Kalev Leetaru and Scott Althaus, of the Cline Center for Democracy at the University of Illinois, have written a report that I thought others here would find interesting. The report is called “Airbrushing History, American Style: The Mutability of Government Documents in the Digital Era,” and puts one in mind of the Ministry of Truth imagined by George Orwell in Nineteen eighty-four: a novel (London: Secker & Warburg, 1949). . . . [more]

This is a live blog from an INSEAD lunch on the power of social networks built on Matthew Fraser’s book Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom.
Fraser is an ex Post editor who’s fascinated by the 3 revolutions that he sees emerging from the phenomena of social networking.
Social networking
Politics 2.0
And Enterprise 2.0

Here’s what Jimmy Wales says about the ideas in his Introduction.

Slaw might want to think about some of the issues being thrashed around on the Wiki.:

Issues

1. Truth and Consequences: Rating & Ranking Your Boss
2. The Privacy Paradox: Your Life . . . [more]

The February 2009 issue of PCToday has the most amazing collection of info on smartphones that I have ever seen in one place. If you are in the market for a smartphone you must read this issue.

Great articles on the features and options that different models have, and why you need or want those features. There are articles on the latest updates, services and tips for various mobile phones and platforms, including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Nokia, iPhone and one on how to extend BlackBerry battery life. It teases with some real cool newer models that are or will soon . . . [more]

I’ve got a bunch of tech sites and features to talk about that range from the trivial to the not so trivial. Since they’re either minor or linked to others in some way, I thought I’d lay them all out briefly here in one post. So you know what’s coming, here’s a kind of table of contents:

TinyPaste | Sqworl | Laconica | Two Bits | SiSU | Lex Mercatoria . . . [more]

The visibility and relevance of foreign state (or sovereign) immunity has grown significantly in recent years. States and state-related entities are playing a growing role in international investment and commerce, while seeking civil remedies against states in domestic courts is increasingly seen as an important tool in holding states accountable for torture or other breaches of human rights.

State immunity, in its most traditional formulation, is the rule that a domestic court will not implead a foreign state in its proceedings without the state’s consent. It is, in effect, the expression of judicial deference to the executive’s responsibility . . . [more]

John Ruggie, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, has announced a study involving 15 corporate law firms from around the world “to identify whether and how national corporate law principles and practices currently foster corporate cultures respectful of human rights.” Stikeman Elliott is the participating firm from Canada. The firms will provide resources pro bono to examine the laws and practices of 40 jurisdictions. At the end of the study in the fall of 2009, the results will be presented at “a multi-stakeholder expert consultation” held at Osgoode Hall Law School. A list of participating firms . . . [more]

There’s a long and thoughtful piece in the New York Review of Books by Robert Darnton on “Google and the Future of Books.” Darnton is a renowned Harvard scholar on the history of the book and the director of the university’s library.

The NYRB piece negotiates the twin aims of promoting development through commerce and copyright on the one hand and enlightening as broad a segment of the public as possible through wide and free access to books on the other. Darnton explores the costs and benefits of Google’s having effectively captured the right to publish electronic versions . . . [more]

I spent this past Sunday in Dartmouth at the first Podcamp Halifax. As an enthusiast of the Podcamp movement of grassroots community-run events for the social media set (and an organizer of Podcamp Toronto), I was there to help them kick off their first such event, as well as spend time meeting some fascinating people.

One such person is David Fraser, lawyer with McInnes Cooper with whom I have been corresponding for a few years now, president of the Canadian Information Technology Law Association, and law blogger (see his posts here on Slaw and also his . . . [more]

The Washington Post has started a website that aims to give you the lowdown on the people and deals in the new administration in Washington D.C. Who Runs Gov leads today (sadly) with a profile on Michelle Obama that asks such penetrating questions as “[S]hould she advise her husband? should she stop working? should her primary role be as a mother to the couple’s two daughters?” Fortunately, there are profiles of others that may be more to the point: e.g. Richard Holbrooke, Linda Douglass, and Eric Holder. One feature of the site that has me scratching my . . . [more]

Devin Johnston, a second-year law student at the University of Manitoba, predicts the death of Facebook within three years.

A major reason is alternative social media platforms that will compete with it more effectively.

I’ve already mentioned Jurafide as one alternative for lawyers seeking American clients, and Jordan Furlong has mentioned LawLink just over a year ago. At that time, LawLink was restricted to American attorneys. It has since opened up to include lawyers from the UK, Canada, and Australia.

However, they still have a statement under the “threat of perjury” that the registrant is a practicing attorney . . . [more]

Slaw may not be a family website but that doesn’t mean that anything goes here. We exercise restraint, avoid the crude and generally stay within the bounds of taste, if not always good taste. And yet the word “porn” has appeared here before, and not in some dry discussion of the Criminal Code prohibition either. I’m speaking of library porn, of course (Porn for Librarians, More Library Porn). However, no more book smut today. No, today is porn that is a cut above, that should elevate you, indeed.

I’m speaking of stair porn.

Uh huh. There is . . . [more]

Yesterday the NFB made a huge collection of its film available to view for free online. They even have the press conference from their launch available for viewing (after a free registration), and a blog post. The site is tricked out with all kinds of 2.0 gizmos, probably enough to satisfy even the most twittery (or is that twitchy?) Slawyers.

A search for ‘law’ brings up three results:

The Days of Whiskey Gap
Colin Low, 1961, 28 min 5 s
Rousing tales of the North-West Mounted Police are brought to life through photos and artists’ sketches. In 1873,