The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland decided to use a blog as an easy way to post press releases to the Web and do an RSS newsfeed at the same time.

So if you did a lot of federal criminal defense in Maryland, don’t you think you’d be setting up an RSS newsreader to automatically receive all of their press releases? Fast forward over the next few years as we insert Oklahoma Insurance Commission, Oklahoma Corportation Commission and many other agencies there and don’t limit it to press releases, but also include a PDF of agency rules and regs sent once a year, notices of hearings and dockets, decisions and so forth. The blog’s fine, but the big deal is all agencies doing RSS Newsfeeeds so interested parties can receive all of the infromation instantly- where it is the core items noted above or a notice of closing early and cancellation of hearings due to inclimate weather. Start lobbying the agencies that you think need an RSS feed now.

Thanks to Securities Litigation Watch blog and the White Collar Crime Prof Blog for the pointer.