Speaking of Google, which I just was, I’m wondering what you make of the Google Valentines Day image, which you see to the right. It’s a cherry where the “g” should be–that much is clear. But the thing dribbling down from it looks to me remarkably like half a pair of handcuffs. Now I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. That’s not my thing at all.

So what is it supposed to be? . . . [more]

A court of first instance in Belgium has ruled against Google in a suit by a group of newspapers operating in that country who alleged that Google’s News feature violated their copyright. The NY Times has the story, as does the EUobserver. I’ve been unable to find the decision online (anyone?), but it would seem that the complaint has to do with Google’s reproduction on its news pages of the titles of newspaper articles along with short excerpts.

It’s being reported in some places that this is a ruling against linking pure and simple, which doesn’t seem accurate to . . . [more]

I’m pleased indeed to announce that Annette Demers has agreed to join Slaw as an occasional contributor. Annette will need no introduction to most of our readers, but for those who might not know: she is the Reference Librarian at the Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor. Previously Annette worked as a Reference Librarian for International, Foreign and Comparative Law at the Harvard Law School Library. While working at Harvard, she was the editor of the newsletter of the American Association of Law Libraries Foreign, Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section. Annette also worked as a volunteer consultant . . . [more]

If you haven’t been following the web-tech circles lately, you may have missed the buzz surrounding Yahoo’s newest RSS tool – Pipes.

Pipes allows you to combine different data feeds, like RSS, into a single output. It’s similar to other feed tools, but the environment is all web based, with an interface that’s similar to visual programming applications. What makes this tool a winner though, is the logic behind the operations. You can filter, remix, and mash-up feeds to produce an incredible array of new content types.

While I think this is probably the most sophisticated RSS tool on . . . [more]

When the money went away, and the Comission went away, it looked as though all of the work went away as well. But thanks to Annette Demers (reference librarian at the University of Windsor’s law library) who pursued the matter and sends us this information, we now know that the Commission’s records and reports were stored with Library and Archives Canada in their Electronic Collection: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/law_commission_of_canada-ef/index.html

As the Electronic Collection intro page says: “Please note, information may be out of date and some functionality lost.” You betcha. . . . [more]

Tout le monde en parle: la Société canadienne de perception de la copie privée vient de dévoiler vendredi dernier sa demande de tarif pour 2008-2009. Pourtant, il n’y a rien de bien étrange avec cela, c’est même, si je puis dire, la saison. En revanche, il est quelque peu surprenant de revoir apparaître une demande sur les enregistreurs numériques, demande qui, on le sait, a déjà été refusé tant par la Commission du droit d’auteur que par la Cour fédérale d’appel.

On peut donc se demander si la situation actuelle est vraiment différente de celle traitée par la Cour . . . [more]

I don’t often post about local Toronto matters, but I couldn’t resist this, I’m afraid. ILLEGALsigns.ca is to my way of thinking a wonderful example of the marriage of law, community action and technology — and, it would appear, no small amount of research, both street-level and legal.

According to this site half of the billboards in Toronto have been errected illegally:

[A]dvertising companies in Toronto have been obtaining illegal permits for billboards by filing false information with the Buildings Department.

These billboards require City Council approval — yet they are being granted permits without Council approval because advertising companies

Thanks to Garry Wise’s Wise Law Blog, I’ve been pointed to a nifty video about the web and text produced by cultural anthropologist, Michael Wesch, of Kansas State University. Rather than put up the YouTube window here, I’ll give you the link to the video on Wesch’s own site, Digital Ethnography. It’s one of those medium-is-the-message things that you have to see; and then as you’re watching, think about the plodding PowerPoint presentation you’re going to be making the next time you talk… I think for me this hyper-twitchy rush is more fun, but I’m not sure I’d want . . . [more]

Here is the webpage and publicity for the Leg@l.IT conference, the event of the year (look at the speakers list). Feel free to forward this post, print the add and give it to your friends and ennemies, blog about it: you have all the publishing writes!!

If you post on the web. please let me know what is the URL. Thanks in advance! Hope to see you there!

Voici la publicité du Colloque Leg@l.TI que je vous pries de faire circuler. D’ailleurs, les droits de reproduction sont à vous… Laissez-vous aller: publiez sur le Web, dans des revues, journaux, . . . [more]

Summer is miles away still, and Christmas is a fading memory, so we can consider tangled cord with something approaching equanimity. How many hours do we spend picking apart the bunched up cables, carefully threading the plug end through this and that loop only to find to our consternation that we’ve just added another layer of mess to the mess. Not now, though, not in the dead of Feb., when these disentangling hours are to spare. Never fear, I have a solution to this time on your hands: the tying of knots.

Yes, why not go in reverse, push the . . . [more]

February is Black History Month and in honour of that, I would like to bring to your attention, the case of Nancy Morton. Nancy Morton was a slave in New Brunswick around the turn of the 19th century and in 1800 she became a central figure in a year-long court case that was brought to the NB Supreme Court. Represented by Ward Chipman and Samuel Denny Street she sought to win her freedom. A fuller description of the case and circumstances around it has been prepared by the Heritage Branch, of the Dept. of Wellness, Culture and Sport in New . . . [more]

Tor is a toolset for a wide range of organizations and people that want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol.

Tor offers anonymity online, avoiding “traffic analysis” — the discerning of who visited a website or sent and email, when they did it, etc., by looking at the headers, which are not encrypted even though the body of data may be. It does this by rerouting your traffic through a distributed network of volunteers’ servers, . . . [more]