Yes, there are plenty of ways you can compromise your online identity by (mis-) using a dating website. A scenario not everyone considers, however, is having your password stolen and used to hijack other aspects of your online identity.

If this sounds like a nightmare scenario, it is. And it happened to over 300 users of popular Vancouver-based dating website PlentyOfFish.com last week when a hacker compromised the site’s security and retrieved real names, passwords and e-mail addresses for a small subset of the site’s 11,000,000 users.

The breach highlights an error that PlentyOfFish and many other websites make: storing . . . [more]

Many wills include one or more bequests to charitable or religious institutions. In spite of the testator’s good intentions, these bequests often lead to claims when there is confusion over which institution was to receive the bequest. These mistakes often come to light only when the estate is being distributed – and they can lead to costly and time-consuming litigation when charities fight over the bequest.

Many of the claims reported in this area could be avoided if lawyers took steps to confirm that the information given by the testator is correct when the will is being drafted.

Often testators . . . [more]

Update on Egyptian online sources of legal information.

Mediation is frequently promoted on the ground that it reduces the cost and delay inherent in litigation, and in this way it increases access to justice.

Leave aside the issue of whether mediation reduces cost and delay. Does it increase access to civil justice? . . . [more]

On the occasion of the OBA Institute 2011 last week, another law blogger meetup was held in Toronto. Unlike the previous week’s Toronto law blogger meetup, this one was female dominated. It is great to see so much interest in blogging! One participant, a law blogger wannabe, said she wants to start blogging once she finds a focus for content. While focus on a specific topic (or range of topics) is helpful if one is highlighting a specific practice, the actual type of content does not need to be restricted.

Law blogging is particularly challenging because of the need . . . [more]

For those of you keeping track, Wikimedia Foundation (who bring us Wikipedia, the MediaWiki platform it is housed on, and numerous other projects) has just announced new general counsel: Geoff Brigham, formerly of eBay, who will be moving from Paris to San Francisco for his new position starting March 7th.

From the February 4th announcement by Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director:

As a growing U.S.-based non-profit that operates one of the world’s most popular websites in partnership with a global network of volunteers, we need a GC who can handle a broad range of legal issues including the

. . . [more]

January was all about lists. Every blog, publication, and column uses this season to either reflect on the year that was or look ahead to the year that will be – and I want in on the prognosticating party. Thus I give to you, fair SLAW reader, my picks and predictions for the top five trends to watch in Canadian criminal justice in 2011. To build the anticipation, I have listed my picks in reverse order. No cheating by scrolling straight to the bottom of the page.

5. Increased emphasis on case management.

For a number of years, governments have . . . [more]

One of the joys (and irritations) of Twitter is the receipt of unexpected alien tweets courtesy of the people you follow. (I think you can turn this feature off in most Twitter clients, if the thought of entertaining friends of friends alarms you.) Thus, thanks to Rob Hyndman (@rhh) I learn via PEI of a post on Paul Mason’s blog, Idle Scrawl, on the BBC site.

The post is “Twenty reasons why it’s kicking off everywhere,” and it lays out twenty bullet points that would provide fodder for a discussion about recent social ferment, particularly in Europe and . . . [more]

Simon Fodden previously mentioned that CanLii recently enacted deep linking on their site to allow referencing of specific paragraphs. Frédéric Pelletier of CanLii provided their own update on this on Friday here.

They add that the anchors are not currently visible, which is why the process is still a manual one. But this suggests that in the future this might change. Another important consideration is that not all cases will have this function,

Please note that many older decisions do not have numbered paragraphs. Also, since this feature is the result of automated processing, there will always remain a

. . . [more]

Professor Kate Sutherland has launched a new blog, law.arts.culture. Sutherland, who has scholarly interests in feminist theory, constitutional law, and the law of defamation, is also a writer of fiction.

As we learn from the Welcome post, she plans to enlist contributors from the faculty and student body to “broaden the focus to include music, film, theatre, visual art, and more.”

Her first full post is up, a delightful tale of Dickens’s woes when in January of 1844, just after his (self)publication of A Christmas Carol, he sued a publisher who issued an “improved” version of his book. . . . [more]

The deadline is approaching for nominations for the Walter Owen Book Prize, awarded by the Foundation for Legal Research. This $10,000 prize rewards outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature. This year, the selection committee will consider books written in English and published in 2009 or 2010. For additional information, see the Foundation for Legal Research website. . . . [more]

The New York Public Library has unveiled its $50 million exterior renovation. There is a brief and entertaining article on it here, and another with a good photo gallery here.

Here is a little more on Library President Paul LeClerc, who seems to be a remarkable person. . . . [more]