Vogel Internet, Information Technology and e-Discovery Blog

Google Woes in the EU Include Conviction for Executives Over Video Posting

Peter Vogel — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:47:04 -0600

The recent conviction of 3 Google executives in Italy for a video posted on Google which showed the bullying of a disable teenager captured many headlines. No question that the video was in poor taste and Google took the video down within 24 hours of its posting after Google got 2 complaints. The conviction of the Google’s global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer and two other executives raises significant issues. A fourth Google executive was acquitted, and Google plans to appeal these convictions. Does it make sense that Google, or any other ISP (Internet Service Provider), be liable for content posted over which the ISP has no control? The US Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects ISPs from liability since they have no control over content posted. How Google fares with these convictions may have an interesting impact on ISPs around the world.

Google Street View May Breach EU Law

Only to make things more complicated recent reports that the Google’s Street View violates EU Data Protection laws since they retain the images for too long. As well it was reported that “Switzerland’s data-protection agency in November sued Google for allegedly failing to comply with proposals to make it harder to identify people and cars on Street View.” Of course disputes regarding Street View are not new since claims of breach of privacy have been under way since at least 2008 in Japan.

Google has More EU Antitrust Problems

ComScore recently reported that Google has about 79% of the searches in the EU and the EU renewed its investigation about Google anticompetitive behavior. Google claims that Microsoft may be the source of the investigation since Microsoft owns one of the companies that complained. It seems reasonable to assume that the search engine wars will continue, but how the EU ultimately rules may have a far reaching impact.

HEADLINE: FBI Director Warns of 'Rapidly Expanding' Cyberterrorism Threat

Peter Vogel — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:53:43 -0600

The Robert S. Mueller III's (FBI Director) warning is not a surprise but how the IT community deals with these threats impact us all. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano “admitted there is an urgent need to step up efforts to protect Americans from cyber attacks.” Also Ms. Napolitano’s predecessor Michael Chertoff, former DHS secretary, under President George W Bush, agreed. "We are seeing in the intervening time the adversaries, whether they be criminals or nation states or terrorists, are not taking time off. So with each passing year, the need to move faster becomes greater." So far new the Cyber Czar as been low profile, but based on these presentations at the recent RSA Conference that low profile cannot continue.

Cyber Crime: A Clear and Present Danger

Deloitte’s recent white paper is the result of the 2010 CSO (Chief Security Officer) CyberSecurity Watch Survey in conjunction with the CSO Magazine, the US Secret Service, and the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon. The white paper concludes that:

Data is more valuable than money. Once spent, money is gone, but data can be used and reused to produce more money. The ability to reuse data to access on-line banking applications, authorize and activate credit cards, or access organization networks has enable cyber criminals to create an extensive archive of data for ongoing illicit activities.

There is a clear message about how vulnerable businesses are and how every business must be vigilant or risk great damages.

Tweet this: Social Network Security is Risky Business

With the recent report of 50 million tweets a day it’s no wonder that a panel at the RSA Conference devoted a great deal of discussion to how vulnerable social networks are. Cybercrime is so easy because users of Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are easy marks since the feel at ease communicating with their “friends.” However cybercriminals can more easily Web 2.0 commit cyber crime because most “…users are willing to click if they think, 'It's my friend. I'm OK, because I'm inside my network and that's Fred. Only it's not Fred, it's Fred's hijacked account." So all in all, things are becoming more dangerous and apparently businesses and web 2.0 social networkers are still not getting the scope of their risk!

Good Contracts Make for Success Stories for Cloud Computing and ERP Systems

Peter Vogel — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:00:55 -0600

As more business rely on cloud computing and ERP systems it is essential to negotiate contracts to suit the needs of each enterprise. Please watch my new video entitled "The Price You Pay for IT: From ERP to Cloud Computing" where many of the important IT contract topics are presented.

Videos from SmartPros Ltd.

It is an honor to be a contributor to the library of video programs for SmartPros Ltd. which I have done since 2001. I encourage you to investigate SmartPros Ltd. where my video is one of many outstanding programs for “corporate accounting, financial management, public accounting, governmental and not-for-profit accounting, financial services training, banking, engineering, legal, and ethics and compliance.”

Farr Systems/BravoTECH CIO Roundtable Breakfast

In February I had the privilege to participate in a CIO Roundtable sponsored by Farr Systems and BravoTECH and here is a summary of the topics we discussed:

Please reach out to my friends Phil Farr (Farr Systems) and Andrew Jackson (BravoTECH) to discuss important IT issues. I thank Farr Systems and BravoTECH for allowing me to participate with a group of CIO leaders. Events such as this allow IT leaders to share experiences and create thought-provoking discussion about common thorny issues confronting businesses today, including cloud computing and social networking.

Big Numbers! - Twitter Users send 50 Million Tweets a Day

Peter Vogel — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:39:11 -0600

Computerworld reported that 600 tweets are sent per second - 50 million per day which is significant for many reasons. Not the least of which is that 3 years ago Twitter handled 5,000 tweets per day! As well, in early 2009 Twitter raised $35 Million in its third round of financing with no business plan. What’s not clear if 10% of those sending tweets account for 80% of the total volume. Obviously something is happening to cause Twitter’s amazing growth, and it bears watching.

Yahoo, Twitter in deal to share content

A report from the LA Times states that Jim Stoneham, vice president of communities for Yahoo! described the Yahoo! deal with Twitter:

…will enable users to take material from both sites without having to leave either one. Specifically, users will be able to access their Twitter feed on Yahoo's sites. They will also be able to update their Twitter status and share content from Yahoo. And Yahoo search and media properties will include Twitter updates.

Hopefully this will help revive Yahoo!’s fortunes and expand Twitter’s reach.

Doonesbury Character Roland Hedley Tweets with 14,000 Followers

Followers of tweets was made a little more interesting in a recent National Public Radio story of “Roland Hedley, a fictional Fox News correspondent created by cartoonist Garry Trudeau, has attracted more than 14,000 followers since he began "tweeting."” As a matter of fact, Garry Trudeau wrote a book about tweets from Roland Hedley entitled My Shorts R Bunching. Thoughts?: The Tweets of Roland Hedley. So maybe all 50 Million tweets a day are not all that serious if a cartoon character tweets regularly! Nonetheless this is worth watching given these astonishing numbers.

Not Very Cyber Secure Headline - "More than 75,000 computer systems hacked"

Peter Vogel — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:39:58 -0600

After the news reports about the cyber attacks in China it’s no wonder that that more than “75,000 computer systems at nearly 2,500 companies in the United States and around the world have been hacked in what appears to be one of the largest and most sophisticated attacks by cyber criminals discovered to date.” Unfortunately those computer systems hacked included the US government, “educational institutions, energy firms, financial companies, and Internet service providers. “ Included were access to “e-mail systems, online banking accounts, Facebook, Yahoo, Hotmail and other social network credentials, along with more than 2,000 digital security certificates and a significant cache of personal identity information.” Doesn’t sound much security given these facts, and this is pretty scary since we now have a Cyber Czar to protect us.

Kneber bot

Amit Yoran, NetWitness's chief executive reported how the Kneber bot was launched in this attack on the +75,000 computer systems:

The hackers lured unsuspecting employees at targeted firms to download infected software from sites controlled by the hackers, or baited them into opening e-mails containing the infected attachments, Yoran said. The malicious software, or "bots," enabled the attackers to commandeer users' computers, scrape them for log-in credentials and passwords -- including to online banking and social networking sites -- and then exploit that data to hack into the systems of other users, Yoran said. The number of penetrated systems grew exponentially.

Clearly educating employees is critical to avoid such attacks in the future, but what’s the likelihood of avoiding these kind of disasters? Not good!

Privacy at Home? - School Official Defended in Webcam Spy Case

The Lower Merion School District (in suburban Philadelphia) acknowledged that the District remotely activated webcams inside students’ homes, but the District claimed it was only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops. However a student and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit alleging violation of wiretap laws and violation of privacy. Among other problems created was that allegedly the District thought a piece of candy was a pill and that the student was selling drugs. This reminds me of Big Brother from George Orwell’s 1984. he just missed the year!

Web 2.0 - FTC Complaint about Google Buzz and Social Media Optimization

Peter Vogel — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:31:38 -0600

EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) filed a complaint with the FTC that Google’s new Buzz significantly breached “consumers' expectations of privacy.” Many complaints were made after Google’s recent launch of Buzz, because Buzz automatically created “public circles of friends for users based on their most frequent Gmail contacts.” EPIC wants the FTC to order Google to make Buzz “opt-in.” What this means to Google’s social media evolution will be interesting to watch.

HEADLINE: “Facebook directs more online users than Google”

At the same time that Google’s social media is taking center stage a report was released that indicates that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is being replaced with Social Media Optimization (SMO):

“According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites.”

There’s no rocket science to understand that Facebook’s 400 million friends have changed communications forever and SMO’s impact of search engines and SEO cannot be ignored. As Facebook rolls out its Titan email system SMO is certain to expand.

Aardvark joins Google!

At the same time of this Buzz controversy Google purchased Aardvark which is interesting since Vark.com “has defined a new kind of social search: sometimes you want a person, not a web page, to answer your question.” SMO and SEO are in the middle of Google’s evolution. This is a lot to digest at one time. Stay tuned.

Facebook Now at 400 Million Friends on Its 6th Birthday!

Peter Vogel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:53:44 -0600

Hard to believe that Facebook turned 6 with another milestone- 400 million friends! According to Facebook 50% logon on any given day and 35 million update their status each day. Since it took Facebook 4 ½ years to reach 100 million friends in August 2008, the current growth rate is pretty incredible. What this portends is hard to image, but growth sure seem likely. Just look at these statistics from Facebook:

Facebook’s Project Titan – Gmail Killer?

In the meantime reports came out that “Facebook is completely rewriting their messaging product and is preparing to launch a fully featured webmail product in its place… unofficially and perhaps over-enthusiastically, the Gmail killer.” Whether Titan is the Gmail killer is probably beside the point as the critical issue here is that Facebook is expanding into webmail to help its 400 million friends communicate more efficiently.

Gmail Adds New Features

Not so fast for Titan being a Gmail killer as reports also came out that “Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. with a new feature that makes it easier for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared online by their friends.” One might wonder if Google was watching Facebook’s Titan and needed to offer new Gmail services to compete. Interesting dynamics for Web 2.0 which this blog will continue to monitor!

VOGEL POOL BALL THEORY- Web 2.0 Networking

Peter Vogel — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:51:52 -0600

My “Pool Ball Theory” is that if pool balls are not moving on a pool table the probabilty that a ball will fall in a pocket is ZERO, and my business opportunities will be ZERO if I don’t continually network. The Internet has expanded networking, and thankfully I started this blog in 2008 as part of networking. As well I actively participate in LinkedIn, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 activities….so the pool balls keep moving on the table!

Real Lawyers Have Blogs

While in New York this week for LegalTech I had breakfast at my favorite deli, The Stage on 7th Avenue, with my blog host Kevin O’Keefe (CEO at LexBlog) and Jake Ludington (VP of Product Development at LexBlog). Over breakfast we discussed the “Pool Ball Theory” and lots of other topics about how Social Networking is changing the practice of law and society. Overall LegalTech was a great experience as I got to see many old friends and make many new friends.

Pool Ball Theory Not Related to Mike Shamos

Dr. Michael Ian Shamos is a graduate school colleague and friend of many years who teaches eCommerce courses. Mike is the Distinguished Career Professor, Institute for Software Research International and Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. But Mike is also a world renowned Pool and Billiards expert who houses the largest library in the world about Pool and Billiards in his home. As well he is the author of a number of books on the subject including The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. Just so there’s no confusion, Mike had nothing to do with my “Pool Ball Theory!” Nonetheless Mike’s participation in the evolution of the Internet has been longstanding and I know that he uses the Internet to network as much as I.

BIG NEWS: Google Search Engine Results Now Provides Social Network Updates

Peter Vogel — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:25:49 -0600

Google added two new links for “My social circle” and “My social content” that permit Social Networking searches! This blending of the most popular search engine in the US with social networking is getting more interesting since “Google is striking real-time deals with both Facebook and MySpace. Updates from public pages on Facebook will appear in Google real-time search, as will any publicly posted comments on MySpace.” In the future hundreds of millions of friends on Facebook and MySpace will use Google to search.

Google “Show Options”

Many people may not have noticed that when you do a Google Search the results displays “Show options” which includes the following:

So whenever you do a Google search you can click on “>Any time, Latest” and you will find information that just happened seconds before. This service now permits real time searching rather than purely historical.

Twitter on Google and Bing

To make things a little more interesting Google just announced that it will add live results from Twitter searches. However Bing already has an early version http://www.bing.com/twitter. With the tremendous growth of Social Networking now blending into search engines seems logical and inevitable. Even though Google gives pointers on how to protect oneself with these new social network searches, Google still keeps searches for 18 months. It makes one wonder how private everyone’s information really is on Social Networks or Google.

210 Billion Emails Sent Each Day -It's Time to Use eMediation or Special Masters in eDiscovery - Webcast on February 16, 2010 (State Bar of Texas CLE)

Peter Vogel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:57:50 -0600

Last week I posted as a guest blog at on Karl Bayer’s Blog about Dispute Resolution concerning Allison Skinner. Victoria VanBuren who works with Karl has posted a guest blog on this site about the Enron database.

Recent surveys indicate that there are over 210 billion emails sent each day, which does not include the more than 1 trillion text messages sent in 2008. eDiscovery has impacted every lawsuit in every courthouse, and with this unbelievable number of emails and text messages litigation will never be the same.

After the Guest Post last November about Allison Skinner’s Brilliant idea about eMediation, Allison and I have received great feedback about the eMediation idea. Judges and lawyers throughout the country are excited about this new use of the Mediation process to solve the biggest problem in litigation today, eDiscovery.

Get CLE Credit and Learn about eMediation and Special Masters

So join Allison O’Neal Skinner and me on our webcast when we discuss “how-to” conduct eMediations and when a Special Master should be considered for eDiscovery. The TexasBarCLE will broadcast this webcast live on February 16, 2010 from 2-3:30pm (1.5 hours CLE credit).

On the webcast Allison and I plan to discuss:

• The benefits of eMediation to effectively manage eDiscovery in a unique and productive way.
• How and when to use an eMediation.
• The various functions the Special Master can serve for the parties and the Court.
• The comparative effectiveness of an eMediator versus a Special Master at different pre-trial stages.

Also I’m happy to report that Allison is teaching a course this spring on eDiscovery at her alma mater, the University of Alabama Law School.

Baidu - China's Big Winner

Peter Vogel — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:13:15 -0600

With all the press about the disaster for Google in China somebody had to benefit, and it turns out the predominant search engine Baidu will be the big winner. Baidu had 63.9% and Google had about 31.3% of China’s search engine’s market before the December attacks. Ironically Baidu was started by Li Yanhong, a.k.a. Robin Li in 2000 when he raised $26.2 million in venture funding including a modest investment from Google. Today Baidu has 7,000 employees and market value of $16.2 billion, however Google sold its stake in 2006. Google entered China in 2006 with an agreement to censor certain topics. But whether Google departs or not, Baidu is sure to grow since many users of Google are worried about security. Of course that is ironic since many in China believe that Baidu censored a great deal more than Google.cn.

Attack on Google

Apparently the attack on Google was through a security hole in Microsoft’s browser Internet Explorer (IE) including these versions:

IE 6 Service Pack 1 on Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4 has the bug. Moreover, the flaw exists in IE 6, IE 7 and IE 8 on supported editions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, plus Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Some pundits are wondering why Google was using IE rather than Google’s browser Chrome, which is an interesting issue aside from the attack.

Microsoft's Ballmer: We're Staying in China

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer committed to stay in China even though Google appears to be ready to leave. “Google has been in China since 2006 operating under an agreement with the government that has the search giant purge banned topics from its Chinese search results. But the recent attack has Google saying it will no longer censor results per Chinese law and the company is threatening to pull out of the country altogether. “ Since Microsoft recently announced its plan to grow its search engine Bing in China it’s no wonder that Microsoft may stay notwithstanding censorship and vulnerability with IE.

Interesting Headline - "Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over"

Peter Vogel — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:28:51 -0600

In a recent interview Mark Zukerberg “told a live audience …that if he were to create Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December.” Without question Facebook and social networking have changed Internet users’ perceptions of what should be private and not.

Google CEO Schmidt Comments about Privacy

The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently reported:

When asked during an interview for CNBC's recent "Inside the Mind of Google" special about whether users should be sharing information with Google as if it were a "trusted friend," Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

Schmidt went to say that under the US Patriot Act the US government may obtain information from Google which they routinely retain. Many Google users are unaware that Google retains each and every search for 18 months. So I guess his advice should make people stop and think.

Privacy – What Do Law Students Think?

When I first started teaching the Law of e Commerce at SMU Dedman School of Law in 2000 privacy was a very important and hot topic. A few years ago the CyberProf listserv did an informal survey of those of us who teach the Law of eCommerce and/or the Internet regarding how our students felt about privacy in 2000 and in 2008. Not much of a surprise that law students in 2008 seemed to care a lot less about privacy. My guess is that social networking, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, texting, et al have been the big drivers of this change in attitude regarding privacy.

Facebook - Weather Report and Lobbying Members of Congress

Peter Vogel — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 12:36:39 -0600

My good friend Kevin Campbell (CIO at Hunt Oil) told me recently that about 5 years ago he removed the TVs from his home with great protest from his kids, but they did keep 2 computers hooked up to the Internet. One evening last fall Kevin’s wife asked him to check on the pending storm on the western horizon Kevin checked on weather.com. Kevin reported back a few minutes later about the latest radar report. In the meantime Kevin’s 20 year daughter reported about strong winds, lightening, and heavy rain which was not part of the weather.com’s website report. When asked where his daughter got her information, of course she just pinged friends on Facebook who lived to the Campbell’s west where the storm was brewing. I guess Kevin’s reliance on going to a website rather than use a Web 2.0 social network source shows a different perspective on getting current information!

2010 Election Year

Adding to the reality of 2010 Web 2.0 politics that 430 Members of Congress are now on YouTube, the Washington Post reported that a Facebook lobbyist is now tutoring Members of Congress:

Inside the headquarters of the National Republican Congressional Committee, 25-year-old Adam Conner -- registered Facebook lobbyist, poster of multiple Obama attaboys and a guy whose Facebook photo is a grizzly bear wielding two chainsaws -- sits down to teach a course. The subject: How to use Facebook better. His student: Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.).

Not much of a surprise given President Obama’s successful campaign and the reality of the down economy means fewer political contributions. So if candidates want to get re-elected (or just elected) they have to use Web 2.0!

Texting is for Real

A former partner recently told me that his daughter sent a text to his wife – “OMG!!!” So his wife called their daughter, and when there was no answer she sent the daughter a text “What’s this about?” The daughter sent a text reply “I’m marrying Jim next summer!” All text, all the time. Web 2.0 will mean be a different year for politics since so many people now rely on texting, Facebook, MySpace, et al. It will be interesting to see how 2010 elections turn out.

Microsoft Trying to be Smaller in the EU and Bigger in China

Peter Vogel — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:31:06 -0600

The EU finally concluded its antitrust case against Microsoft by allowing customers to select browsers from a variety of 12 options including Google (Chrome), Apple (Safari), Mozilla (Firefox), and Opera. Under the plan “in March Microsoft will issue an update that enables the more than 100 million European users of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 to choose among a variety of browsers available for installation in addition to -- or instead of -- its Internet Explorer.” Since Microsoft will remain liable for fines it is likely that Internet Explorer’s market share will decline to the benefit of others.

How Can Bing Compete in China?

Microsoft recently announced that it planned to enlarge Bing (its search engine) in China:

"Microsoft is committed to the China market and the search market in China is the most important strategic market for Microsoft," Microsoft told Reuters on Dec. 29. "We specifically set the search technology center in China to get a deeper understanding of what Chinese users need, to be able to deliver the best product to them."

However:

“According to research company Analysys International, as cited by Reuters, Chinese search engine Baidu currently leads the country's search engine market with 63.9 percent, followed by Google with 31.3 percent. Meanwhile, another research company estimated that Bing (which launched in China in June, and is still technically a beta) occupied less than 1 percent of the Chinese search engine market in the second quarter of 2009.”

So the likelihood of a Bing’s success seems remote any time soon.

Google Still Dominates

Since Google’s search engine continues to grow in the US and China it seems unlikely that Microsoft can make any inroads unless Microsoft changes its business plans. There is an increase in the use of cloud computing for business around the world which makes it debatable if users need new operating systems to replace older systems whether Microsoft, Apple, or Linux. Right now it is hard to tell how Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7 will fare. If it is not a fabulous success, maybe Microsoft will only get smaller throughout the world.

Web 2.0 Update - 430 Members of Congress on YouTube

Peter Vogel — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:14:51 -0600

Web 2.0 must be for real, how else can anyone explain Members of Congress find YouTube, Twitter, Blogs, and Facebook the most effective way to communicate in 2009? Today NPR (National Public Radio) interviewed Republican strategist Mindy Finn (a partner and blogger at the political consulting firm Engage who helped Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell) said that "Members who don't have a lot of say or don't have much of a voice in Congress can use social media to talk directly to their constituents, to voters and to activists." Finn went on to say “"In the past, they might put out a press release and nobody picks it up. But now if they build up a network of blogger support, if they have a presence on Facebook or on Twitter, and they put out that same information, it can go virally across the Internet."

YouTube Offering Text Captioning

Google recently announced that it is making YouTube accessible to deaf and hearing impaired Internet users. Since the captions are English-language speech only the power of Google’s 51 languages will allow for automatic translation to millions of people around the world who do not speak English. This technology is not new and Google currently uses it to transcribe voice mail messages into .wav files with Google Voice. Of course this technology is not perfect but offers a dramatic impact on world-wide communications.

Federal Trade Commission Examining Google Acquisition of AdMob

What will happen if AdMob, one of the top sellers of iPhone banner ad apps and web pages, becomes part of Google’s empire? This acquisition would position Google to be a major player in the mobile advertising ecosystem and expand Google’s market power. It does not take rocket science to see that Members of Congress are taking advantage of YouTube and Web 2.0, so surely they will capitalize on mobile ad which Google can see. Without question President Obama’s use of Web 2.0 vaulted him into the White House, and clearly Members of Congress depend on Web 2.0 to be relevant and communicate with their constituents. Wonder what will happen with Web 3.0 in the future and its impact on politics?

Cyber Czar Finally

Peter Vogel — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:55:52 -0600

Months after declaring the importance of CyberSecurity as a national priority President Obama will name Howard Schmidt as Cyber Czar today. “Schmidt served as special adviser for cyberspace security from 2001 to 2003 and shepherded the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, a plan that then was largely ignored. He left that job also frustrated, colleagues said.”

Not the Rock Star that the President Was Looking For

Schmidt appears to have the right credentials. Before he joined the Bush administration he work as Chief Security Officer at Microsoft and later VP and Chief Information Security Officer at eBay. Before the appointment Schmidt was head of the Information Security Forum (ISF) a cybersecurity research consortium. “In addition to his role leading the ISF, He's the chief executive of R&H Security Consulting and serves on the board of several security companies including PGP, Fortify, and BigFix. He's served as vice chair of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and as chief security strategist for the US CERT Partners Program under the Department of Homeland Security.”

Cyber Czar Not Part of Cabinet

Based on the May 2009 Cyberspace Policy Review Schmidt will report to both the National Security Council and National Economic Council, but will not part of the President’s Cabinet. There were many reports that no one wanted the Cyber Czar job and that’s probably because there are so many federal agencies in the mix including NSA, CIA, Justice, and DOD. It will be interesting to see how well the new Cyber Czar will succeed. Time will tell and everyone will be watching!

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Illegal Search and Seizure of a Cell Phone!

Peter Vogel — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:27:37 -0600

In a 5-4 ruling the Ohio Supreme Court now requires a search warrant to search cell phone content which the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio calls a landmark decision as this appears to be a case of first impression. The defendant’s cell phone was searched without a warrant after he was arrested on drug charges based on a police sting operation. At trial the defendant claimed a violation of the 4th Amendment that although the police had the right to take his cell, the police did not have the right to search the contents of the cell. A decision to appeal to the US Supreme Court is pending.

US Supreme Court Agrees to Consider Text Messages

This week the Supreme Court agreed to consider the privacy claims of police officers text messages in City of Ontario v. Quon. The question before the Supreme Court is whether the city employees are entitled to privacy of the text messages stored at Arch Wireless’ servers since the city provided the text services to the officers as part of their jobs. Each officer received 25,000 characters a month as an allowance and the officers paid for any overages. The city paid no attention to the text messages until it discovered that officer Jeff Quon (who paid for characters above the allowance) had sent sexually explicit messages that were clearly personal and not business related. The question in this case is also a claim of violation of the 4th Amendment.

Web 2.0 Communications

Given what people post on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn it is a wonder that many folks expect much privacy today. Courts will continue to be confronted with perplexing issues regarding the use of the Internet and this will never be less complex, but as I blogged this week Judges in Florida should not be social network friends with lawyers who appear before them in cases even though lawyers may contribute to their election campaigns. As web 2.0 expands one easily images that the courts will have to reconsider how the 1789 written Constitution applies.

Florida Limits Facebook Friendship between Judges and Lawyers

Peter Vogel — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:27:11 -0600

No surprise that a judicial ethics opinion would restrict Judges from becoming Facebook friends with lawyers who appear before them as it might give the impression of bias, but actually the opinion is broader and extends to any social networking site.

The impact of this Florida Ethics Advisory is difficult to predict, because the Florida Ethics Opinion stated “This opinion should not be interpreted to mean that the inquiring judge is prohibited from identifying any person as a "friend" on a social networking site. Instead, it is limited to the facts presented by the inquiring judge, related to lawyers who may appear before the judge.”

Where Is Social Networking Headed for the Judiciary?

Judges are elected to office in many states and in Texas (my home state) Judges run in partisan elections, however in the larger metropolitan communities few citizens know the Judicial candidates, only the lawyers. So lawyers are the normally the only ones to support political campaign and we even publicly endorse Judicial candidates. Contributing money in support of Judicial candidate sounds more biased that merely being a friend on Facebook.

Facebook Update - 350 Million Friends and Growing Quickly

Peter Vogel — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:22:50 -0600

In 3 months Facebook grew another 16.7% to 350 friends worldwide which has led Facebook to create a simpler privacy policy to allow users to control who sees “each individual piece of content you create or upload.” All the more amazing since Facebook grew 200% between August 2008 and August 2009. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s recent blog that stating among other things that 50% of Facebook friends are member of regional networks, and today there are networks for the entire countries of India and China. The new plan is to remove these regional networks and hopefully create a simpler network and improve its privacy policy.

Facebook Statistics Are Amazing

The current Facebook statistics are pretty incredible and particularly that 35 million (10%) of the Facebook friends update their status every day:

• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• More than 35 million users update their status each day
• More than 55 million status updates posted each day
• More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
• More than 3.5 million events created each month
• More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook
• More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
• Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

So is it any wonder that Facebook needs to be vigilant in managing personal information of its friends and users. Time will tell how Facebook’s privacy policy works out.

Google Searches for 2009 - Facebook is Number 2!

As 2009 ends Computerworld announced the top search engine hits for the year and of course Michael Jackson was number one, but Google’s number two search of the year was Facebook! Also on Google’s top 10 list of searches was “Twitter, Windows 7 and Tuenti, which is a Madrid-based, invitation only social networking site that some call the Spanish Facebook.” AOL and Yahoo! also listed Michael Jackson as the top searched name, but from the lists varied widely- “AOL and Yahoo! lists popular search terms like '70s icon Farrah Fawcett, who also died this year, socialite Kim Kardashian, singer Rihanna and actress Megan Fox.” Interesting message about the search engine wars that Google, AOL, and Yahoo! would be so different.

Wow - Google Now Offering Legal Research

Peter Vogel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:22:21 -0600

Google just announced that will it “will find full-text legal opinions from federal and state courts.” It had to happen at some point, so it’s not a tremendous surprise that Google would expand its services to include legal research. However will courts rely on Google as a cited authority? Maybe not, since few Judges rely on Wikipedia as authority. However Wikipedia currently has more than 3.1 million articles (and growing) maybe that will change. Also since more than 65% of all US searches are made on Google, maybe Courts will soon rely on Google as an authority. Time will tell!

Google - More Mapping

Google’s recent announcement of free turn-by-turn navigation including maps in the US certainly sent shockwaves throughout the navigation world. However since Google does not have maps throughout Europe there are also reports that Google is teaming with Automotive Navigation Data (AND) “a Netherlands-based digital map provider, to get detailed mapping data of Europe.” However there are disputes in a number of countries including Japan and the UK that are up in arms that Google is collecting pictures of neighborhoods and streets.

Future of Google in the Courts

With its value increasing to more than $32 billion is it any wonder that Google continues to offer new services? Where this is ultimately headed is really the great question. It was not very clear that when Google purchase Postini a few years ago that Google was posturing itself to enter the eDiscovery fray. However since virtually every Judge knows of Google surely how far wrong could a litigant go by relying on Google and Postini to manage eMail for eDiscovery?