June 2006

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Shut up and listen

15 June 2006 in Law blogs, Legal practice

An anonymousmature trainee lawyer blogs atNearly Legal on “trying to become a lawyer and other things”. Looks like it could be a good one.

I am older than most in this position, and had a not unsuccessful career before turning to law, so being talked to like a complete 20ish beginner was something of a shock, but there is a valuable lesson here. Quickly assess the source, if there is something to be learned, shut up, forget how it is delivered, swallow unearned pride, listen very carefully and be hugely grateful that someone is taking the time when they really don’t have to.

Bar blogs

15 June 2006 in Law blogs

Tim Kevan, barrister at 1 Temple Gardens, surfer and media pundit, is involved in the publication of three blogs: his own, Law Brief Update Blogand PI Brief Update Blog. The latter two complement the free, like-named newsletters produced by teams of barristers of which Tim is (an) editor.

And finally, the consolidation

14 June 2006 in Legislation, Statute Law Database

After a 10-year wait the DCA has finally released a version of the Statute Law Database. Even this announcementwas late (released today):

An on-line enquiry service for the statute law database was launched for government staff on 31 May 2006. Staff can find out how to access it by contacting our statutory publications helpdesk. We will start developing a similar enquiry service for the general public later in 2006.

In fact, Ibelieve they mean “weare developing a similar enquiry service for the general public which will be released later in 2006.”

Free Culture

14 June 2006 in Copyright, Free culture | 1 comment

I’ve just ordered a nice print edition of Larry Lessig’s Free Culture – per one reviewer (and my snatches of it confirm this) – a “focused, measured argument of the issues around preserving and extending digital creativity”. Many feel it’s cool to cite his blog in their blogrolls. I don’t find that compelling reading; on the other hand, his book prose flows well and they are provocative, essential reading for anyone concerned with digital information.

The gist of his argument in Free Culture is that digital technologies have extended the reach of copyright law and are regulating activities that the original legislators never dreamed of restricting. “In a digital age, copying is as natural as breathing.” Every web page view is technically a copy, regulated by copyright law, a situation which was unintended and is totally inefficient. He proposes that distribution for commercial purposes rather than simply the act of copying is the appropriate thing to “tax” with copyright legislation.

e-Newsletters – RIP

7 June 2006 in Blogging, Feeds, Law firm publications

I have for a long time believed that the web would spell the end of the newsletter.

For the printed newsletter the end will be a long time coming. Print will not die anytime soon and the printed newsletter, smart and portable, will continue to be popular until the current generation, weaned on the internet, hold sway.

But for e-newsletters, the end is nigh. Aren’t you fed up with unwanted emails cluttering up your inbox? First there’s the illegal spam; then there’s the legit emails from vendors you bought something from but really don’t want to hear from weekly; and finally there’s the email newsletters you signed up for but which arrive not when you want, but when they want, and where the only items of interest are three or four screenfulls down. Even receiving the stuff you want leaves a bad impression.

That’s “push” publishing for you. Blogging is changing that. As publishers cotton on to the power of blogging, they will blog their newsletter updates and interested punters will subscribe to their RSS feeds. For a while publishers may feel they need to produce both, but I suggest they drop their e-newsletters immediately. If someone is savvy enough to sign up to an e-newsletter, they will be savvy enough to subscribe to a feed … sometime soon.

ODPM nil DCLG 4

7 June 2006 in Government

There have been a lot of column inches devoted to Prezza’s skirt lifting and croquet and his consequent loss of face and department, but not much that I have seen on the practical implications of the departmental shift.

The former ODPM is now the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). On the internet odpm.gov.uk, dclg.gov.uk and the preferred communities.gov.ukdomains resolve to the same IP address. The website is the unchanged,save forthe new logo and a revised About page.

The Women and Equality Unit (WEU) has moved to DCLG from the Department for Trade and Industry.

The Race, Cohesion and Faiths Directorate has moved to DCLG from the Home Office. It “works with other government departments to reduce race and faith inequalities in education, health, housing and the Criminal Justice System, as well as the labour market.” It has its ownwebsite- brand new and incomplete.

DCLG is also the sponsor department for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) which now encompasses the CRE, the DRC and the EOC.

No doubt further changes are afoot.

Sincere flattery or blatant affrontery?

6 June 2006 in Copyright

Copy theft is rife on the web. There’s so much of it, you have to be selective about what you lose sleep over.

Let’s leave aside substantial, deliberate infringements for the time being and look at the lazy copier. You know the type: Wish I’d written that page/constructed that set of links. I’ll just grab it, maybe tinker with it a little and then pass it off as my own. Plagiarism is the polite euphemism for that. I prefer copy theft.

To the copier – don’t do it! This is not simply legal advice, nor a moral stance. The fact is that in today’s internet culture you serve yourself better by acknowledging and linking to your source. This is particularly so in the blogosphere. Grab a chunk of good copy from a perceptive blogger, quote it, comment on it, acknowledge and link to the original post. The original blogger will be chuffed, you score brownie points and maybe make a friend and you boost your Google rank into the bargain.

But if you’ve been affronted by someone else’s copy theft, there’s a quick way to verify it to the satisfaction of any hip judge. Grab an offending sentence including some of your unique IP, drop it into the Google search box and, voila, you’re at the top and heinous thief is at number 2.

Even better, visit Copyscape, drop your URL in their search box and you get a nicely highlighted version of the offending pages, complete with stats of how many contiguous words they have copied.

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