Information Roundup – 1 December 2008

Back in TO.  Managed a stormy surf at Bluffer’s Park yesterday before coming home to read the following:

• Sheri Qualters, 1st Circuit Upholds Law Barring Marketers From Using Data on Doctors’ Prescriptions. Issues about the use of prescriber data have been litigated in Canada under our commercial sector privacy legislation. This describes a case in which a U.S. federal appellate court held that a statutory restriction on the use of prescriber data was not an unconstitutional limit on speech. (Law.com)
• John Markoff, You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy? This is a story on the use of networks (mostly of the wireless kind) to develop dynamic knowledge. Google’s flu trends project is cited by the author as an example of this kind of “collective intelligence” or “networked sensor” application. (New York Times)
• Jeffrey Rosen, Google’s Gatekeepers. This feature article is about how Google processes take-down requests and the process’s ramifications for free expression on the internet. (New York Times)

Another reason I’d recommend a staycation to over-busy professionals is that it’s a great way to get your life in order. We knocked off most of our Christmas shopping early last week and have gotten rid of a handful other nagging household projects. Today I took care of a personal project and rationalized the list of RSS feeds I follow, dumping a bunch of low value and adding some others, including Slaw.ca.

Sometime in the past one or two years (likely at a point of being overwhelmed in practice), I decided to un-subscribe from Slaw. I can’t remember why, but it probably had something to do with my move away from a role in research and knowledge management.

Un-subscribing was a mistake. Slaw is such a relevant blog, for me certainly but also (I suspect) for most involved in legal practice and academics in Canada. When I went back to Slaw today, for example, I realized that Simon Fodden had already beat me in noting the Time’s Google’s Gatekeeper’s article. He also recently posted something nice on text justification and readability which fits within an interest I have in clear writing, layout and design and usability. I’ve probably missed out on lots in the last while and am glad to be re-focused and back on board!

See ya!

Dan