The National Association of Counties publishes an excellent online US county directory search that allows you to hunt down county web sites, official contact information and public records sources with ease.

Use the Find A County map to find county information and public records for a given state.  Click on a state, select a county link to find county official contact information; county web sites ( if any ); county demographic information; county court locations and other county-related record information.

Not sure what county a city or zip code is located in?  Looking for a county official?  Use NACO’s search page to find these and other county-related information searches — County Searches and County Official Searches .   

The LexisNexis Accurint system is entering the corporate and business records search arena with a site called AccurintBusiness.com.  Business record searches will run from $1.99 – $4.00, depending on the information requested.   The site contains millions of records on both public and private companies.

You can read the full details at LexisNexis Accurint Business Broadens Access to Company Information by Barbara Quint @ infotoday.com .

William Bright, a creative New Yorker who runs a site called iPodSubwayMaps.com has received legal threats from the New York and Bay Area Rapid Transit Authorities for posting downloadable subway maps for the iPod on his site. 

His site contains dozens of downloadable iPod subway maps for major cities around the world, like the Paris Metro and London Underground as well as NYC and San Francisco.  The maps are convenient for subway riders with an iPod in any of these cities.

You can visit William Bright’s site at iPodSubwayMaps.com .

You can also read the full article iPod Maps Draw Legal Threats by Matt Reed @ Wired.com.   

The US Department of Justice has an excellent site devoted to requesting federal public records through the Freedom of Information Act. 

From www.usdoj.gov Freedom of Information Act site:

Like all federal agencies, the Department of Justice (DOJ) generally is required under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to disclose records requested in writing by any person. However, agencies may withhold information pursuant to nine exemptions and three exclusions contained in the statute. The FOIA applies only to federal agencies and does not create a right of access to records held by Congress, the courts, or by state or local government agencies. Each state has its own public access laws that should be consulted for access to state and local records.

The US DOJ FOIA site contains reference guides and principal FOIA contacts for major government agencies.  You can access the USDOJ FOIA site at Freedom of Information Act .

The free speech group Reporters Without Borders is offering a free downloadable guide ( in Adobe Acrobat’s pdf format ) for dissident bloggers located in countries that restrict criticism of the ruling government and policies.  The guide shows dissident bloggers how to get around censorship issues; protect their anonymity; practice journalistic ethics as well as how to publish and promote their blogs.  You can read more in an article Handbook Offers Tips For Cyberdissidents by Alorie Gilbert @ CNET News.com.

You can also download a free copy of the guide at
Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents at rsf.org.

An Italian computer programmer named Luca Mori accidentally discovered some ancient Roman ruins while messing around with Google Earth satellite images.  Property owners along the gulf coast have been using Google Earth satellite images to view property damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.  What will Google Earth ‘unearth’ next? Is it possible that Google Earth images or other modern searches and communications could foil terrorist attacks?  With a little creativity, who knows what you can find?  Read more at Google Earth Finds Roman Ruins @ RedHerring.com. 

Keystroke logger of the worst kind: a microphone by ZDNet’s David Berlind — Just when you thought anti-spyware technology was making it safe to compute again, researchers at the University of California have come up with a new form of spyware using some old technology: a microphone.  According to a story on ScientificAmerican.com, with 88 percent accuracy (after certain algorithms were applied), the researchers "successfully decoded what was [...]

CNET News is reporting that the Federal Aviation Administration has announced plans to require that airline cabin crews be equipped with a way to discreetly notify pilots of suspicious activities or security breeches in the cabin – and wireless devices may be the answer to the new government requirement.  Read more at Wireless Devices Could Foil Hijack Attempts by Declan McCullagh @ CNET News.com.

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 .