Up Killer (http://software.xfx.net).
Americans Accept Personal Responsibility For Privacy Protection, July 10, 2001. A new study undertaken by Harris Interactive, on behalf of the Privacy Leadership Initiative, suggests that businesses must do more to inform and empower consumers .
Internet2: the Once and Future Internet, July 10, 2001. On academia’s high-powered Internet2, researchers are redefining what computer networks can do.
Work the Problem, People, July 10, 2001. Researchers work side by side, thousands of miles apart, using Internet2 .
Office of the E-envoy – UK Online Strategy
UK Online Strategy, July, 2001. This site provides access to reports from January 2000 through July 2001, from the e-Minister and e-Envoy to the Prime Minister, detailing progress against the action plan set out in the UK Online Annual Report.
Google’s Successful Search, July 10, 2001. The search engines remains the media darling, as exemplified by yet another glowing article on their success. They handle 100 million searches daily, and has customers including 130 corporations and web sites. And, Google is “nearly profitable.”
American Lawyer Media Launches Extensively Redesigned and Expanded National Law Journal, July 9, 2001. From the press release: The National Law Journal will feature a new “Litigation Week” section with expanded case digests, as well as additional updates and summaries of verdicts and settlements in key trials throughout the country. “Courthouse,” a new feature, will provide a national litigation docket that includes new filings, notable upcoming trials, and listings of developments in major class actions and complex litigation.
Wall Street Journal (subscription reqired)
Big Internet Companies Often Censor Their Asian Sites to Please Local Officials, July 9, 2001. Companies such as Yahoo!, MSN and Terra Lycos are voluntarily censoring their content to “appease the governments of the countries in which they are trying to expand.” These countries include China, Singapore and Malaysia.
The Extent of Systematic Monitoring of Employee E-Mail and Internet Use, July 9, 2001. Worldwide, there are estimated to be 27 million monitored employees, and in the U.S. the estimate is 14 million (35%). The report provides a wealth of information concerning how specific companies and industries are monitoring their employees, the range of software they are using to do so, the cost of such monitoring, as well as press releases stating monitoring policies.
WestWork’s Long Road, July 9, 2001. The goal of West Group’s ambitious project, announced in January 2000, is to provide a unified desktop technology that encompasses everything from time billing to legal research. This solution was aimed at the small to mid-sized firm market. However, WestWorks now appears to be on hold, due to market conditions. (Thanks D.C.)
Acrobat Performs New Tricks, July 9, 2001. Acrobat’s new version 5.0 (non-discount price of $250) supports third party digital signatures and PKI, allows documents to be made more accessible to disabled users, as well as the ability to add comments to documents that can be viewed via a browser.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Legal Citations Are On Trial in Innovation v. Tradition, July 8, 2001. “Footnotes are being championed by legal writing specialist Bryan A. Garner, editor of Black’s Law Dictionary. But some say the footnote approach undermines respect for the role of precedent and is ruining a superior system of legal citation.”
You’ve Got Maelstrom: Dealing With Too Much E-Mail, July 6, 2001. With e-mails flooding the hard drives of home PCs as well as taxing corporate servers, the task of managing the storage and ‘filing’ of all this correspondence has become a time consuming burden for many.
HHS Issues First Guidance on New Patient Privacy Protection, July 6, 2001. Statement by Secretary Tommy G. Thompson – “This guidance is an opening step in helping physicians, healthcare providers and health plans understand their obligations to patients under the rule.” The guidance is available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa.
Google Zeitgesit, July 7, 2001. The Google Press Center is regularly updating this page that provides charts and graphs indicating the continually changing interests of searchers. They track languages used to search Google, top searches by category, top 5 celebrity searches, top five misspelled queries, top 10 gaining queries, and top 10 declining queries.
USA.net to Charge for E-Mail Service, July 7, 2001. Another free e-mail service is disappearing, as USA.net’s 4 million users will not have to pony up $29.99 per year. New users will be charged $49.99 per year.
U.S. Probes Security at Business Privacy Web Site, July 6, 2001. Privacy, where art thou? The U.S. Department of Commerce Safe Harbor web site is under attack, as a significant security breach was discovered. According to a notice posted on the site, “On Thursday, July 5, 2001, the Department of Commerce temporarily removed two features of the safe harbor website- the self-certification form and the safe harbor list- in order to review the security of the information submitted to the Department by U.S. organizations.”
Google Takes Web’s Pulse, With Surprising Results, July 6, 2001. This is a quirky little article about how people in the news are ranked in terms of how many times search requests are processed for their respective names on Google. Ah, the cult of personality!
Browser Blocks Ads and More, July 6, 2001. On July 6, ActivatorDesk released the first free public beta of its Internet desktop browser software. Its features include allowing users to block ads (including pop-up/pop under ads) cookies, and indeed, the entire Web, with the exception of a pre-set group of 16,000 “safe” web sites.
Self-Policing on Privacy? Forget It, July 6, 2001. “Businesses love to say they can. But when given a chance, they don’t, as a recent episode involving U.S. and European laws shows.”
Illuminating the Web, July 6, 2001. “Smarter software and know-how are mining the nooks and crannies conventional tools can’t reach.” Prominent mention is made to The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can’t See, by Gary Price, Chris Sherman.
Web Content Management Pushed for Firms, July 6, 2001. “As corporate Web sites become more crucial, technology consultants are advising companies to turn to outside experts in building and maintaining their sites.”
New York Times (reg. req’d)
You’ve Got Maelstrom: Dealing With Too Much E-Mail, July 5, 2001. With e-mails flooding the hard drives of home PCs as well as taxing corporate servers, the task of managing the storage and ‘filing’ of all this correspondence has become a time consuming burden for many.
Squeamish Librarians: July 4, 2001. UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh
argues that the recent Minnesota library case concerning unfiltered Internet porn openly accessed by library patrons constitutes a threat to the First Amendment. The EEOC supported claims by 12 librarians that this activity constituted sexual harassment, http://www.libraryjournal.com/articles/news/thisweek/20010611_18844.asp. Prof. Volokh was also quoted in this June 1, 2001 New York Times article.
Yahoo! to Ask, “Who Are You?” July 3, 2001. Users of Yahoo!’s personalized content and e-mail service will be asked to give more detailed information in order to show them banner ads targeted to their interests.
Copyrights and Copywrongs, July 3, 2001. Subtitled “Why Jefferson Would Have Loved Napster,” this article offers a well documented perspective on the importance of copyright in America’s constitutional history.
The Experts: Leading-Edge Law, July 3, 2001. Online advertisers vs. class action lawyers. As web advertisers seek to customize the delivery of content using web bugs and cookies, class action lawyers pursue violations of electronic security and privacy.
Libraries Launch E-Book Programs, July 3, 2001. Libraries throughout the country are initiating e-book lending programs that allow users to have access to free, 24 hour a day borrowing, without ever leaving home.
The EUR-Lex portal, a ‘one-stop shop’ for EU law, is open, July 3, 2001. The portal, developed and managed by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (EUR-OP), offers an integrated access to legal texts that can be found in the CELEX, EUR-Lex and Court of Justice’s CURIA web sites. It also provides links to PreLex, the European Commission’s database on inter institutional procedures, and OEIL, the European Parliament’s legislative observatory, as well as other legislative sites of the EU institutions and in the Member States.
Dumped Workers Find Revenge, July 3, 2001. The Business Software Alliance has noted an upswing in the reporting of software piracy as a growing number of employees are terminated by technology companies.
Franklin Has Some New E-Book Pals, July 3, 2001. Franklin Electronic Publishers has significantly expanded its e-book offerings through new alliances with AlexLit, MobiPocket.com, St. Martin’s Press Prepare, The Wall Street Journal Online and Reciprocal. By the end of the summer, they have 3,000 new titles, including foreign language texts.
Internet Insecurity: Special Report, July 2, 2001. There are several useful articles in this report, with the main article accessible via this url: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010702/index.html. Other articles include: Protect Yourself – 10 Ways to Cybersafety; and Who’s Got Your Number – How to Opt Out of Database Sharing.
No Rest for the Work E-Mail Addict, July 2, 2001. According to a new Gartner Inc. report, a whopping 42% of workers who have e-mail via their office check it even while on vacation. While at work, 53% of users check their e-mail six or more times each day.
Search On for New Search Engine, July 2, 2001. FirstGov has begun searching for a new search engine. General Services Administration officials, who run the government-wide portal, are asking industry leaders, vendors and researchers to suggest “search service solutions” to power FirstGov in 2003 and perhaps earlier.
New Ads Unpopular, But Foot Online Bill, July 2, 2001. Pop-up and pop-under ads are generating desperately needed revenues for sites that are on the brink of failure, and despite user complaints, will continue to use them.
Look Ma, No Hands! July 2, 2001. New York state has blazed the trail by banning the use of hand held cell phones while driving. This article reviews hands-free cell phone kits so you will be prepared when your state passes similar legislation.
Court Case Information Goes Online, July 1, 2001. Information about cases in more than 40 Virginia circuit courts is now available on the Internet, and court officials hope eventually to have information from most circuit and general district courts there. Circuit courts in Richmond, Hopewell and Petersburg are among those online now as part of the Circuit Court Case Information Pilot Project. The information is available through a link on the Virginia Courts home page, www.courts.state.va.us.
WashTech
Planting the Seeds: Microsoft Aims for Web Dominance, July 1, 2001. Microsoft’s plan is to leverage its 90% share of the PC operating system market to extend its control into virtually every desktop application that can be offered to consumers. These applications include instant messaging, calendaring, pager alerts, audio-video conferencing, and more.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Monster.com Buys Rival HotJobs.com, July 1, 2001. “The parent company of Monster.com, a leading online job-hunting and recruitment portal, is buying rival HotJobs.com
The Land of Monopolies, July 1, 2001. In the aftermath of the U.S. Appeals Court of Appeals decision concerning Microsoft, ..”some observers of the world of Internet-enabled software and services…are troubled by…. a number of factors may make it a breeding ground for monopolies.”
Digital Commerce Sparks Tax Tango, July 31, 2001. The Jurisdictional Certainty Over Digital Commerce Act, H.R. 2421, sponsored by Rep. Stearns (R-FL), is a prime battleground between the Congress and the states. It grants to Congress, not the states, the right to regulate “commercial transactions of digital goods and services conducted through the Internet.” This commerce includes e-books, software, and music downloads.
The Digital-Music Politico, July 31, 2001. Rep. Boucher (D-VA) considers himself a geek and a musician to boot, and is quite popular with organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) due to his strong support of fair use and legislation to amend the DMCA.
House Government Reform Committee Report: File sharing exposes kids to X-rated material, July 27, 2001. The PDF version of this 16 page report, is titled: Children’s Access to Pornography Through Internet File-Sharing Programs, and was prepared for Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep. Steve Largent.
House Subcommittee Takes Industry Input on Privacy, July 26, 2001. The House Subcommittee held its sixth hearing on information privacy, and heard industry representatives’ position on the need for specific legislation to protect consumers privacy. Not surprisingly, the panel, including representatives from IBM Corp., Amazon.com Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, General Motors Corp., and Land’s End Inc., agreed that such legislation is not necessary, either on the Web or offline.
Bills Aimed At Thwarting Online Sex Predators Unveiled, July 25, 2001. “H.R. 2601 establishes mandatory penalties “for the enticement of children which interferes with parental authority,” while H.R. 2600 requires airlines to receive written confirmation from parents before allowing unaccompanied minors to fly.”
Rep: Give Fair Use a Fair Shake, July 25, 2001. Rep. Boucher (D-VA) is strongly advocating the release of the programmer involved in the Adobe case. “It’s a broad overreach to have a person arrested under the federal criminal laws simply because they made software that circumvents a technological measure,” Boucher said.
Lawmakers team up in renewed push for ban on virtual casinos, July 24, 2001. “Members of Congress for the fourth time are preparing an assault on Internet gambling, a $1.6 billion industry, even as Nevada considers becoming the first state to approve it. This time, lawmakers plan to combine two approaches: banning Internet gambling outright and blocking the use of credit cards for online wagering.”
Senator Calls for Hearings on Windows XP, July 23, 2001. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) wants hearings to examine Microsoft’s “anti-competitive practices” and to “discuss the possibility of enjoining the release of Windows XP.”
Rep. LaFalce Intros Bill To Stymie Net Gambling Payments, July 23, 2001. “Rep. John LaFalce, D-N.Y., late last week introduced a bill that tries to kill Internet gambling by outlawing the use of credit cards, checks and other bank “instruments” to pay or collect winnings.”
House To Pass Legislation Requiring Carnivore Report, July 23, 2001. “The House today approved legislation that would require the FBI and the Justice Department to give Congress detailed information about how the controversial “Carnivore” e-mail-monitoring device is used by law enforcers.”
House Clears Bill With Cyber-Security, H-1B Funding, July 19, 2001. H.R. 2500 was passed, with increased funding for DOJ and FBI efforts to fight cyber crimes.
Web Sales Tax Plans Stalls in Congress, July 18, 2001. It is likely that the moratorium (which expires on October 21, 2001) will be extended due to lack of consensus on what power states should have over determining taxes for catalog and Web sales.
New York Times (reg. req’d)
Broadband Bill Supporters Push for Vote, July 17, 2001. “Supporters of the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001, H.R. 1542, are turning up the heat in an attempt to bring the bill to a full vote on the U.S. House of Representatives floor before Congress recesses for the month of August.”
See also David Carney’s in-depth article on The Tauzin Dingell Bill, July 15, 2001, LLRX.com.
House Bill Concedes on IT Czar, July 13, 2001. Democratic Rep. Jim Turner favors a top level federal CIO, but is strongly opposed by the Bush Administration.
Experts Protest Online Gambling Bills, July 12, 2001. “Gambling experts told a congressional panel Thursday that efforts to ban Internet gambling would prove ineffective, and Congress should instead consider regulating the fast-growing industry.”
E-Government Proposal Meets Resistance, July 12 2001. Senator Joe Lieberman’s E-Government Act of 2001is opposed by President Bush and many Republicans.
See also: Congress Members Introduce E-Government Act to House
Armey, ACLU Condemn High-Tech Surveillance Efforts, July 11, 2001. In addition to this story, see the joint statement of House Majority Leader Dick Armey and the ACLU: Proliferation of Surveillance Devices Threatens Privacy, July 11, 2001. This is an unusual partnership primarily focuses on the federal government’s funding of facial recognition technologies.
Advances in ‘cloaking’ technologies are always outstripped by advances in collection technologies, both in capabilities and degree of adoption,
July 11, 2001. This is a link to the testimony and statement of Dr. Jason Catlett, President and CEO, Junkbusters Corp. at the Hearing on Information Privacy before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate, July 11, 2001.
Senators Tackle Privacy, July 11, 2001. There is strong bipartisan support for passage of privacy legislation this Congress. However, this sentiment has to date not resulted in an agreement on the scope of required changes.
House Subcommittee Clears Copyright Changes Bill, July 11, 2001. “The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property today approved a Senate bill that would ease copyright restrictions on Internet-based content to allow more opportunities for distance learning.”
Mulling Reins on Net Campaigns, July 11, 2001. The House is scheduled to vote July 12 on a campaign finance bill that would regulate Internet advertisements and e-mails targeted at voters.
Witnesses Prepare for Senate Privacy Hearing, July 10, 2001. “Witnesses scheduled to testify at the first privacy hearing in the Senate since the Democrats took control of the chamber laid out their strategy today for convincing lawmakers to speed up or ditch plans for federal online privacy legislation.”
Reps. Davis and Moran Reintroduce Safety Data Sharing Act, July 9, 2001. Two Representatives from Virginia continue to champion the Cyber Security Information Act of 2001.
House Subcommittee to Consider New Web Education Bill, July 9, 2001. H.R. 1992 would repeal the so-called “50 percent rule,” which states that schools may offer no more than half of their classes via distance learning technologies.
Privacy in the Spotlight at Two Hill Hearings, July 3, 2001. the Senate Commerce Cmte. will hold a July 11 hearing on Internet privacy, and hear from privacy advocates and Web companies. The House Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection Cmte. will also hold a hearing but the topic will be how personal data collected via the Web is bought and sold.
House Seeks to Close Free Bibliographic Database, July 2, 2001. Pubscience, a portal sponsored by DOE, provides free access to one thousand scientific and technical journals, is in jeopardy of elimination.
House Bill Would Ban Taxes on Digital Goods, July 2, 2001. This bill which covers online delivery only, would prevent state and local governments from taxing a wide range of Web products.
Keeping Secrets, July 16 Issue, 2001. “Tech execs fear legal reform in California could force them to forfeit their intellectual property.”