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Making Court Archives Available to All
From the New York Times, “An Effort to Upgrade a Court Archive System to Free and Easy”: For those searching for federal court decisions, briefs and other legal papers, there is no Google. Instead, there is Pacer, the government-run Public Access to Court Electronic Records system designed in the bygone days of screechy telephone modems. […]
February 2009 / 2 min.
Science, pseudoscience, and the law
Science, pseudoscience, and the law >> Slaw: Following up on Simon’s vaccines post from earlier this week comes the encouraging news that on Thursday (happy 200, Charles Darwin) the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued decisions in three vaccine-related test cases rejecting any causal link between vaccines and autism. Yet, much like with the Pennsylvania […]
February 2009 / 2 min.
Reflecting on Darwin
As many are probably aware, the 12th of February was the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. It seems appropriate, then, to reflect on the latest attempts to challenge evolutionary biology through a belief in what is called “intelligent design.” But first, I think, it’s important to note that much has changed since Darwin first proposed […]
February 2009 / 3 min.
Another Attempt to Repeal Open Access
Peter Suber writes: Yesterday Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) re-introduced the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act… . The premise of the bill, urged by the publishing lobby, is that the NIH policy somehow violates copyright law. The premise is false and cynical. If the NIH policy violated copyrights, or permitted the violation of […]
February 2009 / 1 min.
The Exclusionary Rule at Risk
A longstanding part of U.S. law, known as the exclusionary rule, is getting bruised. The rule requires courts to exclude - or throw out - some evidence seized by law enforcement through illegal searches. But a ruling last month by the Supremes allowed the prosecution of an Alabama man on drug-possession and gun-possession charges despite […]
February 2009 / 1 min.
The Long Road to Open Access
An intriguing, far-ranging perspective on scholarly publishing that ties early 3rd century revolutions in scholarly publishing with modern trends towards open access and digital archiving: Instead of using the noble scroll, Origen decided to take advantage of the page structure of the humble codex. Dividing each of two facing pages into three columns each, he […]
November 2008 / 4 min.
Why Does the U.S. Have an Exclusionary Rule?
In my view, the fact that criminal procedure rules are judge-made led fairly directly to the exclusionary rule. Put simply, the exclusionary remedy is the one remedy that judges can completely control. There are a variety of ways to enforce rules of criminal investigations, such as lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, and internal discipline. But all of […]
July 2008 / 1 min.
Patent Gridlock Suppresses Innovation
The Founders might have used quill pens, but they would roll their eyes at how, in this supposedly technology-minded era, we’re undermining their intention to encourage innovation. The U.S. is stumbling in the transition from their Industrial Age to our Information Age, despite the charge in the Constitution that Congress “promote the Progress of Science […]
July 2008 / 1 min.
Network Tech Locks SF Out of Network
“A disgruntled city computer engineer has virtually commandeered San Francisco’s new multimillion-dollar computer network, altering it to deny access to top administrators even as he sits in jail on $5 million bail, authorities said Monday.” Craziness! See the SF Chronicle article at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/15/BAOS11P1M5.DTL
July 2008 / 1 min.
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Sam Kamin at PrawfsBlawg points out that the New York Times has discovered SSRN. He writes: It’s actually a pretty decent synopsis of the SSRN phenomenon, noting that it takes away the power of gatekeepers, makes scholarship available to the masses and lets them decide what’s worthy, etc. It points out that sexy still sells, […]
June 2008 / 2 min.