Basic knowledge of Internet in forensic medicine: logging on, fetching files and information

The Internet stands at the forefront of telecommunications in medicine, including forensic medicine, since information technology (IT) has been able to revolutionize medical and scientific practices. Today, forensic physicians and professionals need to be familiar with the use of computers and the key applications of information technology: multimedia and the Internet. From the office, the forensic physician can communicate with other physicians by means of e-mail, take part in discussion groups, obtain information on meetings and get information from public libraries and various databases by means of file transfer protocol. The search among the huge amount of information is facilitated by the 'click and play' use of the Internet, by its increased ease and availability of access and by faster communications to an increasing number of accessible technical, scientific and biomedical resources. Therefore, it is useful to introduce some of the most frequent concepts encountered when exploring the Internet, to give simple references for any forensic physician exploring the Internet and to present typical Internet aspects by illustrations saved from worldwide websites and linked to the accompanying text. Some of the main forensic websites and basic Internet procedures are described, explaining how to search and exchange information in the domain of forensic medicine and sciences. Search engines and search procedures on the worldwide web are briefly explained. The aim of this paper is to give forensic physicians, scientists and law professionals some basic tools and references to access the vast possibilities of the Internet.