"Texas Judge: Where Technology Is Sustained"
Judges in Collin County Texas have pooled their resources to buy a domain (texasjudge.com) where they can maintain Web pages for their individual courtrooms. [via Law.com] By the links on Judge Curt Henderson's site, it looks like eleven of them have taken the plunge. No blogs, yet, but lots of useful information should you find yourself with a Collin County court appearance. My favorite thing? The navigational aid on a number of the sites: a drop-down menu where the default reads "Your Request?", and the go button, "Granted!"

Time-shifted Tidbits
Chris Pirillo mentioned a couple of worthy sites on Monday's Call For Help:

Spyonit: a personal agent that monitors stuff for you on the Web and will serve up results wherever you'd like: Web, pda, phone, pager, email, IM, etc. Track a package, set up a perpetual search for "earthworm horticulture" or whatever floats your boat, more.

World RPS Society: "The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide." 'Nuff said. (Talk about your micromarkets.)

Sheepish Aside: I never watched so much television until Tivo entered the household, but I appear to be in good company. [via Jenny and LawMeme] It's too compelling when programs you actually like are always on.

Associates On TV
Third year MoFo associate Masato Hayakawa appeared on and wrote an article for The Screen Savers yesterday, in response to a viewer's email asking what kind of trouble his son could get into for "just looking" at files on other computers. Masato went to Berkeley undergrad/Yale law, and handled himself admirably in the spotlight, though next time he might consider taking a page from uber-advocate David Boies - or rather, leaving one behind. Notes can be so distracting!

Upgrade Your YACCS
If you're a long time YACCS comments user, chances are you need to upgrade. It's pretty painless and not a rush, but if you haven't done it by May 12, Hossein says you'll start getting reminders in your comment boxes. While you're at it, be sure to make a donation; the suggested kick-in is a mere $5.00 per year, and thus stands as one of the great bargains of the modern world.

Stirring The Legal Pot
The Internet acts like spring cleaning for hoary legal doctrines, which must be pulled of the shelf, dusted off and looked at anew to see if they still fit this context. Several current articles illustrate the point:

The Georgia Internet libel case discussed on Law.com. The case considers whether someone "involuntarily drawn into a controversy" becomes a public figure for defamation purposes, and whether online retractions are equivalent to print ones. [Case Over Internet Insults Spurs Court's Interest]

The InfoWorld article about the Pavlovich decision pending before the California Supreme Court, tying in the ElcomSoft and Yahoo cases as further examples of Web activities forming the basis for jurisdiction in a court far from a party's physical residence or primary place of business. [via llrx]

Anita Ramasatry's commentary on FindLaw's Writ about The Constitution And Spam: Is There A Constitutional Right To Send Unsolicited Faxes And Email? Anita notes that most state anti-spam legislation appears Constitutionally sound, especially given the costs and burdens of spam:

"The burdens of spam may be much greater than those of junk faxes, for example. Sending bulk email is incredibly cheap. With a dialup connection and a PC, a spammer can send hundreds of thousands of messages per hour at only a tiny cost per email. Yet every person who receives the spam pays, in reading time, the annoyance of a clogged mailbox, and increased ISP costs."