Category «United States Law»

SOPAs Evil Twin Sister CISPA

Well known graphic artists Jake O’Neil and Spencer Belkofer created this infographic out of a sense of urgency to visualize the salient information with as many communities as possible. This bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, has not garnered the media coverage of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), but its high impact implications target key legal issues involving privacy and intellectual property.

Subjects: Congress, Cyberlaw, Cyberlaw Legislation, Features, Intellectual Property, Privacy

New Economy Resources

Marcus P. Zillman’s guide is focused on current web sites, blogs and database sources targeted to researchers whose goal is the discovery and effective use of specific, reliable resources to track the New Economy. These sources assume added importance with the expansion in U.S. government transparency, the rise in prominence of “big data” and the public release by agencies, NGOs, public interest groups and media, of diverse databases of analytics, reports, statistical releases, and customized charts.

Subjects: Blogs, Congress, Data Mining, Features, Legal Research, Legislative, United States Law

“Stolen” LinkedIn Profiles and the Misappropriation of Ideas

Within the context of the decline of the law tort of “hot news” misappropriation, Professor Annemarie Bridy discusses a recent Pennsylvania case in which the parties are fighting over ownership of a LinkedIn account containing the plaintiff’s profile and her professional connections. The defendant, the former employer, asserted a state law counterclaim for misappropriation of ideas.

Subjects: Copyright, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Technology Trends

Overview of all FOI Law Around the World – 2011 update

Forensic intelligence analyst, legal adviser, lecturer, FOIA and Web expert, and Publisher of the Fringe journals (Dutch), Roger Vleugels has published his Summary of 2011 Update indicating that 88 countries now have a FOIA in power. This reflects 7 more than in last year’s update: El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guinea-Conakry, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia.

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Resources, Internet Resources - Web Links, Legal Research

Learning to Live Without a Statistical Abstract: Thinking about Future Access to Government Information

The U.S. Census Bureau anticipates that budget cuts will likely dismantle the entire Statistical Compendia division. James T. Shaw’s presentation focuses on why there is no truly good alternative to the Statistical Abstract in terms of providing both convenience and breadth, either from other government or commercial sources. He provides descriptions of and links to other statistical sources and methods to mine available data moving forward.

Subjects: Features, Government Resources

ShoppingBots and Online Shopping Resources 2012

Marcus P. Zillman’s guide, great for holiday and year round shopping, comprises a comprehensive listing of shoppingbot and online shopping resources and sites on the Internet. Comparison shopping for books, electronics, gadgets, clothing, green products, hotels? Looking for coupons, discounts, vouchers or last minute deals? Do you want to support local, regional or national products and services? Marcus’ wide ranging listing highlights reliable, efficient sites and services to compare and contrast your shopping choices, and to make the experience more cost effective and satisfying, now and year round.

Subjects: E-Commerce, Features, Gadgets, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Shopping

The Digital Death of Copyright’s First Sale Doctrine

An important copyright case won’t be argued in the Supreme Court, which on October 3, 2011 declined to review Vernor v. Autodesk, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving the applicability of copyright’s first sale doctrine to transactions involving software and other digital information goods. Law professor Annmarie Bridy discusses the wide reaching impact of the first sale doctrine, without which there would be no free market for used books, CDs, or DVDs, because the copyright owner’s right of distribution would reach beyond the first sale, all the way down the stream of commerce.

Subjects: Copyright, Features, Intellectual Property, Legal Research

FOIA Facts: DOJ FOIA Regulations

Scott A. Hodes addresses the responses from various groups about the proposed new Department of Justice (“DOJ”) FOIA regulations which call for DOJ components to “respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist. This response should not differ in wording from any other response given by the component” when applying an exclusion to the FOIA.

Subjects: FOIA Facts, Government Resources, Legal Research

The FLARE Index to Treaties Extended

The FLARE Index to Treaties (FIT), launched in March 2009 on the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies web server has been extended to cover about a third more treaties and conventions. In the past two years the Index has established itself as a valuable finding tool for the international lawyer. It is a fully searchable database now indexing and listing over 2,000 of the most significant multilateral treaties concluded from 1353 onwards and a number of significant bilateral treaties signed between 1353 and 1815. This article, by Steven Whittle and Peter Clinch describes the background to the extension and technical aspects of the updated implementation employed to deliver new content and finding features.

Subjects: Comparative/Foreign Law, Features, Government Resources, International Legal Research, Legal Research, Treaties & Agreements