Articles Posted in Information Technology

David Badertscher*

How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web? The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (Authentication Report) that answers this very important and timely question. The comprehensive report examines and draws conclusions from the results of a state survey that investigated whether government-hosted legal resources on the Web are official and capable of being considered authentic. The survey was conducted by the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee of AALL. The principal authors and editors of the comprehensive report were Richard J. Matthews, Editor in Chief of the 2005-2006 Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee and Mary Alice Baish, Executive Editor, AALL Washington Affairs Office; volunteer authors were responsible for sections within the comprehensive report devoted to individual states. The survey and comprehensive authentication report could not have been completed without their efforts.

The Authentication Report follows the publication in 2003 of AALL’s State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information that researched and reported what, if anything, state governments were doing to meet the enormous challenges of ensuring permanency and public accessibility of government information on the Web. The Permanent Public Access Report raised national awareness and encouraged states to take steps to ensure permanent public access to electronic state government information. As a result, several states have enacted legislation requiring permanent public access.

Bonnie Shucha has asked us to “spead the word” about the exciting Web 2.0 Challenge that is being sponsored by the Computer Services Special Interest Group of the American Association of Law Libraries. We are happy to do so. Here is part of Bonnie’s announcement:

Are you interested in learning about applications like blogs, wikis, and Second Life, but don’t have a lot of time?

Take the Computing Services-SIS Web 2.0 Challenge!

” Let’s face it, during the reign of Bill Gates, Microsoft hasn’t exactly been Xerox Parc when it comes to inventing and creating new technologies. For the most part, Microsoft has been content to buy or copy new technologies and focus on incremental improvements to its products. But that doesn’t mean that Bill Gates and Microsoft weren’t innovative. In the areas of business strategies and cutthroat competition, Microsoft has used a combination of unique and very effective innovations to make itself the dominant tech company of the PC era.”

Microsoft”s Top Ten “Innovations”

“For a time, security controls designed to manage spam, viruses, and malware were working. Loud, high-impact attacks abated. But, as a result of this success, the threats they protected against were forced to change. In 2007, many of these threats underwent significant adaptation. Malware went stealth, and the sophistication increased.”

Computerworld Resources, May 26, 2008

To highlight and address these threats and related issues in 2008 and to offer suggestions as to how to cope with them, Cisco and Ironport, two specialists in these areas, have recently published a comprehensive report: 2008 Security Trends: A Report on Emerging Platforms for Spam, Viruses, and Malware.. According to the Introduction to the Report: “This report is designed to help highlight the key security trials in 2008 and suggest ways to defend against the sophisicated generation of internet threats certain to arise in the future.”

The following link is to a Chart prepared by Perkins Cole to provide information regarding information security breach notification legislation which has been enacted in U.S. jurisdictions. It has been updated to May 14, 2008:

Chart indicating state-by-state legislation relating to information securirty breach notification as of 5-14-08

An Introduction*

David Badertscher

How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web? The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (Authentication Report) that answers this very important and timely question. The comprehensive report examines and draws conclusions from the results of a state survey that investigated whether government-hosted legal resources on the Web are official and capable of being considered authentic. The survey was conducted by the Access to Legal Information Committee of AALL. For a quick overview, the Authentication Report’s Executive Summary provides an excellent introduction to some of the underlying issues and facts surrounding the pressing and timely issue of the authenticity of state primary digital legal materials.

ABA Section on Business Law

Specialized Cyberspace and Technology Programming Sponsored by: Committee on Cyberspace Law

Web 2.0: Wikis, Blogs, Mash-Ups and Avatars; or, The Explosion of User Generated Content and the Legal Challenges That Arise –

Jonathan L. Zittrain has written an interesting, informative and innovative book titles The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It. . I use the word “innovative” because the web version, which is available in full text at http://yupnet.org/zittrain/ incorporates added features to engage the reader.

To quote from his introduction:

“…The Internet’s current trajectory is one of lost opportunity. Its salvation 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.’ “

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