Technology

Surveillance Backlash in Britain

The U.K.’s famously state-of-the-art national surveillance system (at least compared to the U.S.), is suddenly taking it on the chin. A blog post today by the Pinsent Masons law firm says up to 95 percent of the closed-circuit television systems in Britain and Wales are illegal—and that may soon be…

Oct 1, 2007 6:50 PM CDT

Lawmaker: Feds Didn’t Spot Cyber-Attack

Saying that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t notice for months that its computer system had been attacked by hackers, a Congressman who works closely with the department is now seeking a new government investigation—and blaming the contractor in charge of the system for lax oversight. Meanwhile, the FBI reportedly…

Sep 24, 2007 7:12 PM CDT

Iraq Dealmeister’s Thoughts on Law, Life

After helping to put together a $1.25 billion deal for a national mobile telecommunications license in Iraq earlier this year, attorney Abdullah Mutawi, who heads the international telecommunications group at Trowers & Hamlins, took a few minutes to reflect on his life and practice. One of his best experiences, he…

Sep 10, 2007 11:39 PM CDT

New Practice Area: Data Security

An epidemic of computer laptop thefts has helped launch a new area of legal practice: data security. Between 600,000 and 1.5 million laptops are stolen annually, and an increasing number of lawsuits are being filed over the loss of large amounts of sensitive data that often results. Meanwhile, as new…

Sep 7, 2007 3:50 PM CDT

Microsoft Trial Win a Legislative Loss?

A stunning $1.52 billion verdict against Microsoft Corp. in a patent case earlier this month was the impetus for planned changes in U.S. patent law. But now that the computer megalith has succeeded in getting the federal jury verdict overturned, its courtroom win is likely to mean a legislative loss.…

Sep 5, 2007 3:58 PM CDT

Cost of Biggest Data Breach: $256 Million

It will cost at least $256 million to correct a massive data breach involving the theft of computerized information about 45 million credit and debit cards. Reportedly the biggest such security breach ever to occur in the U.S., the yearlong theft of computer data from TJX Cos., based in Framingham,…

Aug 15, 2007 6:31 PM CDT

Panelists Ask: Who Owns Your Genes?

Michael Crichton, who fills a rather unique niche in turning science into literary fiction, says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office goofed in dealing with one of the most fundamental aspects of life. It let our individual genes be patented by drug companies and other enterprises. And that is thanks…

Aug 13, 2007 12:12 AM CDT

Who Will Police Nanotech, Keep Us Safe?

Besides understanding that nanotechnology makes small stuff usable and usable stuff small, we need also recognize that what we know about it can fit on the head of a pin, and that the future is now. That was the backdrop for a panel discussion begun Sunday morning at the ABA…

Aug 12, 2007 6:36 PM CDT

Major Jacksonville PI Firm is Splitting Up

Two longtime law partners in Jacksonville, Fla., have agreed to an amicable split, saying that their plaintiff personal injury firm had grown so large they were essentially officing together rather than practicing together. Woody Wilner and Robert Spohrer now plan to dissolve the firm they formed in 1991 and go…

Jul 26, 2007 12:40 AM CDT

Camera ‘DNA’ May Nab Potter Bookjacker

Add digital cameras to the ever-lengthening list of modern technology that can be used as evidence to help prove a criminal or civil case. Experts say they have already identified the serial number of the three-year-old digital Canon Rebel 350 apparently used to take bootleg photos of the not-yet-released Harry…

Jul 19, 2007 6:47 PM CDT

Police: WiFi Enables Child Porn Users

In miracles of modern technology, cell phone transmission records can locate lost users and provide evidence to suggest alleged criminals were—or were not—at the scenes of their crimes. Cameras record practically everything that happens in public in London. And radio speakers reportedly installed by the government in every home in…

Jul 17, 2007 7:20 PM CDT

Cell Phone Calls Can Make, Break Cases

When Paul Cortez was tried for the murder of the stripper he had been dating, there was an unexpected witness against the New York actor—his cell phone. Records showed he had called her more than a dozen times in the two hours before her death, and then never again. Plus,…

Jul 16, 2007 9:33 PM CDT

Now Outsourced to India: Child-bearing

It isn’t just data entry, computer programming and some legal work that’s being outsourced to India these days. Infertile couples from the U.S. and other foreign countries are now paying women there to bear their biological children, in part because it costs less than hiring a surrogate mother at home,…

Jul 12, 2007 10:37 PM CDT

Justice Targets Export Law Violations

Companies that ship products abroad in violation of U.S. export laws could find themselves in the sights of a new amped-up Justice Department enforcement program. Billed as a crucial component of the war on terrorism, it seeks to prevent American technology from being stolen by foreign companies. Technology thefts are…

Jul 5, 2007 6:39 PM CDT

Bomb Image in Business Fax a Bad Idea

Among the new causes of action and subjects of potential claims constantly developing in the ever-changing American legal arena, add one to the list that some might consider a no-brainer – faxing an image of a bomb in an internal business communication. A faulty fax containing such an image, from…

May 31, 2007 6:37 PM CDT