Mini-Byte: The Social Science Research Network

For those interested in finding academic papers on estate planning topics (or a wide variety of other topics), a fine resource is the Social Science Research Network ("SSRN").

Here is a year-end post that I received from Gregg Gordon, the President of SSRN, which gives you some background:

SSRN's 16th year was "sweet". The eLibrary (http://ssrn.com/search) has delivered over 41.3 million downloads to date and grown to over 314,000 documents from 149,000 authors. Our CiteReader technology, developed with ITX Corp, has captured 6.4 million references and 6.5 million footnotes. The technology has been expanded to extract references from within footnotes and those references will be displayed on the abstract pages in early 2011. Scholars are finding the links in the References and Citations tabs, on the abstract page, excellent ways to access both the past and future literature in a discipline.

In the near future, we will release Search Within functionality that finds specific information in an existing search result or taxonomy classification. We will also release simplified access to all of the SSRN Rankings of papers, authors and organizations. Over the next few months, we will create subject area networks in Innovation, Religious Studies, and Music and Composition; continuing our interdisciplinary growth in the social sciences and humanities.

Our year-end distribution break is scheduled for Monday, 20 December 2010 through Sunday, 2 January 2011. During the break, SSRN's abstracting eJournals will not be distributed so that we can improve the performance of our servers. We will continue to provide support for downloads, submissions, and subscriptions. For any requests during the break, please contact customer support at UserSupport@SSRN.com or call toll free 877-SSRNHelp (877-777-6435). Outside of the United States, call +1 585 442 8170. We are open Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30AM and 6:00PM, United States Eastern.

I am always interested in your feedback about SSRN and our team loves to hear stories about how SSRN has impacted your life. Please contact me at Gregg_Gordon@SSRN.com or use our "Feedback to SSRN" link on most SSRN web pages.

Thank you for your continued support and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Gregg Gordon
President
Social Science Research Network

Sixth Circuit on Warrantless Searches of Email

The federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that emails are protected under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution from warrantless searches.  The case is U.S. v. Steven Warshak.  Here is a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Mini-Byte: Another Pogue Crusade?

As recently reported here , New York Times Technology writer David Pogue was part of a successul crusade against Verizon for predatory billing practices.  Verizon was billing customers for accidental connections that did not involve any air time.  That campaign ultimately resulted in Verizon paying $92 million in refunds.

A reader has given Pogue a suggestion for another campaign:  roll-over megabytes. AT&T has roll-over minutes, which allow a customer to carry forward minutes that the customer paid for, but did not use.  Pogue and his reader are suggesting the same concept for megabytes of data that go unused.  Read Pogue's comments here and join the crusade.

Mini-Byte: Favorite Tech Reports

I have mentioned in other columns additional, probably better sources for information about technology.  I thought that I would you a short list of these sources, as there has been at least one change of name recently,  The many of the names below are hyperlinks in the online version of this column, so you can click on them and go to the websites:

Marketplace Tech Report -  This is a five minute podcast each day on technology issues.  It was formerly called Future Tense and hosted by Jon Gordon.  It has changed its name to become part of American Public Media's series of financial and business reports.  It is now hosted by John Moe and provides excellent coverage of a wide range of technology topics.  (American Public Media also distributes Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac.

John Dvorak's Second Opinion - Distributed by The Wall Street Journal's Digital Network, this column features sharp criticism and iconoclastic views of John Dvorak, who is tech journalism's equivalent of Andy Rooney.  For another side of Mr. Dvorak, see his blog, aptly named Dvorak Uncensored.


All Things Digital - Also distributed by The Wall Street Journal's Digital Network, this website includes a wide variety of contributors, including the Journal's excellent Personal Technology columnist, Walt Mossberg and Boom Town's Kara Swisher.

TWIT - TWIT (This Week in Tech) is a website for commentary on technology assembled by Leo Laporte.  One of its primary features is a weekly podcast of roughly an hour in length, TWIT (podcast).

Pogue's Posts - a central site for accessing the columns of David Pogue, technology columnist of The New York Times.

TechnoLawyer Blog -  A site for those who want technology commentary specifically for the legal profession. Sign up for the e-newsletters.