Pharmaceutical companies are heavily regulated in the manner in which they can advertise to consumers. And for good reason – drugs are highly effective in addressing medical conditions, but also potentially dangerous when used improperly or interacting with other medications.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing submissions from the pharmaceutical industry about the use of social media, and is expected to release new rules by the end of the year.

The role of social media in educating the public is something that should not be underestimated. Eric Ruth of the Delaware Online said,

On both sides,

Hot off the presses from Rich McCue, sysadmin at UVic Law: UVic Law Student Technology Survey 2010. There were new questions on this year’s survey concerning the mobile technology that UVic students arrive at law school with. Here’s the executive summary:

• 30% of students own “Smart Phones” that can browse the internet.
• 97% of students own laptops, and over 60% own both a laptop and a desktop computer.
• 39% of student laptops are Macs.
• The average laptop price dropped to $1,200 from $1400 in 2007, and from $2,100 in 2004.
• 82% of students bring their laptops to

Some substantive law on issues involving criminal law and web access using the current means of access: a computer. 

R. v. Morelli, 2010 SCC 8

Fish J ( McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, Abella JJ concurring) 

[1] This case concerns the right of everyone in Canada, including the appellant, to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure. And it relates, more particularly, to the search and seizure of personal computers.

[2] It is difficult to imagine a search more intrusive, extensive, or invasive of one’s privacy than the search and seizure of a personal computer. 

[3] First, police officers enter

Unroll the scroll, as the NLM says:

It’s a novel twist on NLM’s popular online system, Turning The Pages, which allows you to turn the pages of a rare book on your computer screen. Now, users can journey back to pre-book times and “unroll the scroll” or, more specifically, the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the world’s oldest known surgical document. The new offering is at http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/flash/smith/smith.html.

Try it – it is very interesting, and make sure to read the translation and the comments. Also zoom in…

via Resource Shelf . . . [more]

You may have noticed a story in your favoured news source back in February about the Canadian Competition Bureau filing a motion to take the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) to the Canadian Competition Tribunal. In short, the Competition Bureau has targeted CREA for the practice of not allowing prospective sellers to list their home on the MLS system unless the seller signs on for the full real estate agent service, including commission, which the Competition Bureau labels an “anti-competitive practice”. To which the CREA has responded.

If you have bought or sold a home in the . . . [more]

This is very cool and very scary! A professor at the University of Tokyo, Masatoshi Ishikawa, is developing a rapid book scanner that will scan a 200 page book in about one minute.

Using a “Super Vision Chip” that will scan the flipping pages faster than the human eye can process, its camera operates at 500 frames per second. Check out the embedded video below:

While it’s unclear exactly how the technology will account for skipped pages, or if it would destroy archival quality materials, this is indeed the future of book digitization – and all the positives . . . [more]

The Infographic of the Day site has a fantastic item with some amazing graphics comparing the 100 Largest Sites on the Internet.

The BBC charted the top 100 sites by unique users in January 2010, encompassing the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, U.S., and Australia. Oops – Canada didn’t make it, but suspect we are not that different.

If you think Google and social networking own the Internet – think again – and it isn’t shopping either. Yes these three types of sites are among the more widely visited – but all together they only account for . . . [more]

ICANN, the international body that manages the business of approving domain names and numbers, decided about two years ago to permit generic top-level domain names (gTLD), creating an application process that is expected to get underway this year.

The camera and technology company Canon Inc. announced yesterday that it has done what it can now to apply for the gTLD “.canon”, not suprprisingly, and staked out its territory:

Following approval for the new gTLD system, which is expected to take place after the latter half of 2011, Canon will make full use of the new domain name to increase

The quality of Canadian internet access continues to decline in comparison to that of other countries. See, for example, previous Slaw posts here and here. This while high speed access is more increasingly considered crucial for the economy, competitiveness and innovation – even to the extent that many feel that the internet is a fundamental human right.

The Canadian government talked about a digital strategy in its recent throne speech, but so far we don’t know what that translates to.

Contrast that with what is happening in the US. The US FCC just announced an aggressive plan to . . . [more]

Boy, does time fly! Although at this time of year, that ’ s a good thing. It means that spring is nearly here, bringing with it another ABA TECHSHOW , and that it ’ s time for Law Practice ’ s annual Tech Tips issue. In this special issue, for the third year in a row, we celebrate the spirit of ABA TECHSHOW with a bounty of legal technology tips that you can put to use right away to help your days go more smoothly. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find:

• Essential apps for your smartphone: Lawyers

A Spanish judge, Raul N. García Orejudo, has ruled that linking to copyrighted material is not illegal in SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) vs. Jesus Guerra over the link site elrincondejesus.com.

Stan Schroeder of Mashable summarizes the proceedings:

First, he denied SGAE’s request to shut down Guerra’s site in June, saying that “P2P networks, as a mere transmission of data between Internet users, do not violate, in principle, any right protected by Intellectual Property Law.”

Now, he decided that “offering an index of links and/or linking to copyright material is not the same as distribution.” His decision

An article from yesterday’s Globe and Mail points out that the Tories are quietly cutting funding to organizations that benefit from Industry Canada’s Community Access Program (CAP). These organizations, which include hospitals, seniors groups and employment centres, use the cash from CAP to provide free Internet access to Canadians who don’t always have access to high-speed Internet or even access to computers, particularly those living in rural communities. Organizations that are located within 25 kilometres of a public library will no longer receive funding. . . . [more]