I sat in on the hearing of Kerr v. Danier Leather at the Supreme Court today and suprised myself by thoroughly enjoying it even though it had to do with securities law, something distant from my heart (and head). The quality of argument ranged from decent to very good; all of the justices had questions; and I learned once again that the sorts of things I taught my students to think important are in fact important at the top court, at least.

The law apart, three things having to do with IT came to my attention.

First, an intermittent noise . . . [more]

L’Office de la langue française m’en excusera peut-être, mais je ne sais comment traduire cette forme possible de contrat en ligne. Une forme dont je viens de prendre connaissance sur le blogue d’Eric Goldman, précisément un billet de John Ottaviani, faisant état d’une décision de première instance d’un tribunal du Colorado, l’affaire Internet Archive v. Shell (No. 06-cv-01726-LTB-CBS (D.Col. 2/13/2007).

Cette forme de contrat, parlons-en. Il s’agit d’un jugement déclaratoire relatif à un site Internet qui dispose d’un encart juridique avec la clause suivante:

«“IF YOU COPY OR DISTRIBUTE ANYTHING ON THIS SITE – YOU
ARE ENTERING

I’m on the train to Ottawa, going to listen tomorrow to the Supreme Court hearing in Kerr v. Danier Leather along with the student editors of The CourtSee Simon Archer’s excellent summary of the facts and issues on The Court. — a “school outing” of the grown-up sort. A man behind me begins talking on his cell phone in that kind of projecting voice one uses for people far away even though they’re as close as your own ears in reality virtuality. I can’t help eavesdropping. Besides I’m curious because of some half caught words. Gradually it becomes clear . . . [more]

I have just posted Carnival of the Infosciences #67 which I am hosting over at my personal blog. Can you find the subtle link back here to Slaw?

On a related note, I will be hosting the Blawg Review (the law blog carnival) on April 23, 2007 in honour of World Book and Copyright Day.

What is a carnival, you ask? It is a review of the best blog posts from the previous week (or, in the case of the Infosciences, two weeks). Hosting of the carnival moves around from blog to blog, much like the carnivals that move . . . [more]

GrandCentral is offering a service that supplies a single phone number that consolidates all of your current phone numbers — cell, work, home, cottage, your other cell… A person trying to reach you dials your new number (just try to get people to change their contact info) and all of your phones sound off, as though some UFO has woken all electrical devices within half a mile.

This might be useful for some — those, perhaps, who don’t regularly duck and hide behind phone A from callers to phone B. And those who believe that a Web 2.0 company is . . . [more]

I’m reviewing a recent law-text published in English and aimed first at the English-speaking Commonwealth legal market, though also the bilingual (French and English) French-speaking market. It’s a comparative law look at how a number of Commonwealth jurisdictions and France – so common law and civil law – deal with some issues common to tort and delict. 

The text contains French-language quotations, some of which make significant points, which are not translated (nor always summarized), though generally the author’s lead-up provides context. Some of the untranslated passages contain information one won’t get from the surrounding English portions.

I concede that . . . [more]

Here’s the story in the Times-Colonist. A snip:

The B.C. legislature library is closing down indefinitely for a seismic upgrade, and there is widespread concern it won’t reopen.

And here’s a gem from Joan Barton, former head of the library:

“There is no such thing as ‘everything is on the Internet.’ When you say that to a librarian, they’re too polite to say so, but their first thought is: ‘I’m dealing with an idiot.’”

Like other press barons one could name, Steve Brill was always somewhat larger than life – founding the American Lawyer, building the first online legal community, Counsel Connect and launching a cable channel dedicated to trials – Court TV. All this tooks guts and vision. Steve could be a pain, but he was always an interesting painMuch like the prime defendant in the current Hollinger trial in Chicago.

Now Court TV is no more:

Court TV is changing its name, look and logo as part of a network overhaul planned for later this year.

The network, acquired by

When did a Canadian judge say:

It is every day’s business of the Courts to try questions of foreign law

2007
1997
1987
1977
1967
1957
1947
1937
1927
1917
1907
1897
1887
1877
1867

Bonus prize if you can Name That Judge . . . [more]

I know, I know, Spring refuses to show up properly, the recent vacation is as if it never were, we’ve lost an hour of sleep, and yet work keeps coming in the door faster than it leaves. I can’t offer much solace — too grumpy myself, maybe. But if, and I repeat if, a change is as good as a rest, take a plunge into a whackload of information and knowledge having nothing to do with law.

Dr. James B. Calvert is Associate Professor Emeritus of Engineering, University of Denver, and the author of a set of web pages that . . . [more]

Tired, Sore, Headache Originally uploaded to Flickr by Matt Brett.

It’s been a rough week all around. I thought I would be okay with this new-fangled early Daylight Saving Time change, but I’m not. I’m not even talking about all the problems getting all the computers, machines and gadgets on the right time. I can deal with that. It’s the actual, physical, living the change at this time of year that I have a problem with. The first day was okay, but since then the mere one hour change has disrupted my sleep habits completely, so I am walking . . . [more]

All of you Orwell fans out there (ok me) can rest a bit easier as Google has announced new privacy measures that will make it more difficult to connect the identity of searchers with the searches they are doing. Announced on Google’s official Blog on 3/14/2007 and, ironically, reported by Yahoo News.

Google Log Retention FAQ

Also, Examiner.com . . . [more]