G20 Summit to be held in Pittsburgh

The Associated Press reports that White House spokesman Robert Gibbs today announced that Pittsburgh will be hosting the G20 Summit on Sept. 24 & 25, 2009. The summit is a gathering of the leaders of the top economies of the world representing 85 percent of the world's production and 80 percent of the world's trade.
Why Pittsburgh? The Wall Street Journal economics blog explains that this is the approach often followed by the Group of Eight, the organization of big industrialized countries, whose summits have been used as an economic development tool and as a way to bring businesses to cities outside the host nation’s capital.

hat tip: Karen Shephard

3 new legal ejournals on SSRN

Three new legal subject matter ejournals have been added to SSRN:
1. Animal Law, sponsored by the Syracuse University College of Law, provides a forum for posting both completed works and works in progress on legal, policy, and jurisprudential issues relating to animals.It includes within its scope wildlife, domestic animals, and farm animals. Subject matter includes, but is not limited to, torts, tax, public heath, family law, commercial transactions, contracts, agricultural law, law and rhetoric, international business transactions and international trade, constitutional law, criminal law, property, insurance, estates and trusts, comparative law, foreign law, or other areas of the law, as they relate to animals. They welcome abstracts on practice, theory, and empirical research as related to the topic.
2. Energy Law & Policy, sponsored by the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School, will publish abstracts, working and policy papers, forthcoming articles, and recently published articles dealing with the production, transmission, distribution, conservation, and use of energy, as well as the environmental and social implications of these issues, both in the U.S. and internationally. The journal will discuss questions related to electricity, heating and cooling in both residential and commercial settings, the transportation sector, and energy policy as it relates to industry and economic activity generally. Although the primary focus of the journal is law, materials will also be published that focus on economics, engineering, finance, and the social sciences when they affect the development of energy-related law and policy.
3. Natural Resources Law & Policy, sponsored by the Environmental Law Center at the Vermont Law School, will publish abstracts, working and policy papers, forthcoming articles, and recently published articles dealing with the regulation, management, and distribution of natural resources. The journal will discuss a diverse array of natural resource topics such as public and private land use, wildlife and biodiversity, forest protection, mineral rights, parks and wilderness, the public trust doctrine, water and wetlands, and tribal lands and resources.

Internet privacy webcast: Gmail users beware

Yesterday the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard had a very interesting lunchtime webcast with Christopher Soghoian on the topic Caught in the Cloud: Privacy, Encryption, and Government Back Doors in the Web 2.0 Era. Mr. Soghoian, a Berkman Center fellow, spoke for over an hour about internet privacy, especially the privacy of all sorts of personal information.  The vast majority of Internet users still transmit their own personal information over networks without any form of encryption and the rapid shift to cloud computing exposes end-users to an increased risk of privacy invasion and fraud by hackers. He argued that this increased risk is primarily a result of cost-motivated design decisions on the part of the cloud providers (he especially pointed the finger at Google), who have repeatedly opted to forgo strong security solutions already in widespread use by other Internet services. 

If you would like to see the webcast it is available as video and/or audio on the Berkman website. 

If you don't have the time or inclination to view the whole webcast, here's one important tip Mr. Soghoian gave to anyone who uses Google's gmail:  Go into your Gmail account. Click on "Settings".  Scroll down to the bottom of the page.  In the box that says "Browser connection" click "Always use https" ; https is a secure protocol that provides authenticated and encrypted communication.  

Mr. Soghoian argued that Google should automatically make all Gmail secure, but that they don't because it's expensive for them to do so. 

Technology news in the NY Times

The New York Times had a trifecta of interesting technology articles today: 

1. Texting May Be Taking a Toll is an article in the "Health" section that talks about health effects of the teen texting phenomenon ("American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the 4th quarter of 2008").  Although "the rise in texting is too recent to have produced any conclusive data on health effects", the article discusses concerns about the psychological effects as well as the possible effects on, um, teens' thumbs. 

2. The Idea of the Day column today was titled The Case for Taxing E-Mail ; it points to  an article in the British magazine Prospect suggesting that taxing a few cents per email might cut down on the estimated 90% unwanted junk e-mail that we all receive (though one might point out that charging postage on snailmail hasn't stopped the original junk mail from arriving on our doorsteps).

3. Roger Cohen's Op-Ed column, Peaceful Evolution Angst, discusses the effects of social technology in repressive communist countries: "Technology has taken the “total” out of totalitarian. The Stalinist or Maoist dark night of the soul has been consigned to history by wired societies...communication and the online world serve as safety valves for one-party states ...Students don’t do sit-ins, they blog and use Twitter.”

hat tip: Tom Bruce

Westlaw program for deferred grads

Word is out that Westlaw has heard from many in the law school community about the Lexis ASPIRE program (blogged last week) and will be launching its own plan for those soon-to-be law school graduates impacted by start date deferrals and similar circumstances.  The program will be called YourLegalCareer dot com and the website will bring together a number of useful Westlaw resources including links to free CLE courses through WestLegalEd Center, a discount subscription to Attorney Jobs, and options to request a free password for pro bono or other work. It is expected to be up and running by the end of May, so stay tuned.

Slaw wins award

The Canadian blawg Slaw has won a well-deserved Lawford award for Excellence in Legal Publishing from the Canadian Association of Law Libraries.  Slaw has nothing whatsoever to do with cabbage or coleslaw; it's  a Canadian co-operative weblog about any and all things legal.  But you don't have to be Canadian to find Slaw useful - the excellent writing and reporting cover many topics of interest to practicing lawyers, legal librarians, legal academics and students, wherever they may be.  One of today's posts, for example, takes a close look at social networks' Terms of Service agreements (TOS) and discusses how TOS are impacting the very rights and freedoms we as individuals enjoy while interacting and communicating in the Internet environment.

Law schools: cheating 2.0

This week's National Law Journal (subscription required) has an article about cheating in law schools entitled "Cheating 2.0" ( Cheating 2.0 is also available on Westlaw, password required) .  The article reports on how technological developments have affected the way students cheat and also the way students view cheating.  It looks at both cheating on exams and plagiarism, and how various law schools are addressing challenges to academic integrity.  

The Virtual Chase

Attention TVC fans: The Virtual Chase is back in business! Ballard Spahr, which hosted TVC for creator Genie Tyburski, has annouced that that legal information publisher Justia has acquired The Virtual Chase and intends to continue its development. According to the announcement, they "look forward to working with (Justia) to make this transition as smooth as possible. Watch the site for upcoming details."
For the uninitiated, The Virtual Chase was founded in 1996 by law librarian Genie Tyburski as a website that offers articles, guides, teaching materials, an alert service and more on Internet legal research strategies and resources for legal professionals. Several months ago Genie announced that she was "closing" TVC because of the increasing demands on her time. Let's hope Justia can keep up the high standards that Genie always maintained.

Libraries and ebook readers

The LIS News blog recently posted an article about libraries and the Kindle and other ebook devices. According to the article, these devices are a failure: not because of the technology, which continues to improve, but because e-book reader companies do not consider libraries as a viable customer. Their terms of service severely restrict usage so that you cannot "lend" an ebook to anyone. The author suggests that the ebook industry needs to realize that they have to somehow address the needs of libraries. As he says, "(Libraries) are in the intellectual enhancement business, no matter the medium. Libraries are the allies of the e-book reader devices. Start treating us like it."

New search engine presents results visually

There's a beta release of a new search engine called Spezify that presents your results visually in a large collage. It aggregates search results from many sources including Flickr, Amazon, Yahoo and Twitter. Try searching for "chocolates" and look at the yummy results. Of course you could also search for something more law oriented and see what you get.

Librarians respond to the Google book settlement

Ars Technica reports that the Google book settlement has created concern among professional library organizations. The concern is not so much about what is in the settlement as what is NOT in the settlement, namely provisions addressing two primary concerns of libraries: public access and patron privacy.

Data Dot Gov for Data

Data Dot Gov is a new government website  developed by the Federal CIO Council as an interagency Federal initiative and is hosted by the General Services Administration.  It's got a collection of government datasets and is encouraging users to suggest more datasets.  Browsing through the site provides links to a variety of information from government agencies and a number of informational tools like widgets for the FBI or airline on-time performance records. You can search the datasets by category, government agency, or both. 

University of the People is free

Technology Review reports that there is a new online university called "University of the People" that offers a tuition-free education. Shai Reshef, the Israeli entrepreneur who founded the UoP, says he hopes the effort will expand education to less fortunate people around the world.  So far there are 150 people from 35 countries enrolled in the university that offers undergraduate degrees in business administration and computer science in English. Mr. Reshef said he hopes to have 15,000 people enrolled within 4 years.  The university is seeking accreditation in the United States. 

Tax research resources compared

A post from the rips-sis listserv points to a recently published article entitled "The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of  Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms" by Katherine Pratt, Jennifer Kowal & Daniel Martin of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles (8 Fla. Tax Rev. 931, 2008).  The article studies and compares the tax research platforms of BNA, CCH, RIA Checkpoint, Lexis and Westlaw. The article is available on Westlaw:  The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms.  An earlier edition is posted on SSRN and has the virtue of including all screenshots and Appendix A and B which are tables comparing the 5 platforms (the Westlaw version doesn't include the visuals).  

The print version isn't on the Barco shelves yet but we hope it will be here soon. 

Wofram Alpha goes live

New knowledge computation engine Wolfram Alpha is out of beta and geeks worldwide are checking it out. Lifehacker has a report of some tests. My own cursory tests had lukewarm results, i.e., I searched for "Supreme Court" and got a response that Wolfram didn't know what to do with my input (I was hoping it would churn out some statistics about the Supreme Court). When I searched for the date I was born it did give me all sorts of info about that day, like sunrise was at 8:15 am and sunset was at 5:58 pm and the moon was in a crescent phase.

Using a computer to judge the aesthetic value of a photo

Penn State researchers have announced the recent launch of a new online photo-rating system called Acquine (Aesthetic Quality Inference Engine) for automatically determining the aesthetic value of a photo. According to a researcher involved with the project, it is the first publicly available tool for automatically determining the aesthetic value of an image. Users can upload their own images for rating or test the system by providing a link to any image online. The system provides an aesthetic rating, with a score from zero to 100, within seconds. Acquine extracts and uses visual aspects such as color saturation, color distribution and photo composition to give any uploaded image a rating from zero to 100. The system learns to associate these aspects with the way humans rate photos based on thousands of previously-rated photographs in online photo-sharing Web sites such as photo.net.

Should Congress bail out newspapers?

The Washington Post had an article yesterday that looked at how Congress might pass laws that would shore up the ailing newspaper business. Some of the possibilities discussed by the authors include "bring copyright into the age of the search engine", federalizing the "hot news" doctrine, and using tax laws to promote the press. The authors also say that "Unless Congress embarks on far-reaching change in public policy to maintain the viability of journalism as it evolves online, we will soon find ourselves with the remnants of a broken industry incapable of providing the knowledge necessary to manage life in a complex world. "

The European Union 1989-2009: 20 years of Liberty!

A moving video from EU Tube.

LexisNexis provides free access for public interest law grads

LexisNexis is providing free legal research services to law school graduates doing work for the public good with the LexisNexis Associates Serving Public Interests Research (ASPIRE) Program. Law school graduates can sign up to access certain LexisNexis services free of charge here.
Eligible graduates include deferred fall associates pursuing public interest work during their deferral periods, 2009 graduates who elect to pursue public interest work while searching for law firm employment, and those 2009 graduates who pursue public interest work as a continuing profession.
If you are eligible, complimentary LexisNexis access will be provided throughout your public interest employment period, up until September 2010 maximum. Public interest employment must be for a non-profit or charitable organization. Government employment is excluded from this program. Documentation confirming your eligibility for this program must be included, i.e., a letter from your firm or public interest organization.
The free LexisNexis access will include federal/state cases, codes, regulations, and law reviews.
To ensure you don’t receive unanticipated or unwanted charges, other materials will not be visible.
Once your registration and documentation are received, Lexis will reactivate your law school ID no later than two business days prior to your start date.If applying after your start date, they will reactivate your law school ID within two business days.
Kudos to Lexis for doing this.

Libraries and Social Software webinar

The Computer Services Special Interest Section of the AALL is offering a webinar on Weds. May 20 from noon to one on Libraries and Social Software. Here's the description:
"What is social software? How and why would you use it? How do libraries use social software as a way to engage staff and patrons in a fast changing internet environment? Please join us as Sarah Glassmeyer, Reference Librarian from University of Kentucky, helps us explore social software use in a library context."
The cost is $45 for AALL members, $60 for non-members.

Syracuse Law school limits breaks during exams

According to an article in the Syracuse Sun, Syracuse University Law School has cracked down on 1L bathroom breaks during final exams. 1L students can now use the restroom only once during an exam because some are suspected of cheating by texting on cell phones or looking at papers in the bathrooms. Students with medical reasons to use the restroom more often than once per exam must provide medical documentation to a dean.

Let the games begin!

Write-on Competition update: things are going relatively smoothly compared to last year.  Librarians: there is a thin blue binder on the desk that has the competition rules, the Bluebook exercise they have to do, and the list of 25 sources that they are limited to using for their submissions.  

We have printed up 2 copies of  all 25  sources and have them on reserve - they are in thick binders. 

Ryan has made it relatively easy for them to print up almost all of the sources at once.  There are three sources that are only available on Lexis and I've put hot links to those on their TWEN site. 

For the competition students have to look through the limited sources and then make up their own article topic and write a law review article. They can submit the article to any of the student law journals, so if they hope to be on the Tax Law journal they would write some sort of tax-related article etc. 

Write-on competition begins tomorrow

Just a reminder to everyone in the library: the Write-on competition takes place immediately following the end of law school final exams, beginning at noon tomorrow. Most of the 1L class participates in this competition because up to 8 students may be picked for Law Review based on this competition regardless of grades. The assignment will be available to them beginning on Tuesday May 12 at noon. This is of interest to us because there will probably be a mad dash to print out all the sources they have to use for the competition on May 12 at noon and the rest of the week. Ryan has made it easier for them to print their sources on Westlaw; I did inform the new Lexis rep about Write-on but I'm not sure if she's done anything proactive.
Any questions about the printing should be sent to the Westlaw and Lexis student reps who will be around just for this purpose.

WolframAlpha v. Google

There's been a lot of buzz lately about the new search engine Wolfram Alpha (which is still in Beta but due to go online later this month). The search engine, developed by Stephen Wolfram, is "like a cross between a research library, a graphing calculator, and a search engine." It doesn't search through Web pages, and it will not help with movie times or camera shopping. What it does is answer questions. Using algorithms and formulae, t computes the answers to queries from enourmous quantities of data in databases that are maintained by Wolfram Research or licensed from others. Wired says it is like an "anti-Google." Meanwhile, Google has announced it's own data-centric service that currently includes data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Division.
David Talbot at MIT's Technology Review has written an article comparing how Wolfram and Google compare in answering the same questions. Neither was perfect. For example, in one test Talbot entered the query "cancer New York" and said that he was hoping to find statistics for the disease in the state of New York. Wolfram showed him where the Cancer constellation could be found in the night sky viewed from New York, when it would next rise and set, and included a map of the night sky. Google provided links to Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York, the New York State Department of Health's cancer page.
As a librarian, it seemed obvious from his report that what needs to be developed in both is something that would simulate the "reference interview". Any librarian knows that if a library patron walked up the ref desk and said "I want to know about cancer and New York" we would do a reference interview to quickly find out what specific information the patron wanted to find.

Top government contractors

The latest online issue of Washington Technology is devoted to reports on the top 100 federal government contractors in 2009. A database of these companies is entitled The big dogs: Top 100 rankings where the companies can be viewed by Rank, A-Z, Industry sector, Publicly traded,Privately held, and other factors. The top contractor for 2009 is Lockheed Martin Corp., with $14,983,515,367.00 in federal contracts.

postage going up Monday

Can't say they didn't warn us... there are stories in many places, including the New York Times, reporting that postage will increase to 44 cents on Monday. Stock up on Forever stamps while you can.

A look at the GPO bindery

The Bigger Kindle is here!

Yes, Amazon has launched its new, larger Kindle and the Wall Street Journal has the story here. It's called the Kindle DX and will cost $489. It has a 9.7-inch screen, about a third larger that the current Kindle, making it better suited for reading newspapers and academic textbooks.
Look out, textbook publishers. The New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post Co.'s are going to test-offer the new Kindle at a reduced rate for long-term subscribers.
Whether or not libraries can lend Kindles isn't clear, according to a recent article in Library Journal.

Digital preservation cartoons

The folks at DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) are committed to making digital preservation materials available to the widest possible audience and to breaking down barriers to access. The release of a new series of short animations introducing and explaining digital preservation problems and solutions for the general public marks an important step reaching this goal. The first animation is now ready for viewing on YouTube . DPE hopes that these cartoons summarize complex digital preservation issues and explain them in a funny and easy to follow plot. The first one features "DigiMan" urging you to use Metadata when you store data, such fun!
Future animations will be released on their You Tube Channel.

Secure Flight Program begins May 15

For anyone who's traveling by plane this summer, here's information about new rules from the Transportation Safety Administration:
Beginning May 15th, for any NEW airline reservation created, the passenger's name must match their photo ID exactly, e.g. if your driver's license reads Renee C. Bragano, the name on the airline ticket must read Renee C. Bragano.
This will affect many travelers as most people only use their first and last names for airline reservations and frequent flyer programs. Travelers will need to update their traveler profiles with whatever travel agents/systems they use and to change their name with all of their frequent flyer programs to ensure that they are receiving proper frequent flier credit for their flights.
The next phase of the Secure Flight Program begins August 15th when all DOMESTIC airline reservations must include the passenger's date of birth AND gender. This information will need to be in a flight record 72 hours prior to travel. For reservations made within 72 hours of travel, all security information must be provided at the time the reservation is booked.
The final phase of the new program begins October 15th when ALL flight records, (international and domestic) must include the passengers date of birth AND gender. This information will need to be in a flight record 72 hours prior to travel. For reservations made within 72 hours of travel, all security information must be provided at the time the reservation is booked.
Passengers who decline to provide this information will experience delays during check-in, increased airport screening and can be denied boarding.
There is more information on the Transportation Safety Administration website.

Empirical studies of law-related information behavior

An email went out to the AALL Academic Law Library Special Interest Section today from fellow member Robert Richards Jr. of Philadelphia with a link to his recently posted list of empirical studies of law-related information behavior. He maintains a website with a bibliography of legal information systems and legal informatics resources. He also points out that a new dissertation on this topic is now available:
Stephann Makri, A Study of Lawyers' Information Behaviour Leading to the Development of Two Methods for Evaluating Electronic Resources (2008) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University College London), also available at http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/14729/ .

Pandemic preparedness

The American Bar Association has published a collection of pandemic preparedness resources that are especially geared towards law firms and lawyers.

Russian law blog

Bob Ambrogi over at Legal Blog Watch points to a new Russian law blog by Dmitry Medvedev, who besides being a lawyer is also president of the Russian Federation. He has both a Live Journal blog, Dmitry Medvedev's Blog, and a video blog, Dmitry Medvedev's Videoblog. Since I don't read Russian, alas, I am using the imperfect Google Translator to check out the blog which is titled "Блог Дмитрия Медведева Обращения Президента России и комментарии "or, translated to English by Google, "Blog by Dmitry Medvedev President of Russia and commentary". The nice thing about Google translate is that you can suggest improvements to the translation.

Felon teaches CLE

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that local lawyers earned CLE credits for attending a local seminar featuring a convicted felon posing as an expert on criminal sentencing. Howard O. Kieffer was brought in by Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin to talk to local lawyers about the ins and outs of state and federal criminal prison sentences. According to information from the Milwaukee seminar, Kieffer was one of five speakers at a three-hour conference entitled "Sentence Computation Issues: State v. Federal Custody and Service of Multiple Sentences." In the brochure, he was identified as a graduate of Antioch Law School. He wasn't. Apparently Mr. Kieffer had made a living for a number of years going around the country teaching CLEs. "To the extent that Mr. Kieffer hoodwinked Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin, we are one of many," said Daniel Stiller, executive director of the agency.

Federal CIO calls for "context driven" government.

Washington Technology reports that Vivek Kundra, President Obama's federal chief information officer, wants a “context-driven government” with services accessible through people's regular daily activities that involve information technology. He cited the Human Genome Project and the Global Positioning System technologies as examples of how government data has led to innovation.

swine flu resources

The biggest story in today's newspapers is the growing fear that the world may be entering a global pandemic as U.S. officials declared a public health emergency relating to the swine flu that has been detected in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a website with information and links. The World Health Organization also has a website on the international incidence of swine flu. There are maps on Google and MSN tracking confirmed and suspected cases. If you Twitter, you can follow Healthmap's #swineflu to receive swine flu alerts.

ULS database trial: Encyclopedia of China

From ULS: We currently have a trial of Encyclopedia of China Online from Brill available through May 24. Please feel free to test this resource and send any comments to both Haihui Zhang (the East Asian collection librarian) at haihuiz@pitt.edu and Dennis Smith at drs@pitt.edu.
The URL for the Encyclopedia of China: http://www.brillonline.nl/
Username: pittsburw
Password: launqp
Information about using the encyclpedia can be found on the "preliminaries" page.

US News law school rankings

They're out, and you can read all about it in the online ABA Journal.

Does "renting" textbook violate copyright?

Afterdawn News reports that TTVK, a Finnish national copyright lobby, is threatening a book rental service called Bookabooka for allegedly running a 'Pirate Bay for Books'. No, Bookabooka doesn't host any e-books on its site, or provide online access to books. What it does is offer a service where students can "rent" their (traditional) textbooks to their peers. Renting is done through the mail and it is mandatory that the textbooks are originals (not xeroxed copies). Bookabooka acts as an intermediary, connecting the students - it doesn't handle the shipping or returns of the textbooks. Nevertheless, the Finnish book publishers' association (Suomen Kustannusyhdistys) is convinced the service is breaching copyright laws and threatening their business. TTVK has given Bookabooka until Friday to cease operations or face a lawsuit. Bookabooka's founders have vowed to keep the service online and ignore the threat.

hat tip: Slashdot

Law Library of Congress adds articles

The Law Library of Congress has announced that they've added Constitutional Interpretation and War Powers Resolution Sections to their U.S. Constitution Website with two new articles focusing on U.S. constitutional issues. The two articles are available in their entirety in PDF , which includes one book, twenty-four articles, and six statements to Congress.

New online law magazine aggregates best legal scholarship

Robert Ambrogi over at Legal Blog Watch reports that, in what they are calling an unprecedented online collaboration, seven of the most influential U.S. law reviews are collaborating to launch The Legal Workshop, an online magazine featuring plain-English articles based on scholarly counterparts published in traditional law journals. Here is how they describe it:
The Legal Workshop features “op-ed” versions of the articles published by the member journals. These concise and lively pieces are written for a generalist audience, combining the best elements of print and online publication. Each Legal Workshop Editorial undergoes the same rigorous editorial treatment and quality screening as the journals’ print content, but readers are able to offer comments and esteemed academics have the option of submitting response pieces, which are checked for citations and substance.
By aggregating the work of multiple law reviews, The Legal Workshop is able to provide frequently updated content. New article-based content is posted every Monday and most Wednesdays and Fridays. The Legal Workshop provides a one-stop forum for readers wishing to stay abreast of contemporary legal scholarship.
The seven participating law reviews are Stanford Law Review, New York University Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, Northwestern Law Review and University of Chicago Law Review.

Earth Day and Earth Week

Green Patent Blog is hosting blawg review all week. Blawg Review is the oldest established permanent floating rundown of legal blog posts in cyberspace. Green Patent Blog operates at the intersection of IP law and all things green, clean, or renewable. Since it's Earth Week this week and Earth Day today they are putting a special emphasis on "the green and earthy".

Congressional Research Service reports

The Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C. (llsdc) has announced that its Legislative Source Book site, "Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures", has been expanded so that it alphabetically lists 250 CRS Reports by title and links each one to its corresponding site on http://OpenCRS.com. The few reports that are not on OpenCRS.com are marked with an asterisk before the title and are generally linked to a previously scanned report that was downloaded to the LLSDC site. The enhanced site listing CRS reports on Congress also provides links to most all other sites on the Internet containing a substantial amount of CRS reports.

TurnItIn archiving of student papers is ruled "fair use"

ZDNet reports that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Northern District Court of Virginia's summary judgement that TurnItIn.com's use of the student papers was fair use and not copyright infringement. TurnItInis a service marketed to high schools and colleges in which student papers are entered into a database and then pattern-checked for signs of plagiarism. Several students in Northern Virginia had filed a lawsuit against them claiming copyright infringement.

Pitt's Westlaw rep provides Write-On Competition tips

You may remember that last May the Write-On Competition created chaos in the computer lab as most of the 250 1L's tried to print 1000 pages of caselaw at the same time. In order to try to prevent a recurrence our Westlaw rep Ryan Vandegrift has scheduled several Write-On training sessions for students and is also providing handouts with Tips for the write-on competition. The main points that his handout makes are:

• On May 8, 2009, the Westlaw printers at Pittsburgh will be pooled into a single "Student Printer Pool". This pool will include both printers on the 4th floor and the printer on the 3rd floor.
• The printers will be pooled for at least one week or until the printer volume returns to normal.
• Print jobs are routed in sequential order ... not volume. So, shorter print jobs may get "stuck" behind longer print jobs.
• E-mail / Download will not be affected.
• Using http://findprint.westlaw.com is the best option to ensure all print jobs are sent together.

Help for law students

An article in the Chronicle of Education today reports that some law schools are trying to find new ways to support graduating students, including offering extended health insurance or new academic programs to ease their bumpy transition into the legal profession. Graduating law students are facing a difficult time as law firms defer the start dates for their new hires because of the economy, leaving some graduating law students with delays of up to a year or more before they can begin their jobs.

free v expensive legal information

Tom Bruce from the Cornell Law Library and the Legal Information Institute has a very thoughtful and interesting blogpost called "What are we about?" in which he discusses the motivation and purpose behind proprietary databases like Westlaw and free legal information sites like LII. He is proud that the LII has contributed substantially to breaking the intellectual and engineering stranglehold that West and Lexis had on legal information twenty years ago. And while admittedly West is "winning the Grand Prix", there is a place for LII and similar sites that are just trying to help a lot of people get to work; because West and the LIIs are thinking about very different kinds of research consumers.West imagines — as most law-school instruction in legal research seems to — that the aim of research is to support argument in high-stakes litigation, or in some other setting where potential hazard justifies the expense of a high-end service. LII, on the other hand, serves a different type of legal research - it provides legal information for everyone, something like a legal version of WebMD.

The future of the FDLP

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published a whitepaper called "Strategic Directions for the Federal Depository Library Program". The paper discusses how to plan for the future of the FDLP in light of both its mission and technological advances. It concludes that "The reframing of the FDLP presents the opportunity to create a new service model that will substantially increase and enhance access to and discovery of government information. The framework for the future will be based on access, discovery, management of the resources and tools, and delivery of these resources to users. Emerging social software, digital technologies, and broadband networks offer GPO, participating depository libraries, and other partners new ways to cooperate as they seek to build, sustain, and provide access to the digital collections of the future while preserving the print resources of historic importance. It will be essential that, in repositioning the FDLP to a sustainable, flexible system that is not geographically defined, the best elements of the traditional print-based approaches to government documents management and access are merged with the capacities of networked services and resources. "

And speaking of audio...

The Federal Courts have announced that their pilot project to make digital audio recordings of courtroom proceedings publicly available online has been expanded from 5 federal courts to 9 through the end of 2009. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims and three bankruptcy courts — in the Middle District of Florida, Eastern District of New York, and Rhode Island — have been added to the project. Rhode Island already is offering the recordings online, and the other three courts are moving toward implementation. They join the 5 original pilot courts — U.S. District Courts in Nebraska and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts in the Eastern District of North Carolina, Northern District of Alabama, and Maine. The audio files are accessible through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. Digital audio recording has been an authorized method of making an official record of court proceedings since 1999, when it was approved by the policy-making Judicial Conference of the United States. Digital audio recording is used in most bankruptcy and district courts (where magistrate judges account for most of the usage). In courts with digital audio recording, CDs of hearings have been available for the authorized fee of $26, but prospective purchasers have had to make the trip to the clerk of court’s office. During the pilot project, Internet access to the same content at the nine pilot courts will cost a minimum of 16 cents — eight cents for accessing the docket sheet and another eight cents for selecting the audio file on PACER.

CD Collections now available for studying

The Law Library recently added to the collection several audio sets from West Group’s Sum & Substance CD series. Each multi-disc set reviews fundamental concepts of a particular area of the law, with lectures from well-recognized law professors. Currently available topics are: Constitutional law, Family law, Contracts, Sale and lease of goods, Criminal procedure, Criminal law, Civil procedure, Property, Torts, Evidence, and Professional responsibility. The sets are available for 3-day loan at the Law Library Circulation Desk. You can also locate them in PITTCat by doing a Call no. search “CD Collection”, or title search “Sum & Substance CD series”.

hat tip: Sallie Smith

GPO summary

There's a nice article in this month's Internet Connection (Westlaw password required) that describes the Government Printing Office, where it is, what it does, and the resources and databases that it provides.

Amazon: giltch?

Slashdot reports that firestorm broke out on the internet yesterday when blogger Mark Probst noted that Amazon instituted an overnight policy that removes books that may be deemed offensive from their search system. He found that Amazon had deleted the sales ranking from two newly-released gay romance books as well as hundreds of other gay and lesbian themed books. Information Week tells how the story quickly became the hottest topic on Twitter and made its way to major online news outlets; by late evening the Associated Press was reporting that an Amazon spokesman said a "glitch" in the Amazon system had caused the problem and was being fixed. However, this does not jibe with the reply that Mr. Probst had received from Amazon: "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature."

Using social media tools

The Technology Review blog has an interesting post about social media. The author was surprised to find out that research has shown that people remembered less about an online article when they typed in "tags" to help remember key concepts than if they simply read the online article; in other words, social media doesn't always enhance experience. However, the same researcher investigated a tagging system called SparTag.us, which lets users click words in an article to create tags, rather than typing them in at the end. The idea was that SparTag.us would help users engage more with an article, but at a lower cost. She found that SparTag.us didn't reduce recall, and it enhanced a user's ability to recognize particular sentences.
The blogpost concludes that for social media to work for us, we need to enhance what it does right and reduce what it does wrong. It can be an amazing way to navigate an interconnecting Web of concepts and people. On the other hand, it can be horribly distracting.

Changes in West key number system

West has announced significant changes in their headnote system in several areas, resulting in the reclassification of more than 300,000 headnotes. The changes include the following:
Two new digest topics: The topic Privileged Communications and Confidentiality encompasses privilege issues arising in discovery and at trial and contains expanded classifications covering attorney-client privilege, physician-patient privilege, and executive privilege. The topic Protection of Endangered Persons covers such areas as restraining orders and other protection from domestic violence, harassment, and stalking; guardian ad litem appointments; agency investigations and liabilities; and criminal and civil liability.
Complete revision of four topics: The topics Convicts and Prisons were completely revised, with many lines afforded to concepts increasingly important in modern cases, e.g., boot camps. The topic Disorderly Conduct was greatly expanded to include breach of the peace (a similar offense recognized in most state jurisdictions). In the Products Liability topic, many points of law are classified once under the product type and again under the legal concept or procedure.
Minor improvements in many topics: You'll see many changes in topics such as Counties, Criminal Law, Indians, Infants, Negligence, and Process.
Deletion of one topic: The topic Breach of the Peace has been deleted. It is now part of the topic Disorderly Conduct.
Tentative plans for 2010 include the addition of a Water Law topic and substantial revisions in such topics as War and National Emergency, Weapons, Workers' Compensation, and Zoning and Planning.

A critique of PACER

Ars technica has a lengthy article about PACER titled "The case against PACER: tearing down the courts' paywall". The author provides a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis of the PACER system. While acknowledging the good aspects of PACER, he also points out that the "paywall" (requiring registration, a credit card, and charing 8 cents a page) is a major deterrent to members of the general public who access court records only occasionally and are likely to be intimidated by the system's clumsy search tools. The paywall also makes it difficult for academics to perform comparative research on large numbers of court cases, and it makes it prohibitively expensive for third parties to improve access to the documents.

SSRN unavailable this weekend

SSRN (the Social Science Research Network) has announced that the SSRN website will be unavailable from approximately 6:00 p.m. EDT Friday, April 10 to 7:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 13 in order to upgrade the database to allow for broader international content. If you have any questions, they ask that you please email authorsupport@ssrn.com.

New history wiki launched by U. of Richmond

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story about a new wiki begun by historians at the University of Richmond. Called the History Engine , the wiki is meant to help students around the country work together on a shared tool to make sense of history documents online. Students generate brief essays on American history, and the History Engine aggregates the essays and makes them navigable by tags. The content is moderated by professors and History Engine uses mapping technology to organize scholarship by time period, geographic location, and themes. According to Prof. Andrew J. Torget, director of the digital scholarship lab at the University of Richmond, there is an oversupply of information and the current model for teaching and learning is based on a relative scarcity of research and writing, not an excess. “When you’ve got too much information to be able to process it all, you’re not sure how to find meaningful patterns within it,” Mr. Torget told The Chronicle. “The idea is to build a digital microscope that allows students to focus in on what’s most useful and relevant for the question they’re asking.”

Moldovan students use Twitter to organize demonstration

The UK Telegraph reports that students used Twitter to organize a protest and stormed parliament and presidential buildings in the ex-Soviet state of Moldova. The students were reacting to allegedly fraudulent election procedures two days after a parliamentary election handed victory to the ruling Communists of President Vladimir Voronin. Up to 10,000 demonstrators carrying Moldovan and European flags and shouting anti-Communist slogans gathered outside the government building and made their way down Chisinau's main boulevard to the president's office.
"The election was controlled by the Communists, they bought everyone off," said one student. "We will have no future under the Communists because they just think of themselves."

Book Groups Launch New Effort to Amend Patriot Act

The Campaign for Reader Privacy has issued a press release stating that organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers, and writers have launched the latest phase in a five-year campaign to restore reader privacy safeguards that were stripped away by the USA Patriot Act. Over the past 5 years the Department of Justice has used its expanded power under the Patriot Act to issue more than 200 secret search orders under Section 215 and more than 190,000 National Security Letters (NSLs). The FBI can search any records it believes are “relevant” to a terrorism investigation, including the records of people who are not suspected of criminal conduct.
Section 215 of the Patriot Act is scheduled to expire at the end of the year. However, congressmen have introduced H.R. 1467, the Safe and Secure America Act of 2009 extending it and two other Patriot Act provisions for another 10 years. FBI Director Robert Mueller recently called on Congress to extend the three expiring provisions.
According to the press release, the Campaign for Reader Privacy does not oppose the extension of Section 215, per se, but seeks to exempt bookstore and library records from its provisions. Without Section 215, the government would be required to seek a grand jury subpoena for such records.

LLC: Afghanistan Law Restricts Women's Rights

The Law Library of Congress reports that a law recently passed by Afghanistan's Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai - but not yet published - re-introduces restrictions on women's rights that were in place previously under the Taliban. The provisions regulate family relations, divorce, and property rights. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, described the new legislation as "a huge step in the wrong direction".

WaPo: how to keep new associates

The Washington Post business advice column got a letter from "middle management" at a small law firm complaining that his firm had to part ways with two out of three new associates every year because they just can't cut it. The WaPo advises more careful work in the hiring process: "First, make sure you do an effective job of describing the work and eliminating candidates who are ill-equipped to handle it. If you do a good job explaining the nature of the position, many people who wouldn't be a good fit won't apply. You will tend to attract candidates who thrive in a high-pressure environment."

Search engine for law firms

There's a search engine called "feefiefoefirm" that lets you search the websites of all US law firms for information. It also offers the option of search law firm websites in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland and South Africa. You can use it to search for legal experts, law firm bulletins, articles, press releases etc. and you can set date limits from the past 24 hours to the past five years. For example, a quick search for "Tasers" in the "past year" got 22 results, including some interesting articles and blogposts about the legal aspects of taser use.

Hat tip: Greg Lambert over at 3Geeks and a Law Blog.

UK requires ISPs to keep customer data beginning today

IT Pro reports that an EU directive requiring Internet Service Providers to keep internet data on customers for one year officially comes into force in the UK today. The UK government has agreed to pay the 70 million dollar cost that keeping the data means to ISPs. Explaining the need for data storage, the Home Office said “Communications data is the where and when of communication and plays a vital part in a wide range of criminal investigations, and prevention of terrorists attacks as well as contributing to public safety more generally. Without communications data resolving crimes such as the Rhys Jones murder would be very difficult if not impossible.”

Encarta online encyclopedia to shut down

The New York Times reports that Microsoft will "close" its Encarta online encyclopedia on October 31 everywhere except in Japan, with that service to be terminated on the last day of December. Encarta has not been able to successfully compete with Wikipedia, the giant communal online encyclopedia.

Visualizing the US Code

There's a new blog called Computational Legal Studies and it has a post about creating a visual model of the US Code - or rather, of Title 11 (Bankruptcy). The blog aims to "to disseminate legal studies that employ a computational or complex systems component. We hope this venue will serve as a coordinating device for those interested in using such techniques to consider the development of legal systems and/or implementation of more reasoned public policy." Previous posts include April as the Cruellest Month? Data on the Law Clerkship Tournament .

PACER to list cases that have been sealed

The Judicial Conference has announced that PACER will list cases that have been sealed. The announcement says that "in its continuing efforts to ensure appropriate public access to court files, has voted to make federal court sealed cases more readily apparent."
At a March 17 meeting, they voted to have Internet lists of civil and criminal cases in district courts include a case number and generic name, such as “Sealed vs. Sealed,” for each sealed case. These lists for each of the 94 district courts are generated by the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system and are accessible through PACER. Currently, PACER lists of sequentially numbered district court cases skip the sealed cases, but a member of the public could query the missing case number directly and would see a message stating that the case “is under seal.”
The Conference in 2007 strongly encouraged district courts to change the message that PACER users receive when querying a sealed case—from “this case does not exist” to “this case is under seal.” The latest Conference action is consistent with and further implements the 2007 Conference policy by providing the public with information to confirm the existence of a sealed case. The Conference left it up to the individual district courts to determine what additional information about sealed cases, such as the initials of the assigned judge or the date of filing, should be available to the public.

Air Law

Prof. Pierre Schlag of the University of Colorado School of Law recently published an article in the Georgetown Law Review entitled Spam Jurisprudence, Air Law, and the Rank Anxiety of Nothing Happening (A Report on the State of the Art) in which he compares current legal scholarship to air guitar: "On the one hand, air guitar produced no real sound. On theother hand, no one playing air guitar ever struck a false note. The relation of air guitar to contemporary legalscholarship is relatively straightforward. "

Google: saving us from our idiot selves

Slate has an article about what they call "Gmail's embarrassment reduction pack", several new features in Gmail that help us fix common mistakes made in email we send. The most recent is the "undo send" feature that gives you five seconds after you've hit "send" during which you can pull back the email and edit, delete, etc. Gmail also has a "mail goggles " feature you can choose to use - this requires you to answer math questions before sending late-night mail on the weekends, and a "forgotten attachment detector." The final element of the embarrassment-reduction pack is a built-in Gmail feature that signals when the message thread that you're reading has been updated which Slate says theoretically prevents you from being the fourth person to drop the same witticism in an officewide e-mail jokefest.

Social Media for law firms and lawyers

A marketer who specializes in law firm marketing has posted a short and simple slideshow online that explains how lawyers can use social media to reach out and market themselves. It provides simple explanations and suggests Best Practices for using such social media as blogging, podcasting, and social networks.

hat tip: Slaw

EU warns internet sites about rights of users

Technology Review reports that Meglena Kuneva, the European Union's commissioner in charge of consumer rights, is warning internet site operators that they should better protect users. The European Commission is concerned that data being collected from personal profiles on social networking, search engine or other sites are increasingly being used for commercial purposes at the expense of privacy and consumer rights. The EU is calling on Web site operators to adhere to basic consumer rights to prevent deceiving, misleading or imposing excessive pressure on users to sign up to certain services or to buy products.

Social media for law schools

A blogger called "Social Media Law Student" is actively encouraging her law school to "get real" about social media. In posts Part 1 and Part 2 she talks about how her law school warned students to be very careful about blogging, facebook, etc. - yet she knew from experience that participating in Twitter and commenting on blawgs is a good way to meet people in law and to learn about the field. So she emailed a Dean about how useful social media can be - and is now working with the Dean to develop a "Best Practices" guide for social media in law schools.

Google books to be available for Sony ebook reader

The Washington Post reports that Google and Sony have teamed up to take on Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader. Google is going to provide Sony with some 500,000 copyright-expired titles for its e-book Reader, with benefits to both companies. Sony can claim that it has a much-larger library and is more "open" because of its open platform; Google will get prime placement at the Sony eBook store and publicity for the Google Book Search project.

UN v. Free Speech?

The Associated Press reports that on Friday the U.N.'s top human rights body approved a proposal by Muslim nations urging all nations to pass laws that limit criticism of religion. Members of the Human Rights Council voted 23 in favor of a resolution Thursday to combat "defamation of religion." Eleven nations, mostly from the West, opposed the resolution and 13 countries abstained.

The academic library of the future

The Chronicle of HIgher Education Review has an article titled "Humanists must plan their digital future" that discusses the future of academic libraries. It begins by talking about Stanford University and its "highly fraught" process of making decisions about campus libraries. A 2007 preliminary proposal to tear down the seismically unsafe Meyer Library and digitize and house off-campus most of its 600,000 volumes produced a cry of protest. Then last fall a faculty committee proposed its own plan for rethinking the library. The article's author writes a long and well-thought-out discussion of the issues facing academic libraries that she characterizes as "a national crisis". Her main argument is that as libraries are redesigned to make use of electronic resources it is important for scholars - the faculty who are using these resources - to realize that they must become involved in the process and the design.

What happens if websites change their terms?

Technology Review has a story about Kodak's online photo service, Kodak Gallery. Apparently they used to provide free storage of photos but this recently changed. Someone who had photos stored on their service got an email from them saying that Kodak will delete her picture albums unless she spends at least $4.99 by May 16 and every year thereafter on prints and other products. That's the new rule for people whose photos take up less than 2 gigabytes of space on Kodak's servers -- enough for around 2,000 1-megabyte photos. And customers who signed up under the old rules won't be given a pass. Kodak's decision to change its policies illustrates the risks people face as they increasingly rely on privately run services to handle their digital memories and communications. These services often state in the fine print that they can change the rules at any time, and users have little recourse when they do.

Polling in the classroom

The audience response systems known as "Clickers" have become increasingly popular as learning tools in large classrooms. The only drawback is that you have to purchase the technology - the transmitter and the individual clickers for each student. Now there has been some move toward developing a lower-cost alternative by using cellphones as clickers. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog wrote about an iPhone app that can be used in the same way as clickers, and cellphones in learning has a post - as does e-learning acupuncture blogpost - about a company called Poll Everywhere that provides an Audience Response System by using text messaging on a cellphone instead of clickers. It is free for using with an audience of 30 or fewer, larger audiences require subscriptions.

YouTube EDU has university lectures

Lifehacker reports that YouTube has created a sub-site called YouTube EDU that aggregates thousands of free lectures from over a hundred universities across the country, including MIT, Yale, the Culinary Institute of America and CMU. There is a directory containing an alphabetical list of the schools so you can browse their offerings. The one law school currently on the list is the USC Gould School of Law.

Flipping the bird is protected in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports , and Legal Blog Watch has picked up the story, that a Pittsburgh judge has ruled that flipping the bird is protected speech under the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone made the ruling in a case involving a traffic dispute in Squirrel Hill. Apparently David Hackbart of Regent Square was trying to parallel park on Murray Ave. when another driver pulled up in front of the parking space so he couldn't back in. Hackman "angrily displayed his middle finger" to the other driver then displayed the same gesture to Officer Brian Elledge, who told Hackbart to stop.

US Attorney General in Madoff case goofs

MSNBC recently published documents that the US Attorney General for the Southern District of NY submitted to Judge Denny Chin regarding the Bernard Madoff case. The documents include many letters and emails from Madoff victims asking Justice Denny Chin to punish him to the fullest extent of the law; presumably the Attorney General wants Madoff's victims to be heard. But Talking Points memo points out that on page 36 of the first 96 page pdf there is an email from someone who may not actually be a Madoff victim; it's a Nigerian scam email (well, technically it's from the Congo, but still.)
Wonder who put the emails together.

New Mexico repeals the death penalty

On March 19 Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico, signed into law a repeal of the death penalty in that state. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers published his remarks , in which he gives a well-expressed and well-supported explanation of his decision to sign the law.

hat tip: Karen Shephard

National Law Journal and Legal Times are merging

The Legal Times, which has reported on the D.C. legal and lobbying communities since 1978, reports on their blog that they are merging with the National Law Journal. The combined publication will focus on national legal news, with a special emphasis on Washington, and it will carry the name The National Law Journal. It will publish continuously on the Web and weekly in print, with the first combined print edition expected in May. A redesign of its Web site is planned in the next several months.

hat tip: LLSDC

PACER is down

The Washington DC area law librarians are reporting that PACER is down this morning.

Former Duquesne Law Dean takes new job

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette has a story that former Duquesne Law dean Don Guter has accepted a job as dean of South Texas College of Law. Mr. Guter's abrupt removal as dean of Duquesne Law was controversial.

hat tip: Prof. Rhonda Wasserman

U. Michigan Press to go 100% digital

Inside Higher Education reports that within two years, officials at the University of Michigan Press expect well over 50 of the 60-plus scholarly monographs that the press publishes each year to be released only in digital editions. Readers will still be able to use print-on-demand systems to produce versions that can be held in their hands, but the digital monograph will be the norm. Michigan officials say that their move reflects a belief that it's time to stop trying to make the old economics of scholarly publishing work.

Many UK government databases flawed

Blogzilla, in a post titled "Database State", points to a new Report (67 page pdf) published by the British Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. The report assesses 46 databases across major government departments in the United Kingdom. Some of the findings are sobering:

• A quarter of the databases are almost certainly illegal under human rights and privacy laws.


• More than half the databases have significant problems with privacy or effectiveness and could fail a legal challenge.


• Fewer than 15% are "effective, proportionate and necessary, with a proper legal basis for privacy intrusions".


• Data is increasingly centralized and shared between health and human services, local governments, police, schools and "the taxman".


• Only about 30% of government IT projects succeed, yet the government plans to spend over 100 billion pounds on such projects in the next 5 years.

Search images in Google by predominant color

Google Blogoscoped reports that Google Image search can now be restricted to return results of a specific color. The choice is available on the Advanced image search form.

audio of RIAA arguments against streaming will be streamed

Slashdot has a story about the 1st Circuit case SONY BMG Music v. Tenenbaum - in which the district court recently ruled that an oral argument about the constitutionality of statutory damages could be streamed. The RIAA has been fighting the streaming rule with a petition for 'mandamus or prohibition' in the appeals court, which is opposed by the press. Oddly enough, it seems that audio of the appeals court's oral argument about the streaming will itself be recorded and then streamed. The blog "Recording Industry vs the People" thoughtfully provides links to all the documents in the case.

Stop the annoying Windows restart prompt

Each time Microsoft sends out a new "service pack" for Windows - with improvements or repairs for your computer's operating system - your computer will badger you with an annoying popup announcement. It says something like "important updates have been installed on your computer but you have to restart it for them to work, so do you want to restart your computer? Huh huh huh do you do you do you? Or not?" (I'm paraphrasing). In my case, this usually happens when I'm right in the middle of something and the popup keeps badgering me every 10 minutes or so, interrupting my work and driving me crazy. Well here's how to make it stop. Go to your "Start" menu in the lower lefthand corner of your computer screen. Click on "Run" and then, when a little popup window window appears, type "cmd" into the box and click OK. A strange black box will appear on your screen. Type "sc stop suauserv" and hit the Enter key. The black box will go away and the popups will stop.
Don't worry, when you turn your computer off at the end of the day the service pack installation will be completed for the next time you reboot.

Testing "lawyerly talent"

The New York Times has an interesting story today about a study at the University of California, Berkeley, that looked at traits that a "good lawyer" should have. To find out what applicant traits should figure in admissions decisions at law schools, they coordinated individual interviews, focus groups and finally a survey of judges, law school professors, law firm clients and hundreds of graduates of Berkeley’s law school. Their survey produced a list of 26 characteristics, or “effectiveness factors,” like the ability to write, manage stress, listen, research the law and solve problems. The professors then collected examples from the Berkeley alumni of specific behavior by lawyers that were considered more or less effective. Using the test, the researchers developed a test that could be administered to law school applicants to measure their raw lawyerly talent.

Support free blogging

BoingBoing has a post about bloggers in Italy asking for support to help fight an initiative to require Italian bloggers to register with, and be licensed by, the state.

Laptops in law school classes

With thanks to NYU Law.

Please Repeat the Question from Amanda Bakale on Vimeo.

Online social networking and criminal law practice

Over on LLRX, law librarian and criminal defense attorney Ken Strutin has compiled an interesting bibliography of information resources about online "social networking" and criminal law practice. He provides links to articles and websites that explain basic concepts of what social networking is, the materials that can be found on profiling sites for investigation and their impact on criminal litigation. According to Mr. Strutin, "the activities of users and the information being posted on these sites are having wide ranging effects on the administration of justice, law enforcement investigation, prosecution and defense."

Housing foreclosures most severe in just a few areas of the US

USA Today has a lead story on how housing foreclosures helped to trigger the current financial crisis, but it adds that housing foreclosures in the US are mostly located in just 35 counties in 12 states and that "the financial crisis devastating the national economy may have begun with collapsing home loans in only a few corners of the country". The story includes an interactive map providing a county-by-county analysis and a map of the United States that shows states where foreclosures have been highest.

New legislation to amend patent law

Yesterday bills were introduced in the U.S. Senate (S. 515) and House of Representatives (H.R.1260 ) to amend Title 35 of the U.S. Code, "to provide for patent reform". According to a story in Techworld, the legislation is intended to stimulate innovation and would change the way the US Patent and Trademark Office works, bring US patent law in line with global laws, and introduce "reasonable royalty" provisions, which change the way damages are calculated and would reduce the likelihood of massive payouts for some patent holders.

Financial stimulus plans in other countries

The Law Library of Congress has just published online Financial Stimulus Plans: Recent Developments in Selected Countries, a series of reports summarizing the recent developments in the proposal or implementation of financial and economic stimulus packages in a selection of foreign countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the reports, according to the LLoC, is "to help bring a comparative and global perspective to our understanding of the formulation, implementation, and ultimate impact of the current $789 billion U.S economic stimulus bill."

Social networking at library conference

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog has a story that will warm the cockles of cybrarian hearts. The post reports on last week’s WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital Age, where social networking tools were used to full advantage. Michael Edson, director of digital media strategy at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, told the conference attendees that who said in a presentation that “tomorrow’s scholars” will use social networking to full advantage and “the future of knowledge creation is about putting it out there and building it collaboratively.”

PACER under scrutiny

Wired has an interesting article about PACER, the information system for the US federal courts. Senator Joseph Lieberman, chair of the Senate's Government Affairs Committee, has written a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States asking Judge Lee H. Rosenthal to explain why in the age of Google the PACER isn't free for citizens. He also asks about the problem that was pointed out recently by Public Resource dot Org founder Carl Malamud - many documents aren't redacted where they should be, and sensitive information is available. Carl Malamud is running a campaign to become the nation's public printer.

HeinOnline is now compatible with Zotero

HeinOnline has announced in a blogpost that Zotero is now compatible with HeinOnline's Law Journal Library. Users are able to bookmark articles directly from a search results list in HeinOnline, or when viewing the pages of an article. Zotero "is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources." If you use Firefox as your internet browser and do a lot of research and writing take some time to explore Zotero.

Internet Exceptionalism

Inform IT has published an online article by Eric Goldman, Assistant Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law and Director of the school's High Tech Law Institute, entitled The Third Wave of Internet Exceptionalism . In it he discusses "internet exceptionalism", internet-specific laws that diverge from regulatory precedents in other media. In 1996, a judge called the Internet "a unique and wholly new medium of worldwide human communication." Predicated on this perceived novelty, regulators have enacted many Internet-specific laws that Although Internet exceptionalism can be appropriate, it also can produce bad regulation when the Internet's differences are overstated. sense.

Amazon's Kindle 2 runs afoul of the Authors Guild

Last week Amazon released the much-awaited Kindle 2 ebook reader (and more) with a built-in text-to-speech feature that Amazon kept secret. Now CNET reports that the Authors Guild has claimed text-to-speech created a derivative work and violated copyright. Paul Aiken, the guild's president said many publishers were also angered over the speech function, adding that Amazon never consulted beforehand with either of those groups. Amazon responded Friday by handing publishers the ability to disable the text-to-speech feature on any title they choose.