The American Library Association (ALA) has a useful resource available on their site: USA Patriot Act Resolutions of State Library Associations. It offers an alphabetical list of states, along with either direct, or sometimes circuitous links, to their respective resolutions endorsing the ALA USA Patriot Act Resolution. Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: April 2003
Legal Hurdles to New Technologies
An interesting article from News.com addresses the legal obstacles (DMCA, patent claims) at the disposal of established companies who seek to block emerging technology competitors. Continue Reading
Summit on Web Credibility
Building Trust on the Web, Consumer WebWatch’s First National Summit on Web Credibility, April 24, 2003. Presentation topics include: Health Web Sites, Search Engines, Guidelines & Best Practices on the Web, Scams & Schemes: Why Don’t Consumers Trust the Web?, and Toward a More Credible Web. See this link for Jim Guest’s opening remarks. Continue Reading
FCC Adopts New Rules For E-Rate Program
Today’s news release from the Federal Communications Commission states that the agency “adopted new rules to simplify and streamline the operation of the schools and libraries program of the universal service fund (USF). The measures adopted today seek to improve program administration, create a more efficient application process for program participants, and improve program oversight… Continue Reading
More Students Targeted for File Sharing
College students are increasingly discovering that file sharing has serious consequences. Just ask 220 Penn State students accused of using an LAN to bypass the university’s network bandwidth restrictions. They have lost the privilege of Web access in their dorm rooms. See also my previous posting on four college students who were sued by the… Continue Reading
Wall Street Journal's New Afternoon Report
The Wall Street Journal recently launched The Afternoon Report, an opt-in e-mail update of breaking news, in text version, provided to subscribers twice daily. Yesterday, the e-mail update became available in HTML, and is now accompanied by lots of advertising as well. Readers may also choose to read the updates via a link on the… Continue Reading
Competition Heats Up Among Top Search Engines
Today’s Wall Street Journal has a brief comparison, in chart format, of some of the best features of the free services from Google, AOL, MSN, Yahoo, as well as the fee-based software, Grokker. The article also addresses the increasingly prominent relationship between search results and paid advertising. Continue Reading
Google Hacks Book A Hit on Both Sides of the Atlantic
Google Hacks by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest is given a big thumbs up by Lee Dembart in the International Herald Tribune. He also points out that Tara’s steady stream of updates and resources on Google applications are available through her terrific Research Buzz site, and additional resources, since the book’s publication, are here. Continue Reading
Competitive Intelligence Resource
The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals launched a redesigned web site yesterday. Although much of the site’s content requires a membership password, see this publications link for access to abstracts and some full-text articles without a fee. Continue Reading
NJ Uses Digital Tools for Driver's Licenses
The New York Times reports on a New Jersey program, beginning this summer, to implement digitized security features on the state’s driver licenses to prevent theft and fraud. The features will include “holograms, a bar code and digital signatures.” Continue Reading
Supreme Court Considers Internet Jurisdiction Case
The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider this Friday the case of Healthgrades.com v. Northwest Healthcare Alliance Inc. for their fall docket (No. 02-1250). This case is of considerable interest in light of the recent Internet jurisdiction decision from Australia, Dow Jones and Company v. Gutnick, which was back in the news last week. For… Continue Reading
EPIC Alleges Amazon COPPA Violation
EPIC, along with a coalition of 10 advocacy groups, filed a complaint with the FTC today stating that Amazon.com is violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (“COPPA”) by collecting and disclosing personal information about children. EPIC provides specific examples of children, with key information redacted to protect their privacy, who are registered… Continue Reading
