Yesterday’s International Herald Tribune had an interesting article on President Bush’s use of ‘signing statements’. I had not previously heard of this device by which Presidents can indicate disagreement with particular provisions of legislation which they are otherwise endorsing and apparently then disregard those provisions. These statements seem much like the reservations which countries make when entering into treaties but are not something I had come across at the domestic level. Googling “signing statements presidential” provides a plethora of references discussing the historical use of the statements (W is by no means the first to use them) and their significance. . . . [more]

We’ve looked at the phenomenon of “continuous partial attention” before in a post by Joel Alleyne. Now Linda Stone, the coiner of the phrase, has a wiki that’s all about the topic, for those of you who want to pay more than, well, partial attention to it. At the moment, though, there’s simply a definition of the problem and a few links to her talks and press. I imagine more will be coming.

Perhaps as interesting, if I’m not skipping too hastily to another point, is the tool she’s using, JotSpot, which is a free (in its . . . [more]

On the – wonderfully challenging – philosophy that if you can’t explain your idea in an illustrated children’s book, you don’t have an ideaDavid Belasco, the great American theatrical producer, once said, “If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea.” , a Victoria blogger has produced a children’s book on digital rights management.

I found the link on the Canadian Creative Commons site:

The Pig and the Box is well worth a read. With the subtleties of proprietary formats and copyright removed, its hard not to agree with

The Canadian organizers of One Web Day have announced that OneWebDay is September 22 every year, starting in 2006.

So what’s with OneWebDay?
The idea is that the Web is worth celebrating.
OneWebDay will be one day a year when we all – everyone around the physical globe – can celebrate the Web and what it means to us as individuals, organizations, and communities.
As with Earth Day – an inspiration and model for OneWebDay – it’s up to the celebrants to decide how to celebrate. They encourage all celebrations! Collaboration, connection, creativity, freedom.
By the end of the day, . . . [more]

I have a question for Slaw…

I need to alert certain people when certain publications arrive, encourage them to read them, and then collect them when the readers have finished with them.

I also want to collect their thoughts on the contents of these publications, so how about a tool that notifies people about new items and lets them have fun adding comments. I thought BB, but I’m hoping to find something more graphical… any suggestions, thoughts? . . . [more]

J’en suis désolé, mais ceci n’est pas vraiment un sujet d’été. Ce mois-ci seulement, j’ai eu à traiter 2 cas de plagiat. Si j’ajoute la récente lecture du papier de R. F. Boisvert et M. J. Irwin “Plagiarism on the Rise” dans la revue Communications of the ACM de juin 2006, page 23, je crois savoir que ce phénomène n’est pas isolé.

En fait, c’est assez simple, j’ai généralement un ou plusieurs cas de plagiat à chaque session. Pire en 2002, avant que je fasse mon laïus de 20 minutes lors de chaque première séance de cours, j’ai même . . . [more]

I’m very pleased to be able to announce that John Gregory has joined Slaw as an occasional contributor. John is General Counsel at the Policy Division of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. He also runs an email list on electronic commerce and is an all-round expert on the intersection of law and technology. We’re honoured that he’s joined us. . . . [more]

I was quite amazed when I equipped my daughter with an IBM notebook before she went to Dal only to find that none of the students at Dal actually took notes electronically in class. These were in humanities and international studies classes, yet even in her Kings Journalism classes, the students took notes just as traditionally as they ever did.

Now one of those yes-you-did, no-we-didn’t stories out of the Harvard Law School where a group of law professors got close to saying that notebook computers weren’t welcome in their classrooms and the students had better stock up on yellow . . . [more]

I’m putting this here for Steven Bilodeau, Crown Prosecutor (Technology & Internet Crimes Coordinator), Alberta Justice – Special Prosecutions Branch:

The government of Botswana has put out a tender for an e-government portal. One of the requirements is for a “Legal Advisor” to advise on legal issues relating to e-government projects and must be a graduate in law with experience handing such projects.

Do any of you know someone who would fit this description? The person putting the tender together wants to approach qualified candidates.

Please reply directly to Stven, at Steven.Bilodeau (at) gov.ab.ca

[cross-posted on Information Management Now] . . . [more]

The National Film Board of Canada has put upwards of 50 short animations on its Focus on Animation / Objectif Animation site for your enjoyment. The Big Snit, The Cat Came Back, Two Sisters… These are marvels of the art and free to watch. So pass up the latest DVD this weekend and huddle around the monitor for some Canadian cartoon delight.

Le Merle par Norman McLaren 4 min, 39 sec . . . [more]

Picture this: you go online to see if a specific domain name is available; you use what is supposed to be a reputable site on the web; when you come back later someone has grabbed the domain name you were searching for (by the way it was shown as available when you searched); and, is holding it for re-sale.

Seems far fetched? Well eWeek has a story on their site this week:

Opinion: Whois Hijacking My Domain Research?

Leave it to the domain-squatting industry to come up with a way
to jump claims.

Slide Show: Hijack: Who’s Advertising on

Before I left for vacation it was my intention to draw on something from vacation to post to Slaw. It took a bit longer than anticipated (let’s just say that I had an unanticipated view of the Toronto skyline whilst on vacation and leave it at that) but I was able to find something in my travels that was a Slaw-ish topic.

This is more in the form of question and I hope some Slaw-ers out there can cast some light on the topic of RTOR- Right Turn on Red. (Some of you may have already figured out that . . . [more]