Apple's i0S 8.3 Reveals More Diverse Emojis

Users have spoken and Apple has created!

The Next Web recently reported that consumers requests were heard. Emoji's on the i0S 8.3 will have different skin tones and further country flags. A little taste of what's to come is below.

photo taken from The Next Web

-Rachel Spence, Law Clerk

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Will Microsoft's Surface be the Tablet for Lawyers?

Though I'm a long-time Windows user, I've certainly done my best over the last couple of years to warm up to Apple's clearly superior mobile and tablet products.

To be sure, though,  I haven't quite succeeded.  Subconsciously, I keep asking myself the same nagging question: "Why can't I do all the stuff on my iPad that I've been doing for almost twenty years on my PC?

On this fundamental question, Microsoft's new Surface tablet could be a game-changer.

We'll see - but if, as promised, it actually will be able to seamlessly run all Windows-based software, I expect to be near the very front of a long line of lawyers clamoring to acquire this new, strangely innovative product that merely lets us do all the things we've always been able to do, the way we know how to do them.

One can only hope.

For more reading, see: Why Microsoft's Surface Tablet Shames the PC Industry

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Personalized Search and "Filter Bubbles"

Do personalized search algorythms inevitably narrow the information that we access? Eli Pariser discusses "filter bubbles" at Ted:

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Nigerian, Canadian Scammers Who Bilked Lawyers Indicted in Pennsylvnia

It is unclear whether these indictments relate specifically to the infamous collaborative law scams, but this is good news, nonetheless, via ABA Journal:

Federal prosecutors have indicted six people in a $32 million Internet collections scam that victimized 80 lawyers in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Alabama and Georgia.

The indictment accuses five Nigerians and one Canadian of wire fraud and conspiracy, the Patriot Newsreports. The scam also operated in Canada, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, China and Singapore.

The indictment in the Middle District of Pennsylvania follows a multiyear investigation, the story says. Although the indictment alleges wrongdoing in four states, similar scams are operating throughout the United States.

...The scam worked this way: An e-mail would seek a lawyer’s help collecting a debt, divorce settlement or other money. Then the lawyer would be contacted by a purported representative for the person or company owing the money who would offer to pay the debt. When the lawyer received the check, he or she would deposit it, and then would wire the funds to an Asian bank before discovering the check was fraudulent.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Ontario Judge Orders Google, Bell to Release Blog IP Information

Ontario Superior Court Justice Nancy Mossip has ordered Google and Bell Sympatico to produce IP and other information to enable the identification of individuals associated with an allegedly defamatory political blog published from Meaford, Ontario.

Owen Sound Sun Times reports:

A court order Friday has moved Meaford another step closer to finding whoever was behind a blog the municipality's lawyer claims defamed the mayor and staff and disrupted the recent election.

The order requires both Google Inc. and Bell Canada to provide by next Friday documentation Toronto-based lawyer Adam Ezer has requested on behalf of Meaford. Superior Court Justice Nancy Mossip made the order in Owen Sound court Friday morning.

...Meaford council has directed lawyer Adam Ezer to find out who was behind the blog, which became an issue in the recent Meaford mayoral race between incumbent Francis Richardson and Coun. Jim McPherson.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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The Last Windows... Ever?

James Gardner, Chief Technology Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK, on a recent organization-wide upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7:

....Personally, I think it likely this is the last version of Windows anyone ever widely deploys, though.

The reason? I think they'll be fewer workloads that actually require a heavy deskop stack. Today, of course, we have all this legacy that's coupled to the desktop, but in a decade, I really doubt that will be the case. Most stuff will arrive via the browser.

Furthermore, its not impossible to imagine that they'll be ubiquitous wirless networking everywhere, even those difficult places outreach workers sometimes have to go. So we won't need a heavy desktop stack in order to make sure offline works.

....That's obviously over because most of the action is now happening in the datacentre (or the cloud).

From a strategic point of view, if you're designing the future technology estate of a large organisation, that last thing it makes sense to do in this kind of context is build stuff that depends on a desktop stack. Furthermore, decoupling legacy from the desktop stack also has to be on the agenda, because you just can't count on that stack being relevent in 10 years time.

It feels funny, doesn't it, thinking about Windows in the context of it being irrelevent, after all these years we've relied on it. I guess it proves, again, that change is the only constant.

That future appears to be more near than we typically consider.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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“There Will Be No Further Bricks and Mortar Courthouses Built after 2015″

Our friend, David Bilinsky summarizes his Take Aways from the Canadian Forum on Court Technology, held in Ottawa last week.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Social Media Ubiquity Update

From New York Times:

Facebook, which surpassed MySpace in 2008 as the largest social-networking site, now has nearly 500 million members, or 22 percent of all Internet users, who spend more than 500 billion minutes a month on the site. Facebook users share more than 25 billion pieces of content each month (including news stories, blog posts and photos), and the average user creates 70 pieces of content a month. There are more than 100 million registered Twitter users, and the Library of Congress recently announced that it will be acquiring — and permanently storing — the entire archive of public Twitter posts since 2006.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Lawsuit: Pennsylvania School's Laptops Used to Spy on Students

A federal lawsuit alleges that a Pennsylvania school used laptop video cameras to spy on its students at their homes:

A suburban school district used webcams in school-issued laptops to spy on students at home, potentially catching them and their families in compromising situations, a family claims in a federal lawsuit.

Lower Merion School District officials said the laptops "contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops," and that the feature was deactivated Thursday. Angry students already had put tape on their laptop cameras and microphones.

...The school district can activate the webcams without students' knowledge or permission, the suit said. Plaintiffs Michael and Holly Robbins suspect the cameras captured students and family members as they undressed and in other embarrassing situations, according to the suit.

Such actions would amount to potentially illegal electronic wiretapping, said Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which is not involved in the case.

...The Robbinses said they learned of the reported webcam images in November, when Lindy Matsko, an assistant principal at Harriton High School, told their son Blake that school officials thought he had engaged in improper behavior at home. The behavior was not specified in the suit.

"(Matsko) cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in minor plaintiff's personal laptop issued by the school district," the suit states. The behavior was not specified in the suit, which did not make clear whether the family had seen any photographs captured by school officials.

More here.

Professor Eugene Volokh comments:

If this was indeed done, and if it was done without adequately notifying the students and their parents, this was clearly tortious, likely a violation of the Fourth Amendment, and possibly a statutory violation as well (though I haven’t looked closely at the statutory details). It is also appalling — school officials spying on children in their parents’ homes without the children’s and parents’ permission. Who thinks up such things?

The Volokh commentary, however, also includes excerpts of the district school board's apparent denial of the students' allegations, which remain unproven:

The laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today....

Laptops are a frequent target for theft in schools and off school property. The security feature was installed to help locate a laptop in the event it was reported lost, missing or stolen so that the laptop could be returned to the student....

Upon a report of a suspected lost, stolen or missing laptop, the feature was activated by the District’s security and technology departments. The tracking-security feature was limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator’s screen. This feature has only been used for the limited purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever....

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Update: February 19, 2010

Associated Press: FBI Probing PA Webcam Case

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Which Cell Phones Emit the Most Radiation?

Blackberry and other smartphone addicts might be interested in the graphic below, via Web Pro News, and a new report from the Environmental Working Group, Limit Your Exposure to Cell Phone Radiation:

Analysis is here.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Data, Data, Data...

Our friend, Colm Brannigan, passed the link to this video along.

Bottom line - the world's existing data continues to grow exponentially. California mediator Victoria Pynchon argues that the net result of this ever-increasing document pile is an "impossibility of fully compliant document production:"

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Florida Court Imposes Sanctions for Failure to Preserve Blackberry Data

Law.com reports on a Florida court's ruling that pushes the envelope on the duty to preserve electronic data:

Numerous courts have imposed sanctions for failing to preserve e-mails and other electronic documents. But few decisions have addressed the consequences of destroying electronic information stored on portable electronic devices -- such as BlackBerrys and smart phones. This may be starting to change.

Recently, in Southeastern Mechanical Services Inc. v. Brody, No. 8:08-CV-1151, 2009 WL 2883057 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 31, 2009), the Middle District of Florida imposed spoliation sanctions for destruction of e-mails, calendar entries and text messages that were stored on portable electronic devices. This court's imposition of sanctions is an important reminder about the consequences of deleting information on such devices.

In particular, the court found it significant that information stored on the BlackBerrys at issue had not been fully synchronized to a corporate server -- and therefore destruction of information contained on the BlackBerrys was improper. Accordingly, both counsel and litigants should be apprised of the scope of the duty to preserve electronic information and should keep in mind that the duty to preserve such information likely extends to portable devices, such as BlackBerrys and smart phones.

This is a ruling that should raise concern among privacy advocates, given the mixed personal and professional use by many of their mobile devices.

Expansive electronic preservation and disclosure obligations may well render sensitive personal information vulnerable to exposure in civil and corporate litigation, not to mention employer-employee relationships.

It will be quite interesting to see how this trend is ultimately reconciled with a parallel emergence of decisions holding that an employee has a right to an expectation of privacy in personal communications made on employer-owned technology.

This issue will soon be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, as noted by the Missourian:

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case where it will decide whether employers have the right to monitor text messages sent on company pagers. City of Ontario v. Quon could establish new rules regarding workers rights for privacy on employer-owned electronics.

....Transcripts showed that Sgt. Jeff Quon sent his wife, girlfriend and another officer hundreds of personal messages. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Quon and other officers, ruling that they had a “reasonable expectation of privacy" and that the department violated the Fourth Amendment. It also found that the wireless provider violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by turning over the transcript. The San Francisco-based court’s decision is the first by a federal appeals court to find that the Constitution protects workers privacy rights when they are using electronic devices that their employers own.

The topic has also shown up in New Jersey’s Supreme Court. The state's highest court will decide if a home health care provider has the right to monitor all activity on the company’s technology systems includes one employee’s e-mails with her lawyer. Sent from a personal account on a company-owned laptop, the messages were about a lawsuit she was filing against the employer for sexual harassment and ethnic discrimination. A lower court determined the worker’s employee-client privilege outweighed the company’s policy.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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The Cheque To Go The Way of the Vinyl LP?

CBC reports:

Cheques will be phased out in the U.K. by late 2018, the agency that oversees payment systems in the country decided Wednesday.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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The "Cell Phone Energy Diet"

I mucho like this:

About the size of your average flashlight, the PEG takes the kinetic energy humans develop through physical activity and uses it to recharge small, electronic devices such as your phone, camera, or iPod.

...Place it in your bag or on your hip, attach it to the device that you need to charge using a standard USB cord, and the PEG does the rest. With each step you take, magnets inside the generator bounce back and forth off the springs inside it, creating electricity.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Parental Access Visits by Skype?

Access visitation with far-away children via Skpe - is it good enough, or not?

National Post reports on conflicting decisions in child mobility applications by Canada's family courts on yet another, new issue of the digital age:

Daily contact by video conference over the Internet is not sufficient access between a father and his children, a judge in British Columbia has ruled in turning down a mother's request to move to Australia.

The decision issued by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Hope Hyslop last week is the latest in an increasing number of family law disputes where one of the parents has proposed using online software such as Skype when seeking to move with their children a great distance from their former spouse. In at least four other cases in the past year, judges in B.C., Alberta and Ontario have cited Skype as one of the reasons that a parent was permitted to separate a child from the other parent.

"Electronic communication is not as desirable as in-person access, but it does allow for the child to keep in touch with her dad every day if she so wishes," said B.C. Supreme Court Justice Deborah Satanove in a recent decision.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Quoteworthy

MSNBC writer, Daniel Harrison on Google Wave, which reportedly heralds "either the death or the future of e-mail:"

All the average Joe wants to know, of course, is: Do I have to worry about all this Google Wave stuff or can I go back to poking people on Facebook for a few more months?

See: Google Wave: What is it? Why Should You Care?

Legal professionals may be particularly interested in David Carns' comments on the complications Google Wave will pose in the context of e-discovery and document retention:

The Wave allows you to use dynamic web technologies (such live maps, automatic content generation, live news content, etc) to augment each wave conversation. This means that, unlike email, a wave has the potential to change each time you view it. The idea of creating a TIFF image of a wave is as vexing as creating a TIFF image of a Facebook page - it may never be the same twice. Time and context in the wave matter just as much as content.

...Robots are participants in a wave, just like a client or colleague, but they are fully automated. Robots can check your typing for spelling errors and fix them. Robots can “sanitize” a wave, by going back and omitting expletives from some one’s text. Robots can even write whole paragraphs in a wave on your behalf (imagine a stock broker who mentions a stock in a wave to a customer and a Robot which immediately comes behind and inserts disclaimer text about risks and assurances). And although every action a Robot makes is recorded in a wave’s XML file (so we know what was automated and what was “hand-written”) there is the potential for lots of confusion about who wrote what and when.

Gadgets are possibly even worse for e-discovery. Gadgets are wave add-ons that extend the wave and add outside content. A Gadget can be a map, a slideshow to a Flickr photo gallery or local weather. They can look fancy, but in the end a Gadget is simply an XML file that can store data in a wave. What makes Gadgets frustrating from an e-discovery perspective is that Gadgets are hosted outside the Wave on a separate web server. In order to piece together the content of a Gadget, you will need to collect information not only from the Wave server, but also the web server that published the Gadget. It can get very confusing and it is leap-years more complex than today’s email.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Top 15 Wikipedia Blunders

Prostitution libels, premature death and then, there's the "eating domestic pets in pubs for money" problem...

PC World chronicles some of the not-so-accurate edits in the annals of Wikipedia.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Ten Years of Blogger

Google celebrated the tenth birthday of Blogger, the miraculous platform that hosts and operates this blog and millions of others, today.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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The Blackberry Bar

Lawyers Weekly writer Milton Kiang takes a look at the relationships between lawyers and our smartphones, and finds attitudes all over the map:

Lang Michener LLP banking partner Eric Friedman says matter-of-factly: “Clients have an expectation that you’ll always be in touch with the office. Not all clients are like that, but with the increase in the use of BlackBerrys, more and more clients carry that expectation.

“If you can’t provide that level of service, someone else will,” says Friedman.

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP corporate partner Martin Donner says that according to a legal survey he read several years ago, a lawyer’s availability is what clients value most. Donner says he checks his BlackBerry on evenings and weekends. “I do it because I haven’t left the planet. If there’s something I can do to help out, I’ll do it. Clients’ needs aren’t confined to regular hours.”

So where does one draw the line between work and personal life?

“It’s a source of frustration,” says one second-year Calgary litigation lawyer, who didn’t want to be named. “I don’t want to have my work attached to me all the time. Whenever you check your BlackBerry, it creates work. It doesn’t make sense to be checking your e-mail [on holidays and weekends] because the whole point is not to be working.”

Another Calgary lawyer, Clint Suntjens, a senior litigator with Litwiniuk & Company, refuses to carry a BlackBerry. “I don’t want to be checking my Blackberry 2 million times a day. Of course, if I’m in the office, I’ll check my e-mail messages.”

See the full article - Smartphone Etiquette: Where to Draw The Line?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Twitter, Facebook Attack Targeted Single User

Quite amazingly, much of the world's social media infrastructure was brought to its knees Thursday by a denial of service attack that was aimed at silencing one Georgian blogger.

CNET News reports:

A Georgian blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and Google's Blogger and YouTube was targeted in a denial of service attack that led to the site-wide outage at Twitter and problems at the other sites on Thursday, according to a Facebook executive.

The blogger, who uses the account name "Cyxymu," (the name of a town in the Republic of Georgia) had accounts on all of the different sites that were attacked at the same time, Max Kelly, chief security officer at Facebook, told CNET News.

"It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard," Kelly said. "We're actively investigating the source of the attacks and we hope to be able to find out the individuals involved in the back end and to take action against them if we can."

As Jordan Furlong has noted on Facebook, it is hardly reassuring to see the fragilities of our online infrastructure so nakedly exposed:

There's a happy thought -- Russian nationalists sticking it to a Georgian blogger can take down half the social networks worldwide.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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