Perspective: Cyberia

THE LAW AND THE NET: Are parents liable for acts their children do online? What kind of legal protections cover online credit card transactions? Jonathan Bick, a law professor and author, covers these topics and more in 101 Things You Need to Know About Internet Law ($12.95, Three Rivers Press).

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER: Singles who share a love for books also may have other things in common. That's the idea behind Single Booklovers (www.singlebooklovers.com), a 30-year-old service that says its goal is to help people get acquainted. The $72 initial membership cost includes a monthly newsletter with short, personal sketches of other members. The service acts as a middle matchmaker for those interested in contacting each other.

GETTING INTO A STORY: The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew didn't have the Web to help solve mysteries. Readers of Digital Detectives (www.ddmysteries.com) do, though, and surfing is necessary to solve the case. The Case of the Killer Bugs is a $4.95 book available from the Web site. The book gives a Web address so young readers can go online to do their sleuthing and find clues about the mystery.

LORD OF THE WEB: J.R.R. Tolkien fans will have to wait until December to see the first installment of the movie version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring. But the Web already has the trailer available at sites such as http://ramhurl.real.com/ smildemohurl.ram?file=channels/lotr/index.smi. And there's an abundant number of sites devoted to the author and his works, such as the Tolkien Society (www.tolkiensociety.org/), which offers a Tolkien biography and other information about his books and works about him.

IN PAPERBACK: Two Web-related books that won critical acclaim are out in paperback. The New New Thing (Penguin, $13) by Michael Lewis examines Silicon Valley culture through the success of Jim Clark of Netscape fame. Hackers (Penguin, $14) by Steven Levy profiles some of the people who propelled the technological revolution, such as Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak, in a work that was first published in the mid-1980s.

- Dave Gussow is the Times personal technology editor.

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright