How to tell if a ‘cease and desist’ letter from a lawyer trying to close your Website down is serious…

Click on Chilling Effects, and you will find all kinds of useful information about your legal rights and entitlements posted by law students from Harvard, Stanford and Berkeley. According to this New York Times piece, the site invites Internet users to submit the notices they have received, all of which will be annotated by the students. As the database grows, the site’s operators plan to publish a regular update that they hope will help document for legislators and others how intellectual property holders are using or abusing their rights.

What a great use of the Web!