Mississippi Lawyers and Judiciary Guide to the Internet

by: Frank D. Edens, President, and Abbey W. Magruder, III, Manager, LawNetCom, Inc.
Copyright 1996-1998 LawNetCom, Inc. Revised February 26, 1998
  • Introduction
  • Internet history
  • What you don't need to know
  • How to obtain access
  • Types of connections
  • Hardware needed
  • Software / Netscape browser
  • Plug-in's to Netscape
  • Web page formats
  • HTML
  • Text
  • Images
  • pdf
  • Domain names
  • What you can do on the Internet
  • Affect of Internet on the legal profession
  • Uses for the legal profession
  • Mississippi legal resources
  • Mississippi Lawyers WWW Domain
  • Courts
  • Mississippi Supreme Court
  • Mississippi Court of Appeals
  • U.S. District Ct.-Northern Dis. Miss.
  • Terms of Court
  • Statutes
  • Mississippi Constitution
  • Mississippi Code
  • Workers' Comp. Laws and Rules
  • Rules
  • All Mississippi Rules of Court
  • Local Court Rules
  • Directories
  • Supreme Court Directory
  • Circuit Court System Directory
  • Chancery Court System Directory
  • Municipal Judges directory
  • District Attorneys
  • Mississippi Attorneys
  • Mississippi Zip Codes
  • Other
  • The Mississippi Bar
  • Mississippi Government Web Sites
  • Public Purchasing Laws
  • MsLawyers Legal Resources Index
  • Legal Mailing Lists
  • MsLawyers Net Forum
  • Legal Forms Bank
  • Other Legal resources on the Internet
  • Federal Law
  • United States Supreme Court
  • Federal Circuit Courts
  • United States Code
  • Code of Federal Regulations
  • State Courts
  • State Courts
  • State Statutes
  • Law Journals
  • Law Journals on the Internet
  • Legal resource indexes
  • MSLawyers Legal Index
  • Findlaw
  • Meta Resource Index
  • The Practicing Attorney
  • Many more
  • Law Firm Web sites
  • Information on Homepages
  • Reasons to have one
  • Construction Costs
  • Mississippi Law Firms
  • Web sites
  • Directories
  • How the public finds
  • Search Engines on the Internet
  • MSLawyers Search Engines
  • Excite Search Form
  • E-Mail
  • Guide to Netscape Mail
  • Mailing lists
  • News Groups
  • How To
  • Save files to your hard drive
  • View documents saved to hard drive
  • Save images
  • View saved images
  • Use pkunzip
  • Locating People & E-Mail Addresses
  • Online Guides to the Internet
  • Interesting and useful Web sites
  • Pointcast Screen Saver Program
  • Ethics and the Internet
  • Intranets
  • Don't Get Confused by On-Line Services
  • Counsel Connect
  • Others
  • Establishing Rules for Employees


    • A. INTRODUCTION

    The Internet is a network of computers connected through common communication lines. These servers are placed on line by colleges, universities, state and federal governments, individuals and businesses, all linked together without a central computer. When you connect to the Internet, it will be like nothing you have ever experienced or even imagined. You will have at your fingertips information about virtually every subject and topic in the World.

    Many different services are available once connected. Some of the most common services you will be exposed to include exploring the Web, Gopher and using E-Mail.

    The "Web" is short for the World Wide Web (WWW). The Web servers connected to the Internet publish information in the form of Web pages, which can either be text or text and images combined. A collection of Web pages for a court or law firm is referred to as a Web site. The cover page of the Web site is called the Home page. For example, the first page you see when you access the Mississippi Supreme Court Web site is the Home page. Located on the Home page are "links" to other pages, such as the page where the court opinions can be accessed. You move from the Home page to the opinions page by clicking on the Opinions link, titled "cases". If you are an attorney, not only can you access thousands of Web sites providing legal information, you can also find Web sites providing you and your family with information about EVERYTHING. Amazingly, almost all of this information is free! An example of a Web site address is http://www.mslawyer.com.

    "Gopher" is another service available on the Net. When using a gopher site, the information will be listed in a directory instead of Web pages. Information on gopher sites can be viewed and down loaded the same as on the Web. Gopher sites are viewed with Netscape. No special software is needed. A gopher site will begin with "gopher" instead of "http".

    Just as important as access to the Web is the ability to communicate by E-mail with anyone who has an E-mail address. You can also include attachments to mail, such as entire briefs or other documents in any format. E-Mail is the most widely used service available on the Internet. If you have ever used intra-office E-Mail, you are already familiar with Internet E-mail which is very similar. E-Mail is discussed more later.

    Although the Internet is no substitute for comprehensive CD ROM searches of court opinions it is fast becoming a must for legal and factual research. There are also projects underway to provide a free database of court opinions from all states and federal courts.

    One of the most important reasons Web sites are so popular is because they use "hypertext" or "hyperlinks" to move from page to page. Usually you will hear this simply referred to as a "link." There are many links on this document which demonstrate the usefulness of links. A link on a Web page will usually be either underlined text or an image. The underlined text is usually blue, but not always, because the color of links can be changed by the author of Web pages. Regardless of the color, when you select a link with your mouse and click, you will be taken to the page defined in the link. For example, this link will take you back to the Mississippi Lawyers Domain. Selecting images on a page that have a link defined will also take you to the defined Web page.

    In the future, we anticipate that all computer programs will be set up by using hypertext links. For example, all documents on your computer will be in a directory by the title and description. To find and open a document in your word processor will be as easy as clicking the desired section without the guesswork that is now present with word processing programs.

    LawNetCom, Inc. is a publisher of legal resources on the Internet and of law firm home pages and paractice areas. Since being formed in January, 1996, LawNetCom has designed and constructed the Official Web site for the Mississippi Supreme Court, obtained Internet access for all Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, as well as many Circuit and Chancery Court Judges. LawNetCom also constructed Web sites for all the Chancery and Circuit Clerks of the State and has conducted training sessions to introduce the Judiciary and Clerks to the Internet and is consultant to the Mississippi Supreme Court and Administrative Office of Courts. Finally, LawNetCom maintains the Mississippi Lawyers World Wide Web Domain, the gateway on the Internet for Mississippi's legal community including the Courts, Bar, law firm Web sites and the Mississippi Code.

    B. INTERNET HISTORY

    The estimate of the number of individuals on the Internet vary widely, but it is safe to say that there are probably 50 million users worldwide. This makes the Internet the world's second-largest communication network, after the telephone network.
    The Internet grew out of ARPAnet (formed in 1969 as a product of the Advanced Research Project Agency), a network of government computers connected so that they could exchange information and use each others programs. ARPAnet was later discontinued, but other networks (primarily government and educational) had been formed and interconnected, and the resulting network of networks has come to be known as the Internet. The networks that are part of the Internet speak the same language, the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocols. Some of the computers on these networks themselves use the TCP/IP protocols (most notably UNIX-based computers) while others (for example, the computers that comprise the commercial online services such as CompuServe, America Online, and Delphi; as well as those computers on BITNET and UUCP networks) do not but are still able to use some TCP/IP protocols via gateways. In 1992, two significant events occurred. First, many of the restrictions on commercial use of the Internet were relaxed. Much of the Internet's traffic shifted from the National Science Foundations NSFNet backbone to commercial networks (such as the Commercial Internet Exchange, CIX). Second, and perhaps more significantly, we had a vice presidential candidate who ad heard of the Internet--and who was interested in its potential. These two events resulted in a tremendous amount of coverage of the Internet in the popular press. In fact in 1993, there were more references to the Internet in The New York Times than in all previous years combined! And the trend is continuing.

    The Legal List (1996)
    C. WHAT YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW

    The average attorney or judge does not need to know all the interworking of the Internet, technical terms and the like. It is enough to understand how to access the Internet and how to operate the software to use the resources on the Internet. A list of definitions that may be helpful is attached as Appendix I.

    D. HOW TO OBTAIN ACCESS

    To obtain access to the Internet, contact your local Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISP's are companies that have a connection to the Internet and allow you to use that connection by connecting to their server with a modem. Your ISP will provide you with local dialup access for a flat fee per month and most will be for unlimited connection time. In Mississippi, the fees per month generally range from $19.95 to $25.95. Modem speeds, cost, reliability, quality of service and especially customer service are factors to consider when determining which access route to take.

    E. TYPES OF CONNECTIONS

    Connections to the internet generally involve one of the following:

    (a) Modem Access: The recommended speed for Internet use is at least 28.8 kbps if a modem is used. Many attorneys may have a 14.4 kbps speed modem and can safely use the internet but will quickly learn that a 28.8 Modem is very inexpensive and provides much quicker access. "kbps" means kilobytes or thousand bytes per second that will be transferred over communication lines. A modem is used to connect you to your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

    (b) ISDN:
    (c) Frame Relay: 56/64 kbps. Frame Relay gives you full time access to the Internet at very fast speeds. It may be appropriate for businesses that have many simultaneous users accessing the Internet daily. Frame Relay requires the following equipment:
    1. D-SERV 56/64K stand-alone modem.
    2. Cisco Router 2501 ENET/Dual serial multiprotocol router.
    3. Cisco 2500 series IOF IP feature set.
    4. V.35 cable MRAC34P/MRAC34P
    5. LinkBuilder ethernet hub.
    A 56/64 Kbps Frame Relay will cost around $150 to set up and $139.95 per month to operate, exluding initial equipment cost.

    (c) Satellite: 428 kbps. Satellite access offers flexibility and fast transmission of data. In addition to the initial set-up cost, you pay a monthly "download fee" per meg of information. The hardware required includes a small satellite dish antenna and a satellite card installed in the computer. The cost of the dish and hardware is about $1,000 and costs $29.99 to $69.99 per month to operate. Installation costs are on a quote basis only.

    (d) Fractional T-1 Frame Relay: 768 kbps. A business that finds itself hampered by the restraints of the 46/64 Kbps Frame Relay can purchase a portion of the capacity of a T-1 Frame relay. This connection is also a full-time connection which can be obtained from a LSP or phone company.

    (e) T-1 Frame Relay: 1.5 mbps (million bytes per second). A full, leased line T-1 Frame Relay connection makes sense for a firm that regularly transfers video, large graphic and/or audio files, or other extremely large load intensive files. A T-1 or Fractional T-1 connection requires the following hardware:
    1. D-SERV DSU/CSU stand-alone, 110 VAC, w/N.35 modem.
    2. T1 jack to D-SERV network interface, both ends RJ48C.
    3. Cisco Router 2501 ENET/Dual Serial Protocol router.
    4. Cisco 2500 series 10F IP feature set.
    5. V.35 cable MRAC34P/MRAC34P.
    Both types of T1 connection have a setup charge of around $800. The fractional T1 costs around $425 per month, and the full T1 around $800 per month to operate.

    If you have a small firm and haven't used the Internet, modem access is the place to start. Modem speeds are increasing and the 28.8 modem delivers information at a rate of speed that is generally satisfactory.

    Larger firms (4 or more attorneys) may want to consider Frame Relay, ISDN or satellite access, especially if all attorneys and some support staff will be using the Internet.

    F. HARDWARE TO ACCESS THE INTERNET

    To effectively use the Internet, you need 16 meg of RAM, processor speed 100+ mhz and a 28.8 bps Modem. The minimum recommended requirements are 8 meg of RAM, processer speed of 40 mhz and a 14.4 bps Modem. However, this is extremely slow operational. Windows 3.11 or Windows 95 is also necessary. If you need to upgrade your system, you should contact your computer supplier or one of the suppliers listed on the Mississippi Lawyers WWW Domain Services and Products link for Mississippi law firms. With the size of modem programs such as Corel WordPerfect 7.0 and future changes to the Internet you should make sure your computer system is capable. We recommend the following specifications: 2 gig hard drive; 32 meg ram; 133 mhz Pentium Processor; and, 28.8 or higher modem.

    G. SOFTWARE / NETSCAPE BROWSER

    There are many software programs to access the Internet. We recommend Netscape Navigator version 3.0 and later or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and later because they are the most advantageous as far as options are concerned at this time. At the moment, Netscape is the browser of choice among most web users. Most of the information on the net is viewed as it was intended to be seen with Netscape. Other browsers, such as Mosaic and Hot Java, or earlier versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer do not support features such as frames, table backgrounds, Java scripts, or animated graphics. This means that you will not be able to view the page as the author intended, and may not be able to view the website at all. Fortunately, the latest versions of these browsers can be downloaded from Netscape and Microsoft free of charge. The average dowload takes around 40 - 45 minutes, and the software is relatively easy to install. These download sites can get very busy after normal work hours, so you may have a hard time getting through in the early evening. The documentation for downloading and installing the upgrades is sparse but adequate for most installations. Do not expect to receive support from Microsoft or Netscape if you are getting the software for free.

    Netscape and Internet Explorer are like any other program you may have used such as Wordperfect. The purpose of the Internet browser is to allow you to view Web pages just like Wordperfect allows you to view text files.

    Navigating the Internet with a browser such as Netscape is done by a simple click of a mouse. You can move from site to site and page to page almost entirely by using your mouse. In fact, the Internet has made the mouse popular with formerly anti-mouse computer operators. Viewing Web sites is similar to using a Windows Help file because the pages on the Internet are linked in much the same way to allow access by simply clicking a link on a Web page. When on-line, you can print pages or save to your hard drive basically anything that you see.

    Netscape 2.0 - 3.0 Screen

    The Netscape screen has the following options:

  • Back - Back allows you to move back to the previous pages you viewed. The number of previous pages you can view is limited only by the amount of memory in your computer. The pages are stored in the cache memory on your hard drive. Therefore, once you load a page from the Internet you are really viewing it from your hard drive. "Cache" memory is where files are temporarily stored.

  • Forward - Reverse of Back.

  • Home - Home is a button that takes you back to the default page you have preset in the Netscape setup. If you have not preset the default page, you should do this because this is the first location your Netscape browser will go to each time you sign onto the Internet. We suggest that you set the default page to http://www.mslawyer.com. To set the default go to "Options - General Preferences - Appearance" and replace the "home page" blank. Many ISP's that provide you software have the software preset to their Home page and this will not be where you will want to go to every time you connect to the Internet.

  • Reload - Reload is a button that will reload a page you are viewing. Select reload when the page you are trying to view did not load properly or when you are on a site that you need to reload to obtain updated information, such as stock quotes.

  • Open - Open is an option that allows you to open a directory on the Web or on your hard drive. This is very useful for viewing files on your hard drive off-line or on-line. To open a directory, select "Open" and then type the name of the directory, i.e. c:/1996, and then select open again. This will give you a list of all files in that directory and you will be able to view htm and txt files by simply clicking on them. You can quickly view documents you have saved to your hard drive from the Web by selecting the document and then by using "back" to return to the directory and select the next document.

  • Find - Find is a button that allows you to locate text on the page on your screen. Select "Find", type the term you are looking for and then select "find" again. This is an excellent method of searching names in, for example, a directory of names, or even searching for the reoccurrence of a term in a court opinion.

  • Stop - The Stop button stops a page from loading. You will want to do this when a page is taking too long to load or you want to view the text of a page but don't want to wait on all the images to load.

  • Scroll - The arrow up and arrow down on the right side of your browser screen allows you to scroll up and down a page you are viewing by clicking on the up or down arrow button. You can also point your mouse to the small square under the top arrow button and hold down your left mouse button and drag to more quickly move up and down a page. Finally, you can point your mouse to any location on the column to the right and click to cover more ground on the page.

  • Key - There is a key on the left hand bottom of your screen. When the key is broken you are not on a secure site. When the key is solid you are on a site that is "secure". For example, shopping malls and on-line banking say their sites are secure and the key will be solid when you order something or view bank information. Whether you are on a secure site or not makes no difference unless you are transmitting data such as your credit card number.

  • Bookmark - Bookmark is the method by which you can save the location of a site on the Web so you will be able to quickly locate it the next time you want to go there. The bookmarks are located on the top of the browser under Bookmark. To add a site simply select "add bookmark" when you are on the site you want to relocate later. You can select "view bookmarks" to view all bookmarks you have saved.

  • Netscape Mail - There should be an envelope on the bottom right of the screen if you are using the correct version of Netscape. To open Netscape Mail select this envelope. More about Netscape mail later.

  • Location Activity - There is an activity location to the right of the key. This location will show you whether the document you are trying to view is operational and also the status of the loading. When you first select a page or site it will indicate "Looking up host", then "Contacting Host", then "host contacted, waiting on reply", then the loading status, i.e. 45% of 12k, then "Document:Done". Many times you will be unable to read the first three options because the page is loading so quickly. When it shows "Contacting Host" and does not move you may have a problem connecting to that site or the site may no longer exist. When this happens select "Stop", and then go to another selection.

  • URL - The URL (Uniform Research Locator) is the address of the document or site you are viewing. i.e. http://www.mslawyer.com is the URL for the Mississippi Lawyers WWW Domain, or http://www.mslawyer.com/mssc is the location of the Mississippi Supreme Court. If you know the URL, you may type it in the URL address location and select enter to go to that site.

  • Multiple Browsers - You may select multiple Netscape browsers. "Select File - Open New Browser." Opening multiple browsers is just like opening several documents in wordperfect. The reason is so you can quickly return to that document.

  • Images - If you have configured your Netscape setup to only load text you may select images to load and view the images. We do not recommend configuring your system not to load images because the Web will lose it's effect without the images.

    Netscape 4.0 - Communicator

    The latest version of Netscape is Netscape 4.0, called Communicator. This version makes several small changes to the user interface, and adds many new features to the browser. We will rereport on these new features as we have time to use and become more familiar with them. For now, we will content ourselves with going over the major features of the browser.

      The basic layout and functions of Netscape Communicator remain the same as before, with only a few changes.
      • Menu Changes:
      • The options menu has been eliminated, and replaced with a Preferences selection located under the Edit menu.
      • The Bookmark menu has been changed to a button, located on the 2nd tier of browser buttons.
      • Toolbar Button Changes:
      • The toolbar has been divided into 3 tiers of buttons. Note the control on the far left of each tier. This control allows you to hide or display that tier of buttons.
      • A "Search" button has been added. This button takes you to the Netscape Search page, containing a collection of various Internet search engines.
      • A "Guide" button has been added. This button takes you to a site jointly run by Netscape and Yahoo that allows you to search the Internet for people, new pages, the Internet in general, and what's cool.
      • A "Security" button allows you to set up or modify the security parameters of your browser, such as certificates or encryption of e-mail messages.
    There are also buttons at the lower right corner of the screen for access to the browser, e-mail, discussion groups, and the Netscape Composer (used to modify or build web sites).

    Netscape 4.0 - E-Mail

    The Netscape 4.0 e-mail module is called Messenger Mailbox, and has essentially remained the same. There are a couple of major improvements over previous versions of Netscape.


    The first improvement is the selection box that allows you to choose the message folder you are working with. This allows more space to view and work with messages than the previous versions of Netscape which divided up page into frames. The second improvement is the "File" button, which stores the currently highlighted mail message in any of the available folders. This makes it much easier to organize your mail messages.
    • PLUG-IN'S TO NETSCAPE - There are many add-on's to Netscape that allow you to expand the capabilities of Netscape. Add-on's are also referred to as helper applications. Some helper applications are manufactured by Netscape and others by independent companies. Examples include applications which allow Netscape to view specialized moving images, play sound files and view file formats that are not viewed by Netscape without the application. There are two applications which I highly recommend. One is a spell checker for Netscape mail and the other is a viewer program that allows you to view Wordperfect and other files within the browser.

  • CyberSpell - Netscape Navigator includes a very good e-mail program built into the browser, which makes it much easier to check your mail while online. Despite this advantage, many users continued to use other e-mail programs, in part due to Netscape's inability to spell check. CyberSpell 2.0, from Inso Corporation, is a hot new plug-in that proofs Navigator mail messages for both spelling and grammatical errors. CyberSpell attaches to the Netscape Mail menu bar and quickly checks for spelling and grammatical errors. Like most spell checkers, CyberSpell can be fooled by some common grammatical problems, such as " too be or not to be". It does, however, accept common Internet spellings such as e-mail addresses, URL's, and even smileys :-) You can download a 30 day trial version at INSO Corporation http://www.inso.com/consumer/cyberspell/democybr.htm.

  • Quick View - Quick View is another hot program from Inso Corporation that provides cross-platform support for over200 file formats, including HTML, PKZIP, and UUE. It also operates as a Plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0, enabling users to view, copy, and print virtually any document or file--no matter what its source or format--directly from within Navigator! You can download a trial version of Quick View from INSO Corporation.

    OTHER HELPER APPLICATIONS OF INTERNET INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

  • Shockwave for Director - Shockwave lets the user interact with Director presentations in the Netscape Navigator window. Animations, clickable buttons, links to other URL's, video, audio, and more can be combined with the presentation to create a rich multimedia experience. Shockwave files are compressed, so they will download quickly. They can also contain hyperlinks, so that the author can link to any Website from the presentation. Shockwave offers helpful authoring techniques to make it easy for Web designers to include Shockwave presentations in their sites. Shockwave can be downloaded for free from Macromedia. This site also contains download and installation instructions, as well as an FAQ to help with any problems the user may be having.

  • Microsoft Word Viewer - Microsoft Word Viewer is a small application that enables users to load and view Word documents, even if they do not use Microsoft Word for Windows. Word Viewer also allows users to view and print documents created by other word processing software. It gives users the flexibility to view page layout, zoom, outline, headers/footers, footnotes, and annotations. Word Viewer allows users to read and print documents, but it does not allow them to edit documents. Users may, however, copy information from Word documents and activate OLE objects embedded within them. Word Viewer is a helper application, and Netscape must be configured to load the viewer when it encounters word processing files on the Internet. This is done under the Netscape Options menu. After selecting options, select General Preferences, and then click on the Helpers tab. Click on "Create New Type", enter "Application" for mime type and "word processor" for sub type, then click the Launch Application radio button and enter the location of Word Viewer in the box next to the Browse button, and the viewer is set up. You can download the viewer for free from Microsoft.

    There are many other helper applications that perform various functions. However, there came a time when adding other applications is waste of time and unnecessary.

    H. WEB PAGE FORMATS

    Most web pages are HTML text or text and images combined. HTML stands for hypertext markup language and is the coding of text files for viewing on the Internet. The HTML language allows page publishers to make different size fonts, bold fonts and insert images within a web page. HTML files end with the extension .html (some may just end with .htm).

    Plain ASCII DOS text files are also viewable but do not offer variation in font size and other font attributes. However, text files are easy to publish on the web because no HTML formatting is required. Text files end with the extension .txt.

    Images of various types may be inserted into web pages, including photographs. Images are often links and when you click on an image, you are taken to the desired web page.

    ASP FILE FORMATS - The latest development of the World Wide Web is the use of dynamic web pages, or dynamic HTML. These pages deliver information customized for the user. They commonly include a database that is connected to various links or input forms on the page. The viewer specifies what information is desired by completing and submitting the forms. The database then performs a query according to these instructions, generates the requested information and HTML code necessary to display it, and delivers it to the viewer's browser. Instead of having to program and provide a link for every possible view of the information that might be desired, the author simply provides the basic template and populates the database with the information. Files of this type have the extension .asp, which stands for Active Server Page.
    JAVA - Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems that allows a web page to do things not possible using standard HTML. Examples of Java in use include the clock on the splash page of the Mississippi Lawyers World Wide Web, The moving banner on the Pendleton Detectives page, or browser detection routines that check to see what browser software you are using and route you to appropriately formatted sites. Java is more of a traditional programming language, like C or Visual Basic, and will probably be beyond the expertise of most legal professionals.
    PDF FILE FORMATS - To view pdf file formats, you will need an Adobe Acrobat Reader. Pdf files are excellent for newsletters and other materials where the original appearance of the publication needs to be retained. Formatting a file in pdf format is also easier and less time consuming to convert. However, pdf files must be downloaded for viewing the Acrobat Reader Program opened and the file retrieved.

    I. DOMAIN NAMES

    A domain is a location on the Internet identified with a particular company. Major companies such as the Discovery Channel use domains, i.e. http://www.discovery.com. Other domains are subject related, i.e. http://www.bankruptcy.com. Domain names cost about two-hundred dollars to set up. The limitation on use of a domain name are the trademark and copyright laws.

    There are so many people setting up domain names that in the future if you are not a big company, they may mean little or nothing. On the other hand, subject matter domains should survive.

    J. WHAT YOU CAN DO ON THE INTERNET

    When connected to the Internet you are connected to a wealth of information and knowledge. Virtually every subject is on the Internet put there by either a student, professor, business, government or individual. I have experienced examples which follow. My 12 year old Son, Beau, is interested in Soccer (and soccer shoes) and found the National Soccer League, hundreds of other soccer connections and even many, many shoes for sale. I have a Datsun 1978 280Z and I found everything I needed to know to restore the car including where to buy the parts and even the Z Club. I am interested in antiques and there are thousands of pages on the Internet devoted to antiques. My law partner was planning a business trip to a City in Turkey and we located 50 pages of information on Turkey including many pages devoted specifically to the specific City, hotels, restaurants and much more information. He was prepared for the trip and even capable of talking about the City to the people that live there with knowledge of what he was talking about. I had a case involving mental incompetency and the Doctors used the term "Dementia". I found so much information on the Internet about dementia that the doctors were asking me for my sources of information. We needed to do a garnishment on banks in another City and obtained the name, address and phone number of all banks in the City over the Internet. There are 10 million business listings providing the name, phone number and address over the Internet. The list is endless. At this point in time I would say there has not been one subject that I have searched for and not found in some form.

    When you find something of interest you can print the file, download the file or bookmark the file for future reference. "Bookmark" means you save the page location in your browser to bring up at a later date.

    However, the Internet is not perfect and you should always remember that the benefits outweigh the problems. Don't let yourself become frustrated with every problem. Many of the problems are corrected with experience. Learn how to recognize diferent problems and determine if they are the source of something you are doing wrong, or outside problems that you must learn to recognize and accept.

    K. AFFECT OF THE INTERNET ON LEGAL PROFESSION

    As one author has stated, "The losers will be those who do not immediately grasp the concept and who seek to maintain inefficient, obsolete systems." Stephen J. McGarry, Esq. "A Prespective of the Internet and the Legal Profession," Global Forum, Parris, September 17, 1993.

    The Internet will dramatically change the way the legal profession functions. The major changes will be the way the legal professions (1) communicate, (2) perform legal research, (3) perform factual research, (4) marketing, (5) remain educated (CLE), (6) obtain associates, and (7) obtain clients.

    L. USES FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION

    Their are hundreds of legal sites on the Internet, including Bar Associations, Law Offices, Courts (or Court information), Law Journals, Law Schools and many others.

    Uses of the Internet for the legal profession include, but are not limited to, the following:

    (a) Legal Research: On the Internet one can find primary law (cases, statutes, and treaties), secondary law (law review articles and the like), and discussion groups, unpublished manuscripts and the like. The key players in publishing law-related information on the Internet are law schools and government institutions. Since the Internet is a network of networks, with each network independently owned and operated, some of the information is easier to get than others.

    (b) Factual Research: Such as the information I obtained on dementia or City in Turkey. Factual research is one of the most beneficial uses of the Internet for the legal profession, including invaluable medical information and procedures sites.

    (c) Attorney Search: All attorneys are listed on the Internet by various sites, including yellowpage and business pages like directories, West, and Martindale-Hubble.

    (d) Communication/E-Mail: E-mail is a tool that allows one user on the Internet to send a message to another user on the Internet. An e-mail message may contain text or pictures and sound encoded as text, but most often it is plain text. The various e-mail programs are the most widely used of the Internet tools, since the Internet is primarily used for communication between users. Users can be human or can be automated e-mail programs. The advantages of Internet e-mail over USPS mail and telephone calls are numerous. Unlike with USPS mail, you do not have to find a stamp and drive to the nearest mailbox to send Internet e-mail. And unlike the telephone, Internet e-mail is never (well, almost never) busy. Internet e-mail is nearly instantaneous, never (well, almost never) busy, and as easy as writing a letter. The recipient of an e-mail message can return (by cutting and pasting) portions of the senders original e-mail message with his/her response to provide the necessary context that is often lost in US mail or in phone messages.

    (e) Newsgroups: These are groups that provide information on specific subjects. More about news later.

    (f) Chat: Chat programs allow you to enter chat "rooms." There are different chat rooms for different subjects. Once you have entered a chat room, you can send messages that may be viewed by everyone in that room or you may select and send a private message to a user in the room that only that user will see. Although many chat locations at present appear to be a waste of time, the service can be useful for on-line seminars as well as legally oriented discussion groups. An example would be where forty attorneys arrange to locate in a specific chat area where a CLE seminar would be conducted by the organizer of the program. All attorneys in the room would be able to view the information as well as ask questions similar to an in person discussion. The service could also be used for conducting on-line depositions, where, for example, a court reporter or other qualified typist would type questions, as well as answers, although they are located in different cities or even states.

    (g) Electronic Filings: There are few true electronic filing systems in the legal profession which are at present operational. In the District Court of Ohio, they have implemented an electronic filing system over the Internet for approximately 10,000 asbestos cases. Every attorney must submit the pleadings in electronic format to the court over the Internet and the information is stored electronically through the court.

    There are also several experimental filing locations but nothing to compare to the Ohio system as of this date. We anticipate that in the future electronic filing will be developed and perfected starting with the Federal and Supreme State Courts and moving down to lower court systems.

    Similar to electronic filing is a procedure that is currently available and capable of wide-spread use. This procedure is the electronic transmission of documents and other pleadings. Using this procedure, you can transmit to a court, judge or clerk a pleading in electronic format which can then be printed, saved and placed in a court file. The court could also maintain the electronic version in directories for that particular case and the clerk as well as attorneys could view and select the electronic versions.

    Electronic transmission of documents in Mississippi will more than likely begin at the Supreme Court and rules will be developed for implementing the procedure. As of this date however, no court rules in Mississippi allow electronic transmission of a pleading, memorandum or brief to the courts or judges. Prior to sending a pleading, brief or memorandum in electronic format to a court or judge, you should obtain the consent of the particular court or judge.

    (h) Electronic Conferencing: Just like conference calls on the telephone, electronic conferencing over the Internet is possible and currently in use. For more information on electronic conferences, see information under "chat."

    (i) Publication via Web sites: As a means of publication, the Internet can be used for marketing. Unlike Internet e-mail, which is primarily two-way communication, Internet publication is primarily one-way communication--from the publisher to the Internet community. The Internet publisher (which includes anybody who chooses to make information available on the Internet) places information on the Internet like the information from the Mississippi Supreme Court.

    (j) Bulletin Board System (BBS): There are approximately 50,000 BBSs nationwide, many of which are law-related. Many of these bulletin boards are connecting to the Internet, such as Federal Courts of Appeals that have had bulletin boards for years and providing the same information available on the bulletin board through the Internet.

    M. MISSISSIPPI LEGAL RESOURCES

    The Mississippi legal resources on the Internet really began in 1996 and is steadily growing as the Internet grows in popularity. Within two years we estimate virtually all current Mississippi legal resources will be available on the Internet. As of this date, September 10, 1996, the following Mississippi resources are available:
    1. Mississippi Code . http://www.mscode.com
    2. Supreme Court Opinions from September, 1995. mssc/case.html
    3. Court of Appeals Opinions from January, 1996. http://www.mslawyer.com/mssc/case.html
    4. Mississippi Bar - Ethics Opinions (All). http://www.mslawyer.com/msbar/opinidx.html
    5. Mississippi Ethics Commission Opinions. http://www.mslawyer.com/mec/
    6. Rules Adopted by the Supreme Court. http://www.mslawyer.com/mssc/rules.html
    7. Workers Compensation Rules. http://www.mslawyer.com/mwcc/genrules.html
    8. Workers Compensation Statutes. http://www.mslawyer.com/mscode/wctable.html
    9. U.S. District Court - Northern District of Mississippi. http://sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu/~llibcoll/ndms/
    10. Legislative Status Reports by Subscription from Statewatch.

    N. MISSISSIPPI LAWYERS WORLD WIDE WEB DOMAIN

    The Mississippi Lawyers World Wide Web Domain - http://www.mslawyer.com, besides publishing the Web sites for the Mississippi Supreme Court - http://www.mslawyer.com/mssc, Mississippi Bar and Chancery and Circuit Clerks, is also the gateway on the Internet for other Mississippi legal information and law firm Web sites. Information available on the site include the rules and statutory index of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission, a massive list of Web legal resources, Mississippi government directories, directory of businesses providing services and products to Mississippi law firms, public information center, resumes of law students seeking employment and much more. Provisions of the Mississippi Code are also being added. A subscription is also available for the following:

    The Chancery and Circuit Clerk Web sites provide to attorneys and the public an office directory, local court rules and court terms, as well as links to the Mississippi Supreme Court site and MsLawyers Web site on the Web. Space is also provided on these Web sites for Judges and Clerks to place additional information about their office and courts.

    A directory of Municipal Court Judges, District Attorneys, Mississippi Zip Codes and Legal Resources is also available.

    It is also the location of the MsLawyers Netforum and the MsLawyers mailing list. The Netforum is a page where attorneys and the public can post messages to the Web directly from their computer for others to view and reply. The mailing list is a list limited to members of the bar, including judges. You can "subscribe" to this list and then send messages to the list E-mail address.

    Mailing lists on the Internet allow you to subscribe to topic specific E-Mail programs to send and receive E-Mail from members of the list. There are many lists available. In Mississippi, the MsLawyers Mailing List allows Mississippi attorneys and the judiciary to send and receive messages concerning Mississippi law and use of the Internet for the legal profession.

    To subscribe to the MsLawyers Mailing List, send E-Mail to mslawyer@mslawyer.com with the message: "subscribe--mslawlist--your name--bar number--E-Mail address"

    To see other legal mailing lists available on the Internet see http://www.kentlaw.edu/lawlinks/listservs.html. This site lists over 400 separate mailing lists and 82 newsgroups.

    The Mississippi Law Firms page provides a link to attorney Web Sites. It also lists attorneys by area of practice and city. A searchable bar directly is also available which allows you to search for any attorney by last name and/or city. There is also a link to Mississippi attorney E-Mail addresses.

    As stated previously, we have added a massive Mississippi Legal Forms Bank that is available by subscription. Attorneys can download forms on many areas of law prepared by practicing attorneys in Mississippi.

    O. THE MISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT WEB SITE

    TheMississippi Supreme Court is one of the first courts to have an official presence on the Web and it's Web site is one of the most comprehensive. The site provides biographies of the Justices, photographs, opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals within hours of their release, directories of the entire Supreme, Circuit and Chancery court systems and more. The court opinions are being discontinued in hard copy format to judges effective July 1, 1996.

    The Supreme Court site is the Official Web Domain of the Mississippi Supreme Court and includes the following:

    (a) GENERAL: General Information containing biography of Justices of the Supreme Court, jurisdiction of Supreme Court, photo of Supreme Court building, biography of Judges of Court of Appeals, jurisdiction of Courts.

    (b) CASES: The Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are found by clicking on the "Mississippi Supreme Court" icon and then the "Cases" icon. You will find the opinions in handdown lists. To view opinions click on the handdown list and then the desired opinion. A link to a search engine is also located on that page that will search the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals opinions. The search engine uses the connectors "and/or/not". To search first select Supreme Court or Court of Appeals and then type your search query. For example, "Capital and murder and reversed", without the quotes. The result will be a list of cases containing your search terms. To view the opinions click on the title of the opinion. The search terms in the opinion will be highlighted in red.  Do not use common words which may be repeated in many opinions or the search will not function.

    (c) RULES: ourt Rules can be located under the "Rules" link on the Mississippi Supreme Court page and under the "Court Rules" icon on the main page. The Court rules are linked and cross-linked to each other and cites to other rules within a rule are also linked for quick reference. Annotations are being added but the annotations are only available to subscribers. The rules can be accessed by anyone from the table of contents. A search engine is available to search all rules to subscribers only. The rules available include the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, Mississippi Rules of Evidence, Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure, Uniform Circuit Court Rules, Mississippi Chancery Court Rules, Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct, Local Bankruptcy Rules, U.S. District Court Rules, the Uniform Civil Expense Reduction Plan and local rules.

    (d) CALENDAR: At present the judicial college calendar of events is provided on this page.

    (e) DIRECTORIES : Directories containing lists which include the address, phone numbers, fax numbers and E-mail address, if available, for personnel of the Supreme Court, Circuit Court Districts, Chancery Court Districts, Circuit Clerks and Chancery Clerks.

    (f) LOCAL RULES: Local Rules Index to contain all approved local rules of the Chancery and Circuit Court Districts.

    (g) OFFICIAL MS SUPREME COURT WEBSITE: The Supreme Court also has a new frames based Web Site which provides access to the opinions and other information. The link can be found at the bottom of the page after you click on the Supreme Court icon. Most of the information available on the new frames site is linked on our no frames site for those of you that would rather use no frames.

    P. MISSISSIPPI BAR WEB SITE

    The Mississippi Bar Web site provides valuable information to the bar and public, including ethics opinions, member benefits, committee information and services for the public. The ethics opinions are linked in a subject index which allows you to access to each opinion by clicking on the opinion number next to the relevant subject. To locate the ethics opinions of the Mississippi Bar click on the "Mississippi Bar" icon, then the "Ethics and Professionalism" icon and then the "Ethics Opinions" link. This will take you to a subject matter table of contents. You click on the opinion number located to the right of the subject to view the desired opinion.

    Q. WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAWS AND RULES

    An index to the Workers' Compensation provisions of the Mississippi Code, and all rules of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission are located on the Mississippi Lawyers WWW Domain.

    R. OLE MISS LAW LIBRARY WEB SITE

    The Ole Miss Law School library has a link to the Mississippi Constitution, as well as other sites from Mississippi. It also publishes the Opinions of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi and lists of legal resources on the Internet, both Federal and State.

    S. MISSISSIPPI GOVERNMENT WEB SITES PROVIDING LEGAL INFORMATION

    There are Mississippi government sites coming on-line. The State Auditor has a Web site that provides valuable information including the Public Purchasing Laws of the State.

    T. MISSISSIPPI RESOURCES AVAILABLE BY SUBSCRIPTION

    The following resources are available by subscription on the Mississippi Lawyers World Wide Web Domain:

    (a). Legal forms Bank - Over a thousand Mississippi legal forms used by Mississippi attorneys are located at this site and are available for downloading and use in your word processor. There are also links to authorities available on the Web concerning many of the form categories (For example, the category Lis Pendens has a link to the chapter of the code dealing with lis pendens). What forms are included? The forms on this domain are forms used by Mississippi Attorneys and new forms are being added of all types. Forms added are optained from existing court files and reviewed by two attorneys before inclusion within the form bank. Members may also upload forms for possible inclusion. There are prersently over 1000 forms on line. You should be sure to check the Mississippi Code for statutes which may be relevant to a particular form. In addition to the forms, the form categories also have links to relevant sections of the Mississippi Code. A subscription to the forms included access to Court Rules and the Internet Guide.

    With few exceptions, the forms in this database are either text or Wordperfect 5.1 format files. The text files can be viewed in your browser, printed or downloaded and then opened and used in any Wordprocessor. When viewing the text files, some of the files may appear to be off the screen to the right. If it does you should not print the form from your browser because all of the words may not print. If you save (download) the file and then retrieve in your Wordprocessor you will have the entire form. However, you should use the WP files as stated below if possible.

    Which file should a user download? You should download the WP file because that file already has the codes such as center, bold already in the document and can be read in basically any word processor.

      How does the user download a Wordperfect file?
    • a. Select the "WP" link next to the form name.
    • b. A box will open that has the option "Save File". Select "Save File".
    • c. Select the directory where you want the file saved.
    • d. Name the file. i.e. contract.wp.
    • e. Select O.K. and the file will be saved to your hard drive.

      How does a user download a text file?
    • a. Go to "File", "Save As".
    • b. Select directory on your hard drive where you want the file placed.
    • c. Name the file a name you select with the file extension .txt. i.e. contract.txt.
    • d. Select O.K. and the file will be saved to your hard drive.

    How does a user use text files?
    • Text files are plain text files that will work with basically any Word Processor, either Windows or DOS based. To use the files open the file you saved in your Word Processor. After the file is opened you will need to add the codes such as center, bold, etc. just like you would do when creating an original document.
    How does a user Upload Forms?
    • We encourage members to upload forms that are not already included in the database.To do so, first go to the Upload Forms link. second, type the name of the fileas it will appear on our server, i.e. comp.wp. Third, select the browser button to find the form on your hard drive, highlight the form, and select "Send". The form will be placed on our server for review.
    Additional legal resources are being added which includes Annotated Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Evidence and Rules of Appellate Procedure. Legislative statues reports are available from statewatch property service at http://www.statewatch.com.

    (b). Mississippi Code: To access the Mississippi Code click on the "Mississippi Code" icon. You have the following options once there: (a) Be sure to read the Information page by clicking on the "Information" link before you begin and to be kept up-to-date with new instructions.  (b) To select a code section by a known section number go the "table of contents" link. Then enter the code section number in the blank at the top of the page and search. i.e. 1-3-7. You could also locate the section by using the table of contents and clicking on the title, chapter and then section number. (c) The table of contents can be used to view the code titles, chapters under the titles and then all sections under a title and chapter. To do so click on the title number, chapter number and then section number. (d) There are three search engines available to search the code. All are located under the "Combined Search"  link. One engine searches the chapter names, one searches the section titles and the last searches the entire code. The best place to start is the chapter names search. When using this search it is best to use one word. For example, "eminent" will find the main section of the code dealing with eminent domain. The next best place to search is the section titles. Again, use one word. For example, "eminent" will find all sections with the word eminent in the section title. Finally, the full text search will locate words searched and searches the entire code. The full text search uses the connectors "and/or/not".  For example, "eminent and domain and appraiser" will find the sections that contain all three terms. Do not use quotes when searching and you must use the connectors, "and/or/not". The full text search also highlights the search terms found. The Code is only available by subscription and subscription information can be obtained on the Mississippi Code page.
    Bill Status and 1997 Bills:  The Bill status and 1997 bills are included with the Mississippi Code and can be found by clicking on the Mississippi Code link and then the "Bill Status/1997 Bills" link. Once there you can select the 1997 bills by clicking on the "1997 bills" link and then following the links to the bill you wish to view. The bill status is found by clicking on "Bill Status". You will see two blanks or fields to search on the bill status page. Be sure to read the Help file found on that same page to learn how to use the bill status and to keep up-to-date with new instructions and additions. The bill status search is very diverse and allows a multitude of searches.  The 1997 Bills and bill status is included with a subscription to the code.

    (c). Attorney General Opinions:  Attorney General Opinions are available from 1978 to 1997.  The opinions can be selected from yearly indexes by date or from search engines.  The search engines allow a full text search as well as a date, docket number, and requestor's name. The full text search is the same as the Supreme Court search so you must use the connectors "and/or/not".  Search terms found are highlighted in red.  The cites to the Mississippi Code in the opinions are linked to the code so you can quickly move to an applicable code section if you subscribe to the code.  The Supreme Court sites are also linked but do not function at this time because the opinions before 1995 are not yet available on the Web. You may also encounter some cites to code sections that result in a "File Not Found" message. This is usually because the code section has been repealed and no longer exists.  You can locate the opinions by clicking on the "Attorney General" link on the front page.  The Opinions are available for free at this time, but will soon only be searchable by subscribers.

    (d). Summary of Subscription Services:  The subscription services offered on the MLWWWD domain are the following:

                a.    Mississippi Code and 1997 Bill Status and 1997 Bills. - Offered as separate    subscription. http://www.mscode.com - $249.00 per year single user. $149.00 for non-profit and government.
                b.    Legal Forms - Over 1000 legal forms. Includes access to search court rules, annotations to court rules and access to Internet Guide. http://www.mslegalforms.com. $448.00 per year.
                c.    1997 Bill Status and 1997 Bills - Included with Code Access.
                d.    1998 Bill Status - Offered as separate subscription.
                e.    Mississippi Code, 1997 Bill Status, Legal Forms, Court Rules, Guide - Offered as combined subscription with overall 10% discount.
                f.    AG Opinions 1978-1997 - Open at this time.
                g.    MEC opinions and summaries - Open at this time.
                h.    State Department Regulations - Open at this time.

    (e). Summary of Law Firm Listings Services:  Listing your law firm is available as follows:

                a.    Law Firms Homepage - Alpha and areas of practice listings. $120.00 per year.
                b.    Mississippi Bar Directory
                            i.    Area of Practice Listing - Included with Law Firms Homepage listing.
                            ii.    E-Mail Listing - $5.00 setup charge.
                            iii.    Link to homepages are included with i. and ii.
                c.    Homepage construction and hosting. - $50.00 per hour. Cost range $500.00 up.  Hosting $45.00 per month. Updates available.
                d.    mslawyer.com E-Mail addresses. - $5.00 per month. U. OTHER LEGAL RESOURCES ON THE WEB

    Many legal resources are available on the Web from the Federal and State systems. The federal resources include the United States Supreme Court Opinons. There are several sites that offer the Opinions and also specialized sites that offer selected opinions back as far as the 1950's. The opinions from the Federal Circuit courts are available as well as some District Court opinions.

    The entire United States Code is online and is very comprehensive and easy to use and search. This is one resource that is actually easier to use on the Internet than any other means of which I am aware.

    The Code of Federal Regulations and Congressional Record are also online.

    State resources include opinions from many State Courts as well as Statutes.

    Other resources include law journal Web sites that offer complete law journal articles online, court rules, uniform laws, and others.

    There are many indexes of Web resources available. One such index is the Mississippi Lawyers Legal Resource Index. Other indexes include the following:

  • Meta-Index for Legal Research
  • Georgia State University College of Law
  • Hieros Gamos
  • REFLAW Contents
  • American Law Sources Online
  • Counsel Connect Law Links
  • The Crossroads from the Seamless Web Site
  • The DAWG's LawJical Resources
  • Electronic Legal Source
  • Emory Law Library Electronic Reference Desk
  • U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library
  • Internet Legal Resource Guide
  • Internet Resources for First Year Law Students
  • Law Forum
  • LawInfo
  • Law Journal EXTRA!
  • LawLinks.Com
  • Lawref.com
  • Law Marks
  • LAWS.COM:
  • Lawyers Legal Research Network
  • 'Lectric Law Library
  • The Legal Pad
  • Legal Domain Network
  • Legal dot Net(tm)
  • The Legal List
  • Legal Research Room
  • Legal Resource Network (LeaRN)
  • Legal Resources
  • The Practicing Attorney's Home Page
  • Substantive Law on the Web
  • World Wide Legal Information Association
  • WWW Virtual Library
  • W3 Lawyer
  • Yahoo Law
  • FindLaw
  • Research-It
  • Court TV
    • Hieros Games is a legal site on the web sponsored by Lex Mundi, a global association of 133 independent law firms. The site offers many links to legal resources, as well as databases for experts, court reporters, private investigators and process servers.

    The legal resources site we highly recommend is called Findlaw and is located at http://www.findlaw.com. The site not only provides links to resources but also links to other indexes. It is updated on a regular basis and is maintained by Stanford University.

    The United States Patent and Trademark Public is an excellent site, as well as the United States Copyright Office. Another site, the Copyright Website is also a good site and contains a step-by-step guide to filling out an application.

    V. LAW FIRM WEB SITES

    Besides being a place for legal resources, the Web is also an excellent way to market your law firm. Law firm Web sites on the Internet are an inexpensive, useful and effective way to communicate to the public the expertise of your firm. Hundreds of firms across the country have Web sites and more are coming on line every day. Today a law firm's home page on the Internet is as requisite as a proper letterhead. There are many reasons to have a Web site and according to the experts, "you can't afford not to be on the Web regardless of your firms size or practice areas." Your Law Firm's Web Site, by: Jeffery A. Beard, Lawyers PC Newsletter, April, 1996. The monthly storage cost for your Web site is usually no more than $45.00. Costs for construction of a Web site range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars for large firms. According to the experts, the most important aspects of a law firm Web site are (1) planning, (2) legal Internet specialist assistance and (3) location. Therefore, you should plan what information you want to publish, hire an Internet legal Specialist to construct the site and locate the site where it will be easily found. The information you publish may include firm history, directories of staff, departments, biographies of attorneys, newsletters, articles and much more. Many firms emphasize their expertise in specific areas of law by focusing the information they publish on those areas. Simply placing your Web site on the Internet is now and will be more so soon, like placing a needle in a hay stack and asking someone to find it. Therefore, you must locate or link your site where it will be easily found. You can do this in Mississippi by listing it on the MsLawyers Domain, as well as national law firm sites. The Mississippi law firms page of the MSLawyer Domain lists law firms by the alphabet, practice area and the city E-Mail directory. You can read more information about law firm Web sites or request a Web site or link to the city Mississippi Law firms directory on MsLawyer.

    Reasons to have a Website.

  • Information placed there is accessible to 50 million people and everyone in their City and State that has access to the Internet. The number of people with access to the Internet is growing by thousands a day.
  • Many law firms receive referrals from out of state and the mere existence of a Web site, not even considering the information you can provide thereon, shows that you have a progressive firm.
  • Referrals from in state are also fostered because other attorneys and the public can easily select a firm with the qualifications to meet their Client needs.
  • Many law firms are publishing articles, newsletters and other writings such as briefs and law subject specific information on their Web site. Law firms that limit their practice are especially using this means of publication to demonstrate their expertise and many law firm Web sites are becoming a highly used information source or link. i.e. environmental law and estate planning.
  • Basically all law firms are listed on the Internet in one or more directories or yellow page type sites, including your firm. Some have name, address and phone numbers, while others have brief descriptions of the firm. However, these directories are no substitute for a Web site because a Web site is more informative and you control the information. The city listing temporarily linked on the Mississippi Law Firms Web site simply lists the name, address (without zip code) and phone number. This is useful to other attorneys and people who are looking for your phone number but hardly a substitute for a Web site that clearly identifies your firm and services you offer.
  • The "Mississippi Law Firms" page on the Mslawyers domain provides a State specific location for the public and other firms to find your Web site. Placing your Web site on the Web without being listed in such a location will quickly get lost under the mounds of other law firms on the Internet.

  • Recommendations for Law Firm Web Sites
  • Images: All the experts recommend that you keep images to a minimum both in number and size. The more images and the larger, the longer it takes a page to load. Users thereby become frustrated and you often lose them as potential viewers of you information. Use of the same image or logo on different pages decreases loading time on the second page.

  • Backgrounds: Image file backgrounds increase the time it takes your page to load. They should be very carefully used because using backgrounds could increase loading time by 5-6 seconds or more, may not appear the same on all monitors and may make reading the text difficult, if not impossible. If you use a dark background, text should be a bright color such as white or yellow. However, you should remember that if you choose a white font users unfamiliar with various printing options may receive a blank page when they attempt to print your materials. The most recommended backgrounds are light in color. The experts tell us to remember that we are trying to convey a message, usually by text or familiar logos, and that more attention should be focused on that goal, rather than attempting to make something pretty but not user friendly.

  • Clicking vs. Scrolling: The most user friendly sites we have previewed are set up on a "screen view" or "clicking" design rather than the scrolling design. Experts recommend that no more than two pages of scrolled material should be used except for certain special materials where scrolling enhances the users ability to comprehend your pages. As the Web makes it way through the ongoing changes, where business rather than entertainment takes precedence, more and more user friendly designs will be used.

  • Use established Logos: If you already have a "logo" such as font style for your firm name, photo of your office sign or entrance, or something similar, it makes no sense to try to develop a new one. Simply take what you presently have available, such as a firm brochure or photograph and begin there with your design.

  • Cost - The cost of a Web site for your firm can vary from $250.00 to several thousand dollars for larger firms. Most, however, can be constructed for only a few hundred dollars. Be sure your page will be easily located and accessible to the public in Mississippi by locating, or linking it to the Mississippi Lawyers WWW Domain.
    • LawNetCom offers special rates to law firms for the
    design, construction, storage and maintenance of your Web site.


    W. SEARCH ENGINES ON THE INTERNET

    There are many different search engines on the Internet and different people will prefer different engines when searching for information on the Web. One place to find almost all of the major search engines is the All-in-One Search Engine site. This site has linked many of the search engines on one page with a description of each listed. Another site is The Guide to Searching the Internet, but this site is also a listing on search engines with some commentary. It appeared slower than the other sites. A very detailed description of search engines is Systematic Overview of Search Indexes. A somewhat more complicated and technical site about search engines is the Searchable Resource Lists with Documentation site. A multiple search engine is one that uses more than one search engine to search your request. For example, to search Exite, Webcrawler and Infoseek all at the same time. A great site for selecting multiple search engines is the Index of Multiple Search Engines site. This site also provides a Browsing and Searching Internet Resources guide. Finally, several search engines are also linked at a search.com site.

    There are also search engines linked under the Directory Button on the Netscape Directory that provide a description of many of the engines available.

    You should spend some time exploring the search engines available and select the ones you like best to be your primary search engines. However, that you should use several search engines when looking for information because different engines may have different sites listed. We have linked on the MSlawyers Domain the search engines we recommend under MSlawyers Search Engines http://www.mslawyer.com/searchlst.html. That site also lists directories to locate businesses and people in the United States, Wealth Search Engines, and a dictionary and thesaurus link.

    Do a test search with:

    Excite NetSearch Database of over 1 million Web pages

    X. DIRECTORIES ON THE INTERNET

    This section discusses directories on the Internet used to find people, businesses, addresses, phone numbers and maps. A list of some of the directories on the Interent is located at http://www.mtm.kuleuven.ac.be/Services/search06.html. We have listed on the MSlawyers Domain the Directories that we use to locate people and businesses at http://www.mslawyer.com/searchlst.html. They are the following:

    American Directory Assistance - This is an excellant directory for locating the phone number and address of anyone in the United States that has a listed phone number. There is also a link to "map it" and you can also quickly locate a map to the persons home, where available. Many Mississippi Cities and courties are mapped.

    YellowNet Business Directory - A great site for locating over 10 million United States Business phone numbers by name or subject and location.

    BigBook - Another people and business directory.

    American Business Pages - Another business directory.

    This directory database allows you to locate virtually any business or person in the world.

    Y. E-MAIL

    E-Mail is the most used service available on the Internet. The Netscape Mail program that comes with Netscape version 2.0 or greater is an excellent program. Microsoft exchange is also a good E-Mail program. Separate programs such as Eudora Mail operate fine but are not as user friendly as Netscape Mail or Microscoft Exchange. Between Netscape Mail and Microsoft Exchange we recommend Netscape Mail.

    An E-Mail address is given to every access account by an ISP. The E-Mail address will generally be your user name and the name of the server you are using to access the Internet. You may also access on one server and E-Mail on another server. An example of an E-Mail address is msbar@mslawyer.com.

    You will want to make sure your E-Mail is properly set up under "Options" in the Netscape Browser. To do this select "Options - Mail and News Preferences." Under "Identity" make sure your user name is correct. Under "Servers" make sure you type your name, correct E-Mail address, Company and add a signature. The reason you should complete this is so the recipient of mail will know who you are when they receive your E-Mail message. In addition a signature allows you not to have to type your name on every message. Your signature should include your name, address, phone, fax and E-Mail address. This will allow people to easily call if they need to and will give them the same information you provide on your letterhead. To setup a signature use any wordprocessor or Windows Notepad and type the information. Save to a file name and then go to "Options - Mail and News Preferences" and "browse" to locate the signature file. If you use a Word Processor make sure you save the file as an ASCII DOS file.

    With E-Mail you can send, receive, attach documents, save, copy and paste, foward, reply and delete messages.

  • Send - To send a message you can select an E-Mail message on a Web site and your E-Mail send screen will appear with the E-Mail address already located in the "TO:" column. Add a subject, type your messages and select send. The message will be sent to the address. If you get an error message it may be that the E-Mail address no longer exists or is incorrect. Sometimes a message will be returned to you as undeliverable. When it does, it is probably not a valid address.

    Another way to send mail is to select the envelope on the bottom right of your Netscape Browser. Your E-Mail program will open and you can select "To:Mail" to send a message. You can then type the address or if you have saved the address in your address book, select the address from there. Then add a subject, type your message, and select send. You can use Tab to move from address to subject to the space to type the message.

  • Receive - To receive mail type your password when you open the Mail program. If you are already in the E-Mail program select "Get Mail" and type your password. If you have already checked your mail once since you have been online, the password will not be required if you check it again before you sign off line. To view your mail, highlight the name and the message will be at the bottom of the screen. If the bottom of the screen is not open, use your mouse and open the view message window. To do this, pull your mouse down until your pointer turns into a double line, hold your left mouse button and pull up. Another option is simply to maximize the E-Mail program screen.

  • Reply - To reply to an E-Mail message, simply highlight the message and select "Re:mail." Type your reply and select "Send." Your reply will be mailed to the sender and will contain his/her original message and your reply.

  • Forward - You can also forward E-Mail messages that you receive to another E-Mail address. To do this, select "forward", type the E-Mail address where you want the message forwarded, type a message if you like and select "send". The forwarding procedure is especially useful when you want to forward messages to yourself such as from your home to the office.

  • Save - You can save an e-mail message with the following procedure; select file, save as, select the directory where you want the message saved, name the message file and then select O.K. This will save the message to the file name that you typed and you will be able to retrieve and view the message in any word processing program or your Netscape browser. This method can be used when you receive documents and you want to modify or revise the document for your own use or to resend to the sender after the revisions.

  • Copy and Paste - You can copy and paste from E-Mail messages just like you can from the Internet or your word processing program. To copy a message or a portion of it, place your pointer at the beginning of the section you want to copy, hold down your left mouse button and highlight the portion that you want to copy. Release the left mouse button, select "edit," then "copy." The text you highlighted is now in your clipboard memory which is a location that temporarily saves text or images. To use the information that you have copied, you open the program where you want to use the copied text, then select "edit," then "paste." The copied text will now be in the program for you to revise or use.

    Examples: You copy an order that was sent to you in e-mail then open or send a message, paste the order in the new message, make revisions to the order and then mail to the sender or other appropriate person. You copy an order and then open word perfect and make the revisions and print the final document.

  • Print - To print a message simply select "Print."

  • Attach Documents - You can attach a document to an E-Mail message in basically any format. However, when attaching documents, you need to be sure that the format that you send can be viewed or converted for viewing by the recipient. It is always safe to send documents in ASCII text. ASCII text is simply the text contained in a document without codes such as "BOLD."

  • Delete - Deleted mail from your "In" box is transferred to trash. To delete highlight the message and select delete.

  • Address Book - You can add a persons name and E-Mail address to the address book for easy retreival. This is used for people that you routinely comunicate with by E-Mail.

  • Trash - This is the location deleted mail is stored until you delete it from trash. Until you delete it from trash , you can still view, print and reply to a message.

  • Encrypting E-Mail messages. Most of the encrypton software uses public key encryption. Public key encryption uses two different keys, one public and one private. The public key is used by the sender to encrypt the message and the private key is used by the recipient to decrypt the message. Both the public key and the private key belong to the recipient. However, the public key is disclosed so senders will know how to encrypt mail to that person if encryption is desired. ViaCrypt PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) appears to the be most popular encryption available at this time.

    • Z. MAILING LISTS

    Mailing lists use electronic mail to support on-line discussions. Like non-electronic gatherings, discussions range from casual to structured. Mailing lists support communities whose members may be separated by thousands of miles and who may never synchronize schedules. Mailing lists are also referred to as LISTSERVS.

    What is a mailing list?

    A mailing list is an email address that stands for a group of people rather than for an individual. Mailing lists are usually created to discuss specific topics. Anybody interested in that topic, may (usually) join that list. Some mailing lists have membership restrictions, others have message content restrictions, and still others are moderated. Most "public" mailing lists have a second email address to handle administrative matters, such as requests to be added to or deleted from the list. All subscription requests should be sent to the administrative address rather than to the list itself!

    How do I contact the administrator of a mailing list rather than posting to the entire list?

    Today there are two main methods used by mailing list adminstrators to handle requests to subscribe or unsubscribe from their lists. The administrative address for many lists has the same name as the list itself, but with "-request" appended to the list name. So, to join the ietf-announce@cnri.reston.va.us list, you would send a message to ietf-announce- request@cnri.reston.va.us. Most often, requests to a "-request" mailbox are handled by a human and you can phrase your request as a normal message.

    More often today, especially for lists with many readers, administrators prefer to have a program handle routine list administration. Many lists are accessible via LISTSERVE programs or other mailing list manager programs. If this is the case, the administrative address will usually be something like "listserv@host.domain", where the address for the mailing list itself will be "list@host.domain". The same listserve address can handle requests for all mailing lists at that host. When talking with a program, your subscription request will often be in the form, "subscribe ListName YourFirstName YourLastName" where you substitute the name of the list for ListName and add your real name at the end.

    The important thing to remember is that all administrative messages regarding using, joining, or quitting a list should be sent to the administrative mailbox instead of to the whole list so that the readers of the list don't have to read them.

    There are hundreds of legal mailing lists available on the Internet on various subjects. A site that discusses and lists many mailing lists is located at http://www.cais.net/sunburst/maillist.html.

    AA. NEWSGROUPS

    Newsgroups are where people post messages for other interested people to read. The Newgoups can be accessed in Netscape under "Window - Netscape News". There are thousands of newsgroups about thousands of subjects. Legal Newsgroups are located at http://nic.zcu.cz/services/news/groups/misc.legal.html. I really have not used news that much but understand from those that have that some can be useful, especially very specialized groups.

    BB. HOW TO?
  • Save (Download) Documents from the Web to your hard drive - There are several ways to save documents to your hard drive. One way is to select the document so you are viewing it on the screen. Then select "File"-"Save file", locate the directory on your hard drive where you want to save the file, rename the file if necessary with an .htm extension and select "OK".

  • Save Images - To save an image, point to the image with your mouse, click your right mouse button, select "save image," select the directory where you want the image saved, rename the image, if necessary, and select OK. The image will be saved to your hard drive and you will be able to view the image off line in your browser or with another program such as Paint Shop Pro.

  • Using PKunzip - "PKunzip refers to a file compression program. Many times several files are compressed in a single file and placed on the Web for downloading. Each week the Supreme Court opinions are zipped or compressed into a single file and placed on the Web for downloading by those that use that procedure. After downloading the file, the file is unzipped and all opinions are extracted into their original files.

    Other programs such as Drag and File, and WinZip also perform compression techniques. However, I will explain the PKunzip procedure.

    First, you must have PKunzip.exe on your computer. If you don't you can go here to download a copy. Please follow the directions.

    Second, now that you have PKunzip, find a zip file and save to your hard drive. Select the file, then "save", select the directory where you want the file and save.

    Third, go to the Dos prompt c: on your computer. Change to the directory where you saved the zip file, i.e. C:\ed\1996.

    Fourth, type "pkunzip filename.zip", i.e. pkunzip cases.zip, and select enter. The files should be extracted and you should be able to view them in your word processor.

    • CC. LOCATING PEOPLE AND E-MAIL ADDRESSES

    Note: The discussion on Directories covered the general issue of locating people and businesses in the United States. This discussion is about locating people on (i.e. E-Mail address or homepage) the Interent One place to locate people on the Internet is WhoWhere http://www.whowhere.com/. A site which describes many ways to locate people is provided by Netscape and is located at http://home.netscape.com/escapes/people/index.html

    DD. ONLINE GUIDES TO THE INTERNET

    Other guides to the Internet that you can access online are linked here. A viewable web version of "Why the Internet Matters to Attorneys" screen shown presentation is located at http://www.sblegal.com/sunburst/. A downloadable version is available for downloading with a free Lotus screen show player. I have found few on-line legal guides on the web. If you are aware of any, please let me know.

    Guides to the Internet, not necessarily legal in nature, number many. A questions and answers quide is located at http://nexus.brocku.ca/rogawa/rfc/rfc1325.03.html. Many other Internet and Web guides are located at http://www.brandonu.ca/~ennsnr/Resources/guides.html

    EE. ETHICS AND THE INTERNET

    There are many articles being written about the use of the Internet and ethics. The main thing to remember is the same general rules that apply to other advertising may apply to placing information on the Internet, although some argue that different rules should apply to Internet publication.

    Ethical implications of using E-Mail seems to be the most written about topic concerning ethics and the Internet. There are basically three matters that should be considered when using E-Mail:

    1. Maintaining Confidences: If you communicate by E-Mail concerning a clients' business and the E-Mail is ready by others, does that constitute a breach of your duty to keep your clients' business confidential? Must all E-Mail concerning a clients' business be encrypted? The experts say absolutely not to the second question. As to the first question, you may be in breach and should take precautions to avoid this pitfall. First, obtain the written consent of your client to use e-mail for the clients' business. Second, do not use E-Mail for highly sensitive matters unless the mail is encrypted. A highly sensitive matter may mean different things to different clients so you may want to specify what matters will not be sent by E-Mail. To learn how to encrypt mail call LawNetCom. Just like tapping your phone is a felony, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act reading electronic mail messages exchanged over public e-mail systems is a felony.

    2. Establishment of the Attorney/Client relationship: Be mindful when giving advice over the Internet that you may be establishing an attorney/client relationship. To avoid this, be sure you state whether an attorney/client relationship is desired and perform a conflicts check as you would with a traditional potential client.

    3. Unauthorized practice of law: Does transmission of an E-Mail message to a person in another state constitute the unauthorized practice of law in that state? As far as we know, no answer to this question has been given by any authority. However, the practical answer would seem to lead to the conclusion that this does not constitute the practice of law. If someone calls you on the phone from another state and you assist them, is that improper? We await an answer from a higher authority.

    FF. INTRANETS

    The Internet is changing the world and along with it the way we practice law. The Internet is also making an Intranet popular so much so that firms are just as interested in learning about Intranets than they are in the Internet.

    What is an Intranet? An Intranet is the use of Internet technologies within your firm or company to change the way you access data such as Wordperfect files, images of documents and so so.

    How is the Intranet related to the Internet? An Intranet uses the same hypertext and links that are used on the Internet. However, because you are operating on a local network the speeds are much faster. An Intranet may have access to the Internet but the Internet does not have access to the Intranet.

    How is an intranet solution better than a groupware solution? The bottom line difference between a WWW server and "collaborative" computing solutions such as Lotus Notes is design philosophy. Designed as a proprietary system in an area lacking widespread connectivity, Lotus Notes uses a proprietary database structure, which replicates data and does not provide quick access to remote databases.

    Can I set up an Intranet without a Web server? Yes. You can use your existing Network to set up an "intranet." You can do this by using Netscape as a browser and linking all files on your computer so that they can be accessed by a click of your mouse. Imagine not having to search for files using a directory structure like Wordperfect. Instead you select a hypertext subject link.

    GG. DON'T GET CONFUSED BY ON-LINE SERVICES

    Most of the on-line services, such as Compuserve, Prodigy, and America Online, offer some type of Internet access. The service they offer, however, is usually more expensive and of poorer quality than that received from an independent Internet Service Provider. The online services typically charge a monthly fee for a limited block of hours, plus an hourly fee for any additional time spent online. Some charge extra for Internet access, and may even restrict users from some internet websites. Most ISP's, on the other hand, charge a lower monthly fee for unlimited access

    HH. ESTABLISHING RULES FOR EMPLOYEES

    If you have access to the Internet through your network, direct access or just allow employees to use the web during working hours for business you may want to establish rules. Reasons to establish such rules some of which there are may follows:

    1. Access to the Internet gives access to the good and bad, the productive and the unproductive. It is simply human instinct to explore what one has not explored and to do what one should not do.

    2. The web can be addictive and different people will get hooked on different things. One may start "chatting" or playing with newsgroups and simply become addicted.

    3. Many employees will have access at home and can play after work.

    4. Of course, the reason for access is to benefit your firm and make it more productive. Needless browsing of the web or chatting simply costs you money.
    The bottom line is time. Make it clear to your employees allowable uses of the Internet during working hours as well as enforcement capabilities. There are methods built into Netscape that allow you to review all sites that have been accessed. To learn more call LawNetCom.

    II. LEGAL FILE MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

    There are several methods by which you can make information available on the Web even more useful. One way is to set up a directory on your hard drive for saving files that you may routinely want to view and use off-line thus eliminating the necessity of connecting to the Internet every time you want to view the document. You can periodically check the document for changes and resave to your hard drive as needed. If you are using a network you may desire to set up this type of file on the network for all users to have access.

    You can set up on your hard drive for saving these files by using one of several methods. One method is to create a directory in a desired location on your hard drive. If you using Windows 3.11 another method is to use the file manager to create the file. If you are using Windows 95 when you are in Netscape and select save file a box will appear. At the top right of the bos in a broken file. Click on the broken file to create a new directory, type the directory name and select o.k. to enter.

    Examples of files you may want to place in this directory include the following:
    (a) Supreme Court Directory
    (b) Circuit Court Directory
    (c) Chancery Court Directory
    (d) Chancery Clerk Directory
    (e) Circuit Clerk Directory
    (f) This guide
    (g) Other files you routinely access
    The reason for doing this is obvious you will have quick access by using Netscape offline to the entire directory of the Mississippi Judicial Directories.

    JJ. INTERESTING AND USEFUL WEB SITES
  • Free Download Products from Microsoft
  • PowerSearch Search Tool
  • Gateway Computers
  • PC Magazine online
  • The AmeriCom Long Distance AREA DECODER - An Area/City/Country Code Lookup Service
  • WhoWhere? Email Addresses - The largest worldwide directory of email addresses.
  • BigBook Directory Search
  • All-in-One Search Page
  • Search for an Acronym
  • Websters Hypertext Dictionary
  • The CIA World Fact Book
  • Biotechnology Dictionary
  • The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
  • Britannica On-line
  • Electronic Books by Title
  • America's Job Bank
  • CNN's Web Page
  • CNN World News
  • CNN U.S. News
  • USA Today
  • US News
  • WWW World News Today
  • USA CityLink
  • City Net
  • Federal Express
  • UPS
  • Airborne Express
    • There are new programs being developed every day to automate the web and make it even more user friendly. One such program is Freeloader, a program that automatically downloads selected web sites for viewing. The company states that "Freeloader can transfer web pages to your computer at my time of day, so you can go to school, to work, or to sleep, and your favorite sites will be waiting for you." It only works with Netscape at this time. It allows you to subscribe to your favorite web sites for automatic updates. The Freeloader software. Can be downloaded for the site which allows you to organize sites in 14 different catagories. This program also has a screen saver option.

    If you have professional liability insurance through Fox-Everett you can obtain free unlimited access to Lawyers Legal Research and Counsel Connect.

    As I understand Counsel Connect, it is a dialup on-line service that offers on-line discussion groups, seminars, news and e-mail. I would describe it as a small Prodigy or American On-Line service for the legal profession. Just as Prodigy and American On-line appear to be losing out to the Internet by "people in the know," the Internet would surely affect Counsel Connect. Like Prodigy and American On-line, Counsel Connect has added access to the Internet from their service. However, the problem is obvious. If you can get direct access to the Internet and massive resources, why would you use a dial-up on-line service with a back door to the Internet.

    Lawyers Legal Service (LLR) was and I believe still is a dial-up service that provided court opinions to small firms in a searchable database, State and federal opinions are available for various periods of time. LLR has a website that I understand is suppose to mirror the dial-up service. It was set up to be a subscription based service for court opinions. I assume that you can use the Inernet site with your free access from Fox-Everett. I understand projects are underway by universities to develop a free web database of all court opinions. If you need access to court opinions other than Mississippi and you have Fox-Everett insurance and don't want to have to search state sites, then LLR may be your best option at this time.



    Copyright 1996 by LawNetCom, Inc.
    P. O. Box 406, Brandon, MS 39043
    (601) 825-0382 -- Fax: (601) 825-0022
    E-Mail: lawnetco@mslawyer.com
    Appendix I

    Appendix of Internet Terms

    56K Line
    A digital phone-line connection (leased line) capable of carrying 56,000 bits-per-second. At this speed, a Megabyte will take about 3 minutes to transfer. This is 4 times as fast as a 14,400bps modem.
    See also: Bandwidth, T-1

    ADN
    (Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually a 56Kbps leased-line.

    Anchors
    Links, from the other side of the picture--anchor is HTML-lingo for a text or image link to any other document.

    Anonymous FTP
    A File Transfer Protocol that lets anyone (regardless of whether he or she has a user name or password) transfer files from the server machine to his or her own.
    SeeFTP

    Application
    A computer program designed to specialize in a specific set of tasks. Word and WordPerfect are word processing applications; Excell and Quattro Pro are spreadsheet applications.

    Archie
    A software tool for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites.

    ARPANet
    (Advanced Research Projects Administration Network) -- Basis on which the Internet developed. Developed in the late 60's and early 70's by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area networking that would survive a nuclear war.
    See also: Internet

    ASCII
    (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) -- this is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc.

    Authentication
    A security feature, authentication lets users have access to information if they can provide a user name and password that the security system recognizes.

    Backbone
    A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a pathway within a network.
    See also: Network

    Bandwidth
    Refers to the amount of information sent through a connection. Measured in bits-per-second. A full page of english text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second.
    See also: 56K, Bps, Bit, T-1

    Baud
    The "baud rate" of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically "baud" is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - so a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).
    See also: bit, modem

    BBS
    (Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands of BBS's around the world.

    Binary Transfer
    A transfer of data between computers in which binary data is preserved; often the best type of transfer for software and graphic images.

    Binhex
    (BINary HEXadecimal) -- a method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII and other files may need to be converted.
    See also: ASCII

    Bit
    (Binary DigIT) -- The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
    See also Bandwidth, Bps, Byte, Kilobyte, and Megabyte

    Bitmap
    An electronic file that represents an image with a collection of bits. (A bit is smaller than a byte).

    BITNET
    (Because It's Time Network) -- A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are IBM VMS machines, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.

    Bounced Message
    A message that has been returned is known as one that has bounced. Usually this happens because the address was incorrect.

    Bps
    (Bits-Per-Second). How fast data is moved from one place to another. A "28.8 modem" can move 28,800 bits per second.
    See also:     Bandwidth, Bit

    Browser
    A software program that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources such as a Netscape Browser.
    See also: Client, URL, WWW

    BTW
    Electronic shorthand for by the way.

    Bye
    A log-off command that mens essentially "quit" or "exit."

    Byte
    Comsination of bits. Usually there are 8 bits in a Byte.

    CD
    A shorthand version of the commonly used command change directory.

    CDUP
    A shorthand version of the command change directory up, which is used at FTP sites to go from a subdirectory up to its parent directory.

    CERN
    The Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire--the European particle physics laboratory that was the birthplace of the World Wide Web.

    Client
    A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each Server requires a specific kind of Client.
    See also: Server

    Compressed
    (a) A term used to describe data that has been shrunk or "zipped." This process, performed by utility programs like PKZip, LHArc, and Zip, makes it possible to conserve storage space and to transfer files more quickly. (b) A process of shrinking motion picture files by leaving out some frames, retaining only as many as are necessary to create the perception of action. QuickTime and MPEG are examples of the use of this process.

    CWIS
    A menu-based system at a university that provides on-line information about the university. CWIS is short for Campus-Wide Information System.

    Cyberspace
    Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer", the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.

    Dedicated
    A line, server, or other piece of computer-associated equipment that has only one purpose; a dedicated line, for example, might be a phone line that leads only to your PC (or modem) and not also to a phone.

    Dial-Up
    A connection to a computer that is accomplished by calling on a phone line with a modem.

    Dir
    A shorthand version of the commonly used command directory. If at a DOS prompt or an FTP site you type dir and press "enter," you will see the contents of the current directory.

    Distribution
    A variation on the original software, usually enhanced, that is being distributed by parties who did not develop the software but who are licensed or permitted to add to and distribute the software. This differs from a version in that it does not represent a generation in the development of the software. Air Mosaic is an enhanced distribution of the original Mosaic.

    Domain Name
    The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names, e.g. 
            gateway.teclink.net
           mail.teclink.net
           www.mslawyer.co
    and so on. It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
    See also: IP Number.

    Download
    To transfer files to your machine from another machine.

    Drive
    A physical device on which you can store files. Each drive is identified by a letter (A:, B:, C:, etc.)

    Driver
    A program that tells your computer what to do with something added to your computer--a printer, mouse, sound board, etc.

    E-mail
    (Electronic Mail) -- Usually text messages sent from one person to another via computer.
    See also: Listserv, Maillist

    Emoticon
    See Smiley

    Encryption
    Disguising a message (by scrambling it) to prevent intruders from reading it.

    Ethernet
    A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.
    See also: Bandwidth, LAN

    FAQ
    (Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject.

    FDDI
    (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 time as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3 )
    See also: Bandwidth, Ethernet, T-1, T-3.

    File Transfer
    The transfer of a file from one computer to another over a network or via a modem.

    Finger
    An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites.

    Firewall
    A security system that creates an electronic barrier protecting an organization's network and PCs from access by outsiders via the Internet.

    Flame
    A very unfriendly, often violent, written attack against someone in an electronic forum such as a newsgroup or message area. (A flame war occurs when both parties engage in and continue such an exchange, perhaps even inspiring others in the newsgroup or message area to take sides.

    Form Support
    To support is to allow for, or to be capable of using; a program that has form support is one that allows for (is capable of using) on-screen forms, which are on-screen versions of the types of forms you'd usually see on paper.

    Free-net
    A network in a community providing free access to the Internet; often the Free-net includes the Free-net includes the community's own forums and news.

    Freeware
    Programs that are distributed free of charge by those who developed them.

    Front End
    The "face" you see on a program, its interface is also often called its front end. Sometimes, one program provides a front end for other programs or for viewing data or files. Thus, Air Mosaic is a front end for the Internet.

    FTP
    (File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name "anonymous". These sites are called "anonymous ftp servers".

    FYI
    Electronic shorthand for for your information.

    Gateway
    A hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example, a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format.

    Gopher
    A method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program which is built into Netscape. Gopher is being largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web).
    See also: Client, Server, WWW, Hypertext

    Graphical
    Represented by pictures or icons.

    GUI
    Short for graphical user interface; a gui provides a way for you to ineract with yoru computer by pointing and clicking or otherwise manipulating pictures and icons on the screen.

    Hack
    To fiddle around "behind the scenes" in a program or system, presumably to make improvements or to find out how the thing works. (A "hacker" is actually someone who makes funiture with an axe. No kidding.)

    Header
    The information at the head or top of a page, as in the message header contining the To:, From:, and Time/Date information in an e-mail message.

    Hit
    A single access of an Internet resource (example: the Enterzone home page gets over 2,000 hits per day).

    Host
    Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET
    See also: Node, Network

    Hotlist
    In Mosaic, a list of your favorite URLs.

    HTML
    (HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web.
    See also: HTTP, Hypertext, Mosaic, WWW

    HTTP dd>(HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end (Netscape), and an HTTP server program on the other end.
    See also: Client, Server, WWW

    Hypermedia
    Hypertext combined with graphics, sound and even video.

    Hypertext
    Generally, any text that contains "links" to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.

    IMHO
    (In My Humble Opinion) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that the writer is aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion. One of many such shorthands in common use online, especially in discussion forums.

    Inline Image
    A graphic in a Web page--the graphic that is viewed without being downloaded.

    Interface
    The "face" a program shows you, with which you interact.

    IP Number
    Sometimes called a "dotted quad". A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.
    205.229.32.2
    Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - either temporary or permanent. When you dial into your local service provider, your computer is assigned a