In Case You Missed It (June 30 – July 6, 2008)

News stories from the week of June 30, 2008 that piqued our interest:

Rockin’ Out the E-Law
ABA Journal, July 2008

This ABA Journal article certainly got our attention as it points out the “rock star” e-discovery judges including U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola, Chief Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm, Magistrate Judge David J. Waxse, Senior U.S. District Judge Rudi M. Brewster and Magistrate Judge James C. Francis, many of whom we’ve previously mentioned on this blog.

The author discusses some of the pivotal decisions these judges have made regarding e-discovery and notes that a deep understanding of technology and discovery has led these six to become the “final word in e-discovery.” As respected computer forensics expert Craig Ball noted, “[a]nytime these judges write an opinion, it’s treated like a papal encyclical…They really influence other judges, who act like these are the rock stars of their profession.”

Judge Grimm, who rendered the famous opinion in the case Lorraine v. Markel, explains the importance of judges in the e-discovery process, saying, “[t]echnology changes so fast that the rules can’t keep pace unless we’re there to apply them.” As Grimm demonstrated in his 52-page opinion in Lorraine, there are many aspects to e-discovery that need careful consideration and preparation in order to ensure your evidence is ready for admission, especially if you’re appearing in front of one of these rock stars.

Q&A: E-voting activist more optimistic about voting systems
Computerworld, July 3, 2008

There’s no doubt the Presidential election has been and will continue to be one of the big news stories of 2008 and technology is playing a bigger part in this election than any other. In this Computerworld article, reporter Todd R. Weiss interviews Aviel “Avi” Rubin, Johns Hopkins University computer science professor and author of the 2006 book Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting.

Rubin, who has been a noted e-voting critic for the past decade, states that e-voting technology is better now than previously because of the increased use of software-independent systems. Cryptography, Rubin says, is another important method helping to increase the security of e-voting processes.

“Cryptography is fancy math that can be used to test certain properties, like you can do encryption, you can do signatures and verification. And there are cryptographic techniques that can be used to achieve software independence so that even if there's a bug in the software, you'll detect if there's a problem.”

Of course security is of paramount concern for e-voting and it will be interesting to see what new advances are made in this area to help voters become comfortable with electronic systems.

Passport Record System Open To Abuse, Review Finds
Hartford Courant, July 4, 2008

The State Department’s passport record system has found itself in hot water again after an investigation by the inspector general’s office found that the system is “wide open to abuse and unable to prevent or detect unauthorized access.” In March, it was revealed that State Department employees and contractors had accessed the passport files of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama, forcing the investigation into the security of the system.

Investigators surveyed the passport records of 150 high-profile Americans and found that 127 of those had been accessed a total of more 4,148 times, strongly suggesting unauthorized access. The investigation found “many control weaknesses — including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance and training — relating to the prevention and detection of unauthorized access to passport and applicant information," says the report, which was released in heavily redacted form.

The unauthorized access of system records is particularly concerning when considering the broad reach of the Passport Information Electronic Records System holds passport records on more than 127 million U.S. citizens. Passport information includes Social Security numbers, date and place of birth and passport numbers. This story underscores the need for the State Department to beef up security related to its electronic records and demonstrates the difficulty that many government organizations and enterprises face when trying to secure large quantities of sensitive information.

Posted by Jennifer on July 08, 2008 at 05:48 PM
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