New International Free and Open Source SoftwareLaw Review

A new International Free and Open Source Software Law Review launched on July 13, 2009. Access the very first volume (July 2009) in pdf format.

Andrew Katz of the new International Free and Open Source Software Law Review says, "OK, so it's not going to appear in airport bookstalls any time soon, but we think that the launch of the Review is a pretty big step forward for openness, and a sign that (1) free and open source software is moving into the mainstream; and (2) even lawyers can adopt a collaborative model and create something both free as in freedom, and as in beer."[boingboing]

The site describes this law review as:

The International Free and Open Source Software Law Review (IFOSS L. Rev.) is a collaborative legal publication aiming to increase knowledge and understanding among lawyers about Free and Open Source Software issues. Topics covered include copyright, licence implementation, license interpretation, software patents, open standards, case law and statutory changes.

Read more about the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review.

2009 Trafficking In Persons Report

The Department of State is required by law to submit each year to the U.S. Congress a report on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This is the ninth annual TIP Report; it seeks to increase global awareness of the human trafficking phenomenon by shedding new light on various facets of the problem and highlighting shared and individual efforts of the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective action against all forms of trafficking in persons.

Access the full report.

Looking For Something To Do This Weekend? Try National Parks!

Via USA.gov, Which national parks will waive their fee this weekend?, some national parks will waive their fee this weekend. As stated on the official government website,

The NPS (National Park Service) will allow visitors free entry during three weekends this summer to encourage Americans to visit national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Rocky Mountain National Park. The fee waivers — on June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16, 2009 — will apply to more than 100 national parks across the country that usually charge entrance fees. Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.

For those in New York state, the following 7 national parks participate in this fee waiver this coming weekend:
Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
Saratoga National Historical Park
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site

Have some fun this weekend! And don't forget you can subscribe to all USA.gov updates via email or via RSS feed.

Legal Issues for Virtual Law Firms

Via Legal Blog Watch, in a post titled More Legal Issues When Working in the Cloud, some interesting issues are raised privacy, authentication of documents, electronic discovery, and security issues are raised. Virtual law firms that are moving towards cloud computing will have to face these issues in their practice. The blog post is based on an article from New York Law Journal titled Cloud Computing Brings New Legal Challenges.

Given the explosive growth of cloud computing, it should be no surprise that it presents numerous legal issues for businesses. Two of the most significant are privacy concerns and the implications of cloud computing for pretrial discovery.

As with other forms of "outsourcing," businesses' duties to protect private or confidential data do not end with their transfer of the data to third-party vendors for storage or processing. A recent report from the World Privacy Forum, "Cloud Computing and Privacy," highlights a number of important privacy issues raised by cloud computing that corporate users of cloud computing should keep in mind. [Access the report]

The New York Law Journal article concludes with:

As cloud computing becomes more understood and more widely utilized, counsel will focus on both privacy and discovery issues to a greater extent than they are doing so currently, which will lead to negotiated resolution of issues and, on occasion, litigation and court decisions.

As with many issues of technology, counsel will need to understand not just the legal precedent concerning cloud servers, but also the particular facts concerning their business' use of cloud servers, the type of data that is stored in the cloud, and the location and document retention practices of the service provider.

Share your thoughts?

Google Accounts On Twitter

For those of you out there who twitter, here is a list of Google accounts on twitter. Via Google blog post. Some of them are: Google, Blogger, Calendar, News, Reader, YouTube, ScetchUp, GoogleMaps, GoogleCode, GoogleData, googletalk, googlejobs, etc.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others' updates, known as tweets. (via Wikipedia.org)

Building Law Library After 30 Years of War

The Foreign, Comparative & International Law (FCIL) SIS invites you to attend an Annual Meeting event …

FCIL-SIS Executive Committee Presents

The Past, Present, and Future of the Law Library and Librarianship in Afghanistan: The Challenges and Rewards of Building a Library After 30 Years of War

Please join the recipient of the 2009 FCIL Schaffer Grant for Foreign Law Librarians, Mr. Ahmadullah Masoud (Independent National Legal Training Center (INLTC) Law Library, Kabul, Afghanistan), Andrea Muto (USAID), Blair Kaufmann (Director, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School; Advisor, Afghanistan Rule of Law Project), and Lucie Olejnikova (Pace Law Library) for a discussion of the legal system of Afghanistan and the process of building a new law library after thirty years of war.

When: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 (4:15-5:15 PM)
Where: Renaissance-Room 5

Read the full announcement.

FBI Releases 2008 Bank Crime Statistics

In the July 6, 2009 press release, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 2008 Bank Crime Statistics release, Between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, there were 6,700 robberies of financial institutions, as well as 121 burglaries and 28 larcenies reported. This represents 6,849 reported violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statute.

These statistics were recorded as of April 23, 2009. Note that not all bank crimes are reported to the FBI, and therefore the report is not a complete statistical compilation of all bank crimes that occurred in the United States.

FBI Issues 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report

In the July 7, 2009 press release, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report, mortgage fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) referred to law enforcement increased 36 percent to 63,713 during fiscal year (FY) 2008, compared to 46,717 reports in FY 2007. While the total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown, financial institutions reported losses of at least $1.4 billion, an increase of 83.4 percent from FY 2007.

Pace Law School Commencement Addresses by Legal Luminaries

Over the years, a number of distinguished judges and other legal scholars have delivered commencement speeches at Pace Law School graduations. I previously posted a link to Judge Sonia Sotomayor's commencement speech to the graduates of the class of 2003.

Over the past few months, the Library has been working to add all content from all three Pace law reviews to the Pace Digital Commons. During the course of this project, we discovered reprints of the transcripts of two other speeches. First, the Honorable Warren Burger's address to the class of 1983. Justice Burger served as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1969 to 1986.

Second, Governor Mario M. Cuomo's address to the class of 1989. Governor Cuomo served as governor of New York from 1983 to 1994.

Open Book New York

This website, from the New York State Comptroller, is an

effort to promote more openness in government and give taxpayers better access to the financial workings of government.

Taxpayers can track federal stimulus spending, state agency and local government spending, and state contracts. Click the picture below to see a chart showing how the stimulus money is being spent in New York.