A suit filed last week by Habush Habush & Rottier alleges that the firm of Cannon & Dunphy effectively hijacked the names and reputation of Habush attorneys by purchasing the keywords "Habush" and "Rottier" for its Internet search results.

From the Wisconsin Law Journal:

Until a day after the suit was filed, anyone who typed in the names Habush or Rottier on the popular search engine Google would see the home site for Cannon & Dunphy appear first.
According to the Associated Press, Cannon has acknowledged paying for the keywords but denied any wrongdoing, saying it was following a legal business strategy....

In the suit, Habush claims that Cannon violated the Wisconsin privacy law - Wis. Stat. 995.50(2)(b) - which states that someone's name or likeness cannot be used for advertising purposes without written consent from the individual.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DomainNameNews reports on the first criminal arrest for domain name theft in the United States.

According to the story:

Daniel Goncalves, the 25 year old law firm computer technician arrested on Thursday, reportedly hacked in to the Angel's [the domain name owners] AOL email account, used that information to retrieve the login details for the P2P.com [the stolen domain name] from the Godaddy.com [domain name registrar] domain account. Goncalves performed an internal "domain push" transfer, which in effect transferred the domain name to another Godaddy account that he owned....

In late 2006, Goncalves put the domain name P2P.com up for sale on eBay.com and on September 24, 2006 the eBay.com auction for the domain P2P.com closed in the amount of $111,000.

Cases of domain name theft have not typically involved a criminal prosecution because of the complexities, financial restraints and sheer time and energy involved. If a domain name is stolen, the victim of the crime in most cases would need experience with the technical and legal intricacies associated with the domain name system. To move the case forward, they would also need a law enforcement professional who understands the case or is willing to take the time to learn....

Additionally financial restraints play a major role. Often times the rightful owners of these domains simply can't justify the thousands of dollars in legal fees necessary to handle a case like this....

Attorney Paul Keating told DNN that most cases of domain theft recovery that he has dealt with have been complicated at best. The real problem stems from the fact that domain names aren't considered property.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Update: The new State Law Library Website went live today, Monday May 11th.
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Kudos to the Wisconsin State Law Library on their newly redesigned website. Note that this is just a sneak peek. The new site will go live soon.

From the WSLL @ Your Service newsletter:

With its natural colors and clean lines, the new site reflects the aesthetics of the library. Along with a new style, the website features accessible, neatly arranged information, allowing users to quickly find pages relevant to their needs.

The home page features popular legal topics such as divorce, foreclosure, and name change, letting users quickly find the law and the forms they need. Library Highlights promotes upcoming library CLE classes and features legal research tips and library updates on a weekly basis. New Request a Document forms let users order copies of opinions and other library materials or request a library book be shipped to them directly. We are always ready to answer your questions; Ask a Librarian is just a click away.

For the first time, legal resources from every Wisconsin county will be conveniently available in one location. A new County Resources database offers streamlined access to county departments, forms, procedural guides, sources of legal assistance, court rules and ordinances. Users can simply choose their county or select "All Wisconsin Counties" to browse.

The Library's acclaimed Legal Topics pages provide links to circuit court forms and guides, state and federal agencies, organizations, and state and federal law. The website now offers enhanced features. Each of the topics includes new information such as links to notable titles in the Library's collection, on-point law review articles, and subject area journals.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wisconsin State Law Library has changed their URL to http://wilawlibrary.gov.

According to webmaster, Carol Hassler, "this change is made in anticipation of our redesigned website, which will launch this spring....

While you will still be able to reach our website using our old domain name (wsll.state.wi.us), please take a moment to update any links, favorites, or bookmarks you may have to our new domain name: wilawlibrary.gov"

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Library users at Wisconsin State Law Library can now access the Internet wirelessly. Just stop by the Circulation Desk and ask for the Wi-Fi password, which changes daily. Wired internet access also remains available. If you don't have your own Cat5 cable, you may sign one out from the Circulation Desk.

Source: WSLL @ Your Service

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you ever use their website, The Wisconsin Court System wants your feedback. They are currently conducting a survey "to ensure it is useful for our customers." Don't worry - it's a very short survey.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Information Week reports that Google has started testing ways to index data from the invisible Web, including "Web pages generated dynamically from a database, based on input such as might be provided through a Web submission form." (For more on the invisible Web, see my Wisconsin Lawyer article, Searching Smarter)

Given that the invisible Web, also know as the deep Web or hidden Web, is approximately 400 to 550 times larger than the visible Web, that could amount to a lot more data accessible via Google.

Over at Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan points out that "Google's not the first to do something like this. Companies like Quigo, BrightPlanet, and WhizBang Labs were doing this type of work years ago. But it never translated over to the major search engines. Now chapter two of surfacing deep web material is opening, this time with a major search player -- in that, Google is being a pioneer."

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A whole lot more delinquent taxpayers are about to get added to the Department of Revenue's Website of Shame.

According to the Wisconsin Radio Network, a provision in the new state budget lowers the threshold to $5,000 owed. Currently, the site lists taxpayers who owe $25,000 or more.

Delinquents will have a chance to pay off their debt before they end up on the list. DOR is currently contacting those who will qualify under the new requirements for being listed.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To better reflect it's purpose as the official web portal of the U.S. government, FirstGov.gov has changed its named to USA.gov. A Spanish version is also available.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"What if we were to create a new operating system and user interface knowing what we know today, how far could we go?" This is the concept behind a 3D interface called the Croquet Project which may just represent the next generation of the Web.

"Croquet users an avatar to place the user inside a three-dimensional virtual information space that looks like the playing of a multiplayer video game," writes Marshall Breeding in a November/December 2005 Computers in Libraries article.

The white rabbit represents a user (you) working with a resource (in this case a Word doc) in a Croquet space. Imagine adding other users and resources and interacting in the same space. I saw a demonstration of this new technology at a conference a while back and I was blown away.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google has beta launched a free Web page creation/hosting tool called Google Page Creator. A Gmail (Google email) account is required and you must be using either Internet Explorer 6.0 or Firefox 1.0, or higher, with JavaScript and cookies enabled. Up to 100MB of server space is available. Due to its popularity, however, there is a waiting list for new accounts.

Features according to Google:

• No technical knowledge required. Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software.
  
• What you see is what you'll get. Edit your pages right in your browser, seeing exactly how your finished product will look every step along the way.
  
• Don't worry about hosting. Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yourgmailusername.googlepages.com

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)