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(21 Feb) Reed Elsevier announced it intends to acquire ChoicePoint in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4 billion. "The acquisition, subject to ChoicePoint shareholder approval, regulatory approval and certain other customary conditions, is expected to close in the summer of 2008."
If the deal is allowed to proceed, Reed Elsevier will own AutoTrackXP (ChoicePoint) in addition to Accurint.
(20 Feb) The National Law Journal features an excellent article that provides an overview of legal and ethical issues concerning metadata. In addition to explaining what metadata is, the article briefly examines how one finds it as well as the ethics of mining for it.
RELATED: Finding Data Hidden in Digital Photos
TVC Alert Research News, 16 January 2008
(24 Feb) A New York Times blogger opines "about whether Google's records of the Internet Protocol address should be considered personal information under privacy law." Comments from Google engineer, Matt Cutts, and its privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer, are linked.
As many litigators probably already understand: "'In order for someone to tie the IP [address] to an account holder, there have to be at least two subpoenas issued: one to Google and a separate one to the ISP.'"
RELATED: Google Says I.P. Addresses Aren't Personal
New York Times Blog, 22 February 2008
("Google has responded to European regulators who have suggested that Internet Protocol addresses of users be considered personally identifiable information.")
RELATED: EU Regulator Calls IP Address "Personal"
TVC Alert Research News, 25 January 2008
(19 Feb) The European Union Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice approved the merger of Thomson Corp and Reuters Group PLC provided that the companies "sell a copy of their research and asset-management databases, which includes the Thomson Fundamentals (Worldscope) database and the Reuters Estimates, Reuters Aftermarket Research and Reuters Economics (EcoWin) databases."
(23 Feb) Microsoft attempted to address staff concerns about its bid for Yahoo in an internal memo, which is reprinted in The Wall Street Journal.
"[T]he memo appears to be an attempt to assuage concerns within both Microsoft and Yahoo. While it is unclear how the majority of rank-and-file engineers and staff at each company views the deal, some Microsoft staff see the bid as a rebuke of their own work in online advertising and search, according to people at the company."
In related news, "[t]wo Detroit pension funds have sued Yahoo Inc. and its board of directors, saying they breached their duties to shareholders in trying to thwart a takeover by Microsoft Corp." (See the Associated Press article below.)
RELATED: Email from Kevin Johnson to Microsoft Employees
The Wall Street Journal, 22 February 2008
RELATED: Yahoo Sued for Spurning Microsoft
Associated Press, 23 February 2008
RELATED: Why Microsoft wants to lasso Yahoo
BBC News, 24 February 2008
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(21 Feb) A posting by Mark Shaver at Depth Reporting alerted us to a questionable source for criminal records. The site serves to illustrate the importance of reading FAQs and other documentation about sources, scope of coverage and other quality issues before you use the resources available.
Note the language in the FAQ. Not only does the site make the dubious claim that it obtains information from credit reporting agencies, it advises visitors: "Don't ask how we get most of our information, but we do it, and we get our top shelf info from sources who wish to remain anonymous, and we pay a lot of money to insure that we keep getting it." Serious researchers beware.
SOURCE: FelonSpy.com: "You need to know who your neighbors are."
Depth Reporting, 20 February 2008
(20 Feb) A former student forwarded this story, and I haven't had time to check out the new service. But the concept of Persai, a service that filters your RSS feeds to display only those postings of potential interest and relevance to you, sounds interesting.
"Persai took away the feeling of being overwhelmed by hundreds of new headlines every morning. Its best quality is the ability to cull stuff I'm sick of.... It's also good at helping me overcome my biases, finding articles from sites I thought I was sick of until I clicked." But the writer also warns that the beta version culls too much.
The Bluebook: A joint project of The Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law Review Association, The Yale Law Journal Company, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, The Bluebook provides search and browse access to legal profession's method of legal citation. While you may browse the index, table of contents, and even the Bluebook tips, for free, full access requires a subscription key, which you may obtain through the purchase link or through buying the book in a bookstore.
According to the site documentation, this online edition is provides the same content "as the printed Eighteenth Edition."
Technical note: Use of the site requires javascript. (et)
Electronic Discovery Case Database: The law firm Preston Gates & Ellis LLP provides access to its database of more than 900 electronic discovery cases collected from state and federal jurisdictions around the United States. Search by rule, context, issue or keyword to find descriptions of matching cases. The descriptions include a case citation, the nature of the case, description of electronic data involved, and a description of the electronic discovery issue. When available, it also includes a summary of the case. (et)
Research News Archive
19 February 2008
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Cite as: TVC Alert Research News, 25 February 2008, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=feb08/25feb08.xml
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Created: 25 February 2008
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