Here is an opinion piece on Google’s plans to scan millions of books and make their texts searchable on the internet:  Google’s Digital Library Tests Law by the Associated Press on CNN.com.

Here is a an interesting development in "deep" or "invisible" web technology.  The article details how a start-up company called Glenbrook Networks is trying to bring together deep web resources into one search engine that would search numerous, separate databases at once.   You can read more about this at The Mining of the Invisible Web by Rikki Kirzner @ IT-Director.com .

The "deep web" is the part of the internet that is not typically indexed by the major search engines.  It includes searchable public record databases; company databases; non standard file formats ( like image files, audio files, adobe acrobat files etc. ).  The deep web contains a lot of useful information for skip tracers and private investigators.  A good overview of the deep web can be found at University At Albany, New York .

A directory of deep web and specialized web search engines can be found at 411 x 411 Deep Web and Specialty Search Engines .

While most search engines use keyword content to return page results to users, the Orion search engine, developed by Australian researchers, will return expert results based on content that is strongly related to the searched keywords and phrases.  This could be a great step forward in search engine technology for internet research.  For example,  a search for "people finder"  could possibly return expert results that are strongly related to that type of search, like skip tracing, skip trace, investigations, public records etc.

You can read the full article at Aussies Turn Web Search Upside Down by VNU Business Online Ltd and Top Tech News. 

Answers dot com  pulls information from dictionaries, glossaries, encyclopedias and atlases to return concise answers and facts on over a million topics, without all of the zillions of link results that you have to wade through on the major search engines.   

An interesting story out of South Korea about a software program designed to search through online message posts on portals, bulletin boards, personal home pages, online communities and, potentially, web logs to find key words and phrases like a search engine.

Although the software was originally designed for doing online market research and measuring public opinion, there is the fear that it can be used to monitor online comments about public figures ( and possibly everyday citizens ).

You can read the full article at Software tracks online comments @ JoongAng Daily.

Skip tracers and investigators, if you have a tricky internet research question or are looking for a particular research source online, why not ask the FreePint Bar?  FreePint is an online community of internet searchers and they also publish a free online research newsletter.  You do not need to register to post to the Bar, but you do need a valid email address.

You can post your search questions at FreePint Bar or visit the main FreePint Site .

As always, good luck with your people searches and internet research!

411 x 411 - The Best Free People Search Engines
Skipease - People Searches and Public Records Directory