Law Librarian Blog

Alert:Invalid Subpoenas

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has posted an alert that reports have been received of totally bogus e-mail grand jury subpoenas, purportedly sent by a U.S. District Court.  The emails are not a valid communication from a federal court - recipients are warned not to open any links or download any information in the email.  Law enforcement authorities have been notified.

For the original alert: http://www.uscourts.gov/newsroom/2008/alert.cfm [gvd]

Editor's Note: With this post, Gretchen E. Van Dam joins Law Librarian Blog as a contributing editor. The Circuit Librarian for the Library of the U.S. Courts of the Seventh Circuit since 2000, Gretchen received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and both her J.D. and M.S.L.S. from Wayne State University where she was an editor of the Wayne Law Review.  She is currently serving an elected term to the Federal Libraries Information Center Committee (FLICC) and is Vice President/President Elect of the Chicago Assn of Law Libraries (CALL). 

Gretchen has been an adjunct professor of law at the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and the John Marshall Law School, teaching courses in legal research and writing.  She currently is an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in Chicago teaching classes in legal research and law librarianship.

I'm certain we will all benefit from the posts Gretchen publishes here. She is also tasked with sending this Chicago expatriate Portillo's Italian Beef sandwiches each month. Gretchen wisely declined my offer to send her Cincinnati's god-awful chili in exchange. [JH]   

Supreme Court OK's Lethal Execution

By a vote of 7 to 2, the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s method of putting criminals to death by lethal injection.  Read the opinion, Baze v. Rees (07-5439). 

See also: 

• Lots of praise for Baze and for capital punishment federalism, Sentencing Law and Policy
• Will the Baze decision (and the Kennedy argument) make the death penalty a hot political issue?, Sentencing Law and Policy
• Lethal injection allowed, SCOTUSblog
• Supreme Court Allows Lethal Injection for Execution, NY Times
• Court Upholds Lethal Injection, Washington Post
• U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Use of Lethal Injection, Bloomberg

[RJ]

Managing Online Forums

Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards
by Patrick O'Keefe

List Price: $24.00
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: AMACOM (April 10, 2008)
ISBN-10: 081440197X
ISBN-13: 978-0814401972 

Book Description (from the book's website): In this book, Patrick O’Keefe, owner of the iFroggy Network, shares his experiences in a straight forward, honest fashion and shows readers how to make the right decisions about every aspect of their forums, including:

• Creating an organizational structure
• Designing and launching their community
• Deciding on user options like avatars and private messaging
• Promoting and attracting members
• Utilizing technology to their benefit
• Developing and enforcing guidelines
• Choosing and managing moderators
• Shutting down users who disrupt and harm the community
• Involving their users and keeping the site interesting and inviting
• Generating revenue

What is talked about this book is not hypothetical - it consists of in use, battle-tested theories and solutions, making it so that when you must deal with these issues on your forums, you will be better equipped. Real life examples are cited throughout, including the actual user guidelines, staff member guidelines and more, from real communities.

Soros on the Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means

The current crisis marks the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as the international reserve currency. The periodic crises were part of a larger boom-bust process. The current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more than 60 years. -- George Soros, Financial Times, January 23, 2008

In the midst of one of the most serious financial upheavals since the Great Depression, George Soros writes about the origins of the crisis and proposes a set of policies that should be adopted to confront it in his April 2008 eBook, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means. Soros places the current crisis in the context of his decades of study of how individuals and institutions handle the boom and bust cycles that now dominate global economic activity. "This is a once in a lifetime moment," writes Soros in characterizing the scale of financial distress spreading across Wall Street and other financial centers around the world. [Listen to his press conference call podcast.]

The e-book is available now at the following retailers:

For Individuals: Powell's Books Diesel e-books eBook Locator.com Amazon Kindle Sony Reader

For Libraries: NetLibrary My iLibrary OverDrive

Readers who want to download a copy of the book and do not own a Kindle or Sony Reader should use Powell's, Diesel or eBook Locator. The hardcover edition will be available from PublicAffairs on May 19 (ISBN 978-1-58648-683-9, $22.95)

See also: Lawrence E. Mitchell's (Theodore Rinehart Professor of Business Law, George Washington University) The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed Over Industry (2007). Details below the fold. [JH]

The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed Over Industry
by Lawrence E Mitchell

List Price: $35.00
Hardcover: 355 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2007)
ISBN-10: 1576754006
ISBN-13: 978-1576754009

Book Description: American businesses today are obsessed with the price of their stock, and no wonder. The consequences of even a modest decrease can be so dire that some executives would rather damage their corporation's long-term health than allow quarterly returns to fall below projections. But how did this situation come about? When did the stock market become the driver of the American economy? Lawrence E. Mitchell identifies the moment in American history when finance triumphed over industry. He shows how the birth of the giant modern corporation spurred the rise of the stock market and how, by the dawn of the 1920s, the stock market left behind its business origins to become the very reason for the creation of business itself. Check out the book's website.

About the Author: Lawrence E. Mitchell is Theodore Rinehart Professor of Business Law at The George Washington University. His other books include Corporate Irresponsibility: America’s Newest Export, Stacked Deck: A Story of Selfishness in America, and Progressive Corporate Law.

Professional Reading: Statutory Interpretation in the Context of Federal Jurisdiction

Debra Ly Bassset's (Alabama) Statutory Interpretation in the Context of Federal Jurisdiction is available from SSRN. Here's the abstract:

Recently the Supreme Court has suggested that despite the distinctive nature of jurisdictional statutes, such statutes implicate only traditional notions of statutory construction. Indeed, the Court's most recent jurisdictional statutory interpretation decision, Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Services, Inc., seemed to suggest that there was nothing special about jurisdictional statutes. But, as this Article explains, this has not been, and is not, true.

The distinctive nature of federal jurisdiction statutes demands a more constitutionally-oriented interpretive approach - traditional methods of statutory interpretation are inadequate because they fail to take this unique character into account. Jurisdictional statutes are subject to unique interpretive difficulties not encountered in the judicial construction of ordinary congressional legislation. These unique interpretive difficulties necessitate a wider range of considerations in the jurisdictional arena, including the traditional rules of statutory construction plus the Constitution itself as an interpretive document - all the while being cognizant of the potential for separation of powers and conflict of interest issues. In short, this Article proposes that in approaching their tasks of statutory construction in this area involving the reach of their own powers, federal courts should be guided by rules as understood and informed by the gravitational pull of Article III, and saving constructions are inappropriate. I explore these interpretive issues in the specific context of the interpretation of the 1988 amendment to 1332 pertaining to permanent resident aliens - an odd and interesting provision that has generated three different interpretive results from the three circuit courts that have examined it, despite the unconstitutionality of the statute's unambiguous plain language.

Coerced Evidence Contaminating Judicial System, Undermining Terrorist Prosecutions

New report from Human Rights First:

"The introduction of coerced evidence, obtained through the use of official cruelty, into military commission trials at Guantanamo Bay is rapidly contaminating the justice system and jeopardizing the prospects for the successful prosecution of terrorists, a new report charges.

The report--Tortured Justice: Using Coerced Evidence to Prosecute Terrorist Suspects—released by Human Rights First, finds the Bush administration has undercut its own intended use of the military commission system to bring those responsible for 9/11 to justice, by allowing the admission of evidence tainted by torture. The administration sanctioned the use of abusive interrogation methods, believing that the need to gather information by any means to prevent future terrorist attacks took precedence over the complications it would cause down the line in prosecuting crimes that had already taken place.

“Notwithstanding that torture and coercion consistently produce unreliable information, the administration’s miscalculation has produced a secondary system of defective justice,” said Deborah Colson, author of the report and a senior associate in Human Rights First’s Law and Security program. “By ignoring fundamental principles that underpin our justice system, the administration is compromising the successful prosecution of terrorist suspects.”  [RJ]

Grading the States 2008: A Management Report Card

New report from Governing Magazine: "Information is king. No single idea emerges more clearly from year-long research done for the 2008 Government Performance Project. As always, this report focuses on four fundamental areas of government management: Information, People, Money and Infrastructure. But this year, the elements that make up the information category — planning, goal-setting, measuring performance, disseminating data and evaluating progress — overlap with the other three fields to a greater degree than ever before. Information elements, in short, are key to how a state takes care of its infrastructure, plans for its financial future and deals with the dramatic changes affecting the state workforce."  [RJ]

Ready for those famous library cinema scenes?

In honor of National Library Week EW.com, yes that Entertainment Weekly, brings you the list of top 18 "Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks". A nice montage of library clips in well known movies for a bit of fun this late afternoon.

I'm a little surprised that The Librarian movies with Noah Wylie didn't get a nod, maybe it was too much of a easy pick (and also not that big of a series of movies).{BB}

J.K. Rowling sues Librarian for Lexicon

It's got everything for a great library drama.  Harry Potter... J.K. Rowling... Copyright... Fair Use... and now, a librarian Potter-fan author.  Who knew?!  Mr. Steven Vander Ark was a librarian at the Byron Center Middle School in Michigan, and the whole matter stems from Vander Ark's conversion of his free web site, the Harry Potter Lexicon, into book form.

Is it a legitimate conversion within fair use standards, or merely copyright infringing plagiarism?  That is the question.  For his part, Vander Ark calls the tome a "ready reference," suitable for all libraries with avid Potter fans, no doubt.  Ms. Rowling describes it a little differently: "sloppy, lazy," error riddled, and "meaningless."  From yesterday's WSJ:

Moreover, said Rowling, if the market is flooded with inferior Harry Potter encyclopedias, readers will be “sick to the back of the teeth” with such books.

Nice turn of phrase there.  Ouch. 

WSJ is doing the daily blow-by-blow with a reporter in the court room.  Here's the latest post featuring today's teary testimony from Vander Ark. 

NYT coverage of Rowling's testimony yesterday here. 

Update:  Wednesday's NYT article on Vander Ark's testimony says that he worked at Byron Center Christian School, not Byron Center Middle School, as claimed the AP yesterday.   

[JJ]

Tax Day 2008: Free Donuts, Where Your Tax Dollars Go and Tax Astrology Insights

Dunkin' Donuts is offering free donuts with the purchase of any size cup of coffee today! Chow down while wondering where your 2008 tax dollars will go. According to the National Priorities Project, 40 percent of our 2007 income tax payment went towards military spending, while education received just over 4 percent. Meanwhile, the DOJ announced the creation of the National Tax Defier Initiative (TAXDEF) recently. TAXDEF's purpose is "to reaffirm and reinvigorate the Tax Division’s commitment to investigate, pursue and, where appropriate, prosecute those who take concrete action to defy and deny the fundamental validity of the tax laws."

Tax Astrology. According to a recent survey by Money Management International, tax time can be very different for consumers born under different sun signs. The findings:

Aries (March 21-April 20) Those born under this Fire sign expect the smallest refunds ($1,400). They plan to save (46%) or pay debts (32%).

Taurus (April 21-May 21) Taurus is an Earth sign, associated with practicality. Those born under this sign are the least likely to expect a refund. Of consumers who expect to receive a refund, only 6% were born under this sign.

Gemini (May 22-June 21) Generally known to be logical, Gemini are the most likely to over-withhold on purpose.

Cancer (June 22-July 23) Protective Cancers are not likely to splurge with their refunds. Of those consumers who plan to splurge, less than 1% were born under this Water sign.

Leo (July 24-August 23) Generous Leos are more likely than those born under most other signs to spend their refunds. Of those who plan to splurge, nearly 20% are Leos.

Virgo (August 24-September 23) Practical Virgos are still deciding how to spend their expected tax refunds. In fact, more Virgos than those born under any other sign were “undecided” about what to do with their refunds (14%).

Libra (September 24-October 23) Known for balance, Libras surprisingly expect the largest refunds (an average of $2,200).

Scorpio (October 24-November 22) Scorpios are characterized as being passionate. Of those who plan to splurge with their tax refund, one out of four is a Scorpio.

Sagittarius (November 23-December 21) Sagittarians are known for being optimistic and are not likely to save their refunds. In fact, of those who plan to save, only 5% were born under this sign.

Capricorn (December 22-January 20) Earth signs, like Capricorn, are associated with practicality. Appropriately, Capricorns are not likely to splurge with their refunds. In fact, of those who plan to splurge, less than 1% are Capricorns.

Aquarius (January 21-February 19) Aquarius is an Air sign, associated with thought and perspective. Fifty-eight percent of surveyed Aquarians expecting a refund plan to use it to pay down debts.

Pisces (February 20-March 20) Idealistic Pisces are the least likely to save. In fact, of all those who plan to save, less than 5% are Pisces.

[JH]

Indispensable Reference Work for Privacy Lawyers

"An essential volume. [Information Privacy: Statutes and Regulations is] an indispensable reference work for every privacy professional and privacy lawyer." -- Peter Cullen, Chief Privacy Strategist, Microsoft

Aspen has published the 2008-2009 edition of Information Privacy: Statutes and Regulations by Paul Schwartz (UC Berkeley) and Daniel J. Solove (George Washington). The compilation contains the complete text of some 40 statutes, regulations, and other materials, including APEC Privacy Framework, CCPA, California Breach Notification Statute , California’s SB1, COPPA, CALEA, CFAA, CAN-SPAM, CIIA, DPPA, ECPA, EU Data Protection Directive, FCRA, FERPA, FISA, FOIA, FTC Act, GLB Act, HIPAA, OECD Privacy Guidelines, Privacy Act, PPA, Real ID Act, RFPA, Safe Harbor Arrangement, TCPA, VPPA, and a detailed index. The resources are organized into the following chapters:

• Privacy and the Media
• Privacy and Law Enforcement
• National Security
• Government Records
• Health and Genetic Privacy
• Financial Privacy
• Business Records
• School Privacy
• Employment Privacy
• International Privacy

Check out the Table of Contents (pdf)

While published as a supplement to Solove, Rotenberg & Schwartz's Information Privacy Law (2d ed. Aspen Publishing, 2006-  ) casebook [website], law firm and corporate legal department librarians should note that the compilation would serve as an excellent deskbook for privacy lawyers. Priced for the academic market at only $35.50, law libraries can give this 600-plus page reference work to every privacy lawyer. Purchase from Aspen here.  Highly recommended. [JH]

Professional Reading: An Examination of Search Engine Crawler Behavior at Deep and Wide Websites

Site Design Impact on Robots: An Examination of Search Engine Crawler Behavior at Deep and Wide Websites (D-Lib Magazine, March/April 2008)
by Joan A. Smith and Michael L. Nelson

Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that search engines "prefer" sites that are wide rather than deep, and that having a site index will result in more thorough crawling by the Big Three crawlers – Google, Yahoo, and MSN. We created a series of live websites, two dot-com sites and two dot-edu sites, that were very wide and very deep. We analyzed the logs of these sites for a full year to see if the conventional wisdom holds true. We noted some interesting site access patterns by Google, Yahoo and MSN crawlers, which we include in this article as GIF animations. We found that each spider exhibited different behavior and crawl persistence. In general, width does appear to be crawled more thoroughly than depth, and providing links on one or two "index" pages improves crawler penetration. Google was quick to reach and explore the new sites, whereas MSN and Yahoo were slow to arrive, and the percentage of site coverage varied by site structure and by top-level domain. Google is clearly king of the crawl: its lowest site coverage was 99%, whereas MSN's worst coverage was 2.5% and Yahoo's worst coverage of a site was 3%.

New GlobaLex Articles

April 2008 GlobaLex features include the following:

• Towards the Human Rights Protection of Minority Languages in Africa by Innocent Maja
• Guide to Estonian Legal System and Legal Research by Jannu Kuusik and Kart Miil
• Researching Ghanaian Law by Victor Essien by Vicotor Essien                                              
• A Basic Guide to International Environmental Legal Research by Heidi Frostestad Kuehl
• The Bulgarian Legal System and Legal Research by Angel Panayotov, Venelin Dimitrov, and Blagomir Minov
• A Research Guide to Ukrainian Law by Alexander Biryukov & Myroslava Kryvonos

Visit GlobaLex for additional articles and guides on international, comparative, and foreign law research. [RJ]

IMLS Announces Results of Study on the Internet's Impact on Museums and Libraries

Findings from the Institute of Museum and Library Services' five 2006 surveys of 1,000 to 1,600 adults reported in  InterConnections: A National Study of Users and Potential Users of Online Information (pdf) include the following:

• Libraries and museums are the most trusted sources of online information among adults of all ages, education levels, races, and ethnicities. Libraries and museums rank higher in trustworthiness than all other information sources including government, commercial, and private Web sites. The study shows that the public trust of museums and libraries migrates to the online environment.
• The explosive growth of information available in the “Information Age” actually whets Americans’ appetite for more information. People search for information in many places and since the use of one source leads to others, museums, public libraries, and the Internet complement each other in this information-rich environment.
• The Internet is not replacing in-person visits to libraries and museums and may actually increase onsite use of libraries and museums. There is a positive relationship between Internet use and in-person visits to museums and public libraries.

[JH]

Fun for Library Week

Cincinnati Community Press relays how the Campbell County Public Library is using a Wii bowling game challenge for area seniors. The article quite correctly lauds the benefits of Wii activity for the elderly or disabled as it allows bowling without the weight that makes real bowling impossible for many seniors. Wii bowling has already been making its way to some retirement homes.

I hate to think what my law school library would become if we had a Wii for use with our 23 year olds full of finals stress but this library is really trying to serve the community and think outside of the box and it is refreshing. Please share some of the things your library is doing during this library week in the comments.

* One unrelated note, I want to plug one of the photos of the AALL Spectrum contest previously blogged about here. The second from the left in the Librarians as managers contest is one of my submissions of me (the guy in the blue shirt) checking off items on my white board. If one looks closely at the top you can see my schedule to try and do a Law Librarian Blog post every Monday. Please pardon the shameless plug. [bb]

Voting OPEN for Day in the Life Photo Contest

Ready... Set... VOTE!!! 

The voting web site for the Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest is now LIVE and ready for you to cast your ballots at http://www.aallnet.org/dayinlife/finals/default.asp. Voting remains open for one week until 11:59 p.m. Central Time, Monday, April 21, 2008.

Pick your favorite photos from the five finalists for each of these categories, as well as one overall winner:

• Librarians as Information Evaluators and Managers
• Librarians as Expert Researchers
• Librarians as Teachers and Trainers
• Librarians as Trailblazers in New Technology
• The Artistry of Librarianship
• Most Humorous

Each winner be recognized on AALLNET, in the July issue of AALL Spectrum, and during the 2008 AALL Annual Meeting in Portland.

As in past years, it was a tough pick from the many excellent entries.  The AALL Public Relations Committee gives its warm thanks to all who submitted such creative and wonderful photos from their libraries. 

If you have any questions about the contest or voting, please contact either:

Julie Jones, AALL Public Relations Committee Chair
or
Julia O'Donnell, AALL Director of Publications

Celebrate National Library Week, April 13-19, 2008

From the ALA:

"First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.

All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.

More information is available on the National Library Week fact sheet."

A Must-Read, Zittrain's The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It

A superb and alarming discussion, from one of the most astute and forward-looking analysts of the Internet. Zittrain explains how the glorious promise of the Internet might not be realized—and points the way toward reducing the current risks.  Absolutely essential reading." — Cass Sunstein, Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence, The University of Chicago Law School

The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It
by Jonathan Zittrain

List Price: $30.00
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (April 14, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0300124872
ISBN-13: 978-0300124873

Book Description: This extraordinary book explains the engine that has catapulted the Internet from backwater to ubiquity—and reveals that it is sputtering precisely because of its runaway success. With the unwitting help of its users, the generative Internet is on a path to a lockdown, ending its cycle of innovation—and facilitating unsettling new kinds of control. 

IPods, iPhones, Xboxes, and TiVos represent the first wave of Internet-centered products that can’t be easily modified by anyone except their vendors or selected partners. These “tethered appliances” have already been used in remarkable but little-known ways: car GPS systems have been reconfigured at the demand of law enforcement to eavesdrop on the occupants at all times, and digital video recorders have been ordered to self-destruct thanks to a lawsuit against the manufacturer thousands of miles away. New Web 2.0 platforms like Google mash-ups and Facebook are rightly touted—but their applications can be similarly monitored and eliminated from a central source. As tethered appliances and applications eclipse the PC, the very nature of the Internet—its “generativity,” or innovative character—is at risk.

The Internet’s current trajectory is one of lost opportunity. Its salvation, Zittrain argues, lies in the hands of its millions of users. Drawing on generative technologies like Wikipedia that have so far survived their own successes, this book shows how to develop new technologies and social structures that allow users to work creatively and collaboratively, participate in solutions, and become true “netizens.”

About the Author: Jonathan L. Zittrain is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University and co-founder of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Asylum Law and Female Genital Mutilation: Recent Developments

New CRS report via Federation of American Scientists:

"Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a term encompassing a wide range of procedures that involve the removal or alteration of a woman’s genitalia. The federal courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) have classified FGM as a form of persecution, a showing of which can act as a basis for a successful asylum claim. However, recent developments in this area of law have created a split between the federal courts and the BIA over the treatment of applicants who have already been inflicted with FGM. The federal courts that have addressed this issue currently treat a past infliction of FGM as a basis for a well-founded fear of persecution. The BIA, on the other hand, has rejected this position, arguing that FGM is a one-time procedure, and that once inflicted, an applicant will not be persecuted with FGM again, and thus cannot act as a basis for an asylum application."  [RJ]

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the April 7, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
• Center on Law and Security
• Copyfight
• Food & Water Watch
• Legislationline

[RJ]

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
http://cfcj-fcjc.org/

The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) is a Canadian not-for-profit organization founded by the Canadian Bar Association and funded by Canadian law foundations and governments to "[bring] together the public, the courts, the legal profession and government in order to promote a civil justice system that is accessible, effective, fair and efficient."  The website offers access to all the research publications of the Forum, to a quarterly update called "News and Views on Civil Justice Reform", to the Inventory of Reforms (a collection of detailed descriptions of justice system reforms), and to the Civil Justice Clearinghouse, the most complete bibliographic database of Canadian civil justice and justice administration publications.  The Clearinghouse also provides access to the major civil justice publications from other common law jurisdictions. The search and other usability functions of the Clearinghouse are excellent and response time is short. Some of the materials cited in the Clearinghouse are linked to the full text. Updated regularly, the site provides excellent navigation and search tools. All materials in the site are available in both French and English. [ML]

Center on Law and Security
http://www.lawandsecurity.org/

The Center on Law and Security (CLS), based at the New York University School of Law, has been dedicated to “an informed understanding of the major legal and security issues that define the post-9/11 environment” since 2003.  The Center provides a forum for various experts in the field of security to boost awareness of issues and to make policy recommendations.  The website provides information on the Center’s programs, publications, and events.  CLS programs address domestic security, global law and security, and the Middle East and Islamic fundamentalism.  The Center’s publications, many of which are available for download, include books, the Terrorist Trial Report Card, and the NYU Review of Law & Security.  CLS sponsors various conferences, speaker series, and open forums.  Details of past and future events are provided.  Event topics include government secrecy, prosecuting terrorism, and the privatizing of defense. [MM]

Copyfight
http://copyfight.corante.com/   

Seven legal and technical expert contributors to this collaborative blog "explore the nexus of legal rulings, Capitol Hill policy-making, technical standards development, and technological innovation that creates -- and will recreate -- the networked world as we know it." Specific topics include "intellectual property conflicts, technical architecture and innovation, the evolution of copyright, private vs. public interests in Net policy-making, lobbying and the law, and more." The blog presents an informal, provocative, and informed view of the current issues from a user-rights perspective. Very current but neither comprehensive nor edited for balance, the blog has provided links into issues since 2004. Easy to use, but without any especially valuable search or archiving functions, the site does generate some conversation among readers. [ML]

Food & Water Watch
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

Food and Water Watch (F&WW) is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization “that works to ensure clean water and safe food ... by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.”  The main page of the website links to four specific advocacy areas: "Food," "Water," "Fish," and "World."  The pages for each general area contain further information on issues specific to that topic; for example, the "Food" page contains sidebar links for factory farms and agricultural policy.  The “World” section of the site contains a limited amount of information in German, Spanish, French, and Polish.  The site’s blog contains information on recent state, federal, and international government actions related to its areas of concern.  Users can look at blog entries by topic area through sidebar links.  This site is of limited use for research because most of the information it contains is issue-based, and reflects F&WW’s position.  F&WW is a good way to track recent legal developments related to a specific area of interest.  The website is searchable, and contains a good advanced search engine, which allows users to limit the search by field and by type of document. [LB]

Legislationline
http://www.legislationline.org/

Legislationline.org is a free database available in English and Russian produced by Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), a part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Launched in 2002, it is designed to assist OSCE member states in drafting legislation that complies with international human rights standards. In 2004 the Legislative Support Unit was created in the ODHIR to pursue legislative reform by providing legal expertise to assess compliance with relevant standards, making recommendations to improve draft legislation, and sharing good drafting practices through Legislationline.org.  The site is uncluttered and has obvious navigational and searching links. Standard information links on each page are: About Us, OSCE/ODIHR Legal Commentaries [on draft legislation], What’s New [enacted legislation], Resources [a link list to international organizations, human rights NGOs, legal resource portals and guides], and Newsletter [registration.] Searching entails using drop down menus to first select a topic. There are currently 10 topics, including terrorism, police, elections, and gender. Additional topics are “works in progress”:  prison service, right to fair trial, independent judiciary and hate crimes. The death penalty is listed as a distinct topic since the information provided deals with global standards of international organizations rather than specific national legislation. Researchers next select one of the 56 members of OSCE (countries essentially in the northern hemisphere). Each resulting country/topic page is in the same format, a summary followed by headings for constitutional law, legislation, case law, other, and news. Researchers can search the site using the advanced search option that allows searching by keyword, topic, country, inter-governmental organization, and date.  Although legislationline.org targets drafters, there is a great deal of information for human rights researchers, from primary law to legal opinions to an extensive list of resources. [JC]

InSITE contributors: L. Buechner, J. Callihan, M. Lines (guest contributor), M. Morrison, J. Pajerek (editor)

InSITE highlights selected law-related Web sites in two ways: as an annotated publication issued electronically and in print; and, as a keyword-searchable database. The law librarians at Cornell
evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. This information can be accessed via the channels below,  in addition to this mailing list:

1. Searchable database or by browsing current and archived
   issues on the web:

        InSITE home page ( http://library2.lawschool.cornell.edu/insiteasp/)

2. RSS feed ( http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawlibrary/insiteasp/public/rss.asp )

3. Print format for the Cornell Law School community.

***A note to our readers: The InSITE website has been revamped and now features a quick search on the home page, in addition to the advanced search previously available.  We've also added a great new feature that allows anyone to search all the websites ever annotated by InSITE with a single click.   It's updated with each new issue of InSITE.  We hope you enjoy these new features of InSITE.