Articles Posted in Information Technology

David Badertscher*

Some jurors have always had an urge to visit a crime scene or research a case they’re considering while on jury duty, but now the Internet is making it much easier to play detective.

“As simple as it might have been to research facts on their own in the past, now jurors don’t have to have a brother-in-law who’s a doctor or a next-door neighbor who’s a dentist. Everyone has access to the world of doctors and dentists,” says Laura A. Miller, the chair of the criminal litigation section of the American Bar Association and a partner at Nixon Peabody.

GungaWeb is an online tool that assists analysis of New York criminal cases with respect to sentencing, lesser included offenses, plea bargaining restrictions, charging and offense elements.

Detailed sentencing reports for all Penal Law offenses plus DWI and,now for 2009, Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle (VTL511). Dynamic detailed and summary reports of lesser included and greater inclusory offenses. Commentary on pertinent legislative amendments included.

Current subscribers include over 100 New York judges and law clerks.

Since the beginning of the last century when physicists determined that light could be considered as consisting of particles (photons) as well as waves, there have been efforts, with varying degrees of success, to use light to further the development of technology and communications. One of the latest attempts as reported by Judge Herbert Dixon Jr. in a recent e-mail involves fascinating research by Intel to develop a new optical interconnect using Light Peak optical technology to link mobile devices to displays and storage up to 100 meters away. The technology uses light to provide communication between data systems and devices associated with PCs at speeds up to 10 gigabits per second..

Judge Dixon reports that: Current cable technology uses electricity to transfer data which limits the speed and length of the transmission. Using Light Peak as the platform (containing a controller chip and an optical module), electricity is converted to light, increasing transmission length. Light Peak also retains the quality of high-definition video displays from transmissions over several meters. It can transfer full length Blu-Ray movies in less than 30 seconds, and runs multiple protocols simultaneously over a single cable..

Click here for added discussion about this technology.

White Paper by Nelson Reust and Danielle Reust

The authors write: ” Migration to Windows 7 is a future reality for most. With XP approaching its end of life, and many organizations choosing to skip Vista as an interim step, the new Windows 7 release holds the promise of new features and benefits that include added security, improved manageability and enhanced ease of use. Regardless of the starting point, a migration to Windows 7 is a path that holds as many questions and challenges as it does potential rewards. Planning now can ensure a smooth transition in 2010.”

Click here to see the complete paper.

Rick Snow of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has just announced that results of the NCSC e-filing survey conducted earlier this year are available at . Also, a brief summary of the findings is available on our Court Technology Bulletin at .

He writes: “We hope you find the results useful. If you have further questions regarding the survey, or would like to respond to the survey for your court or state, please contact Jim McMillan (jmcmillan@ncsc.org) or Rick Snow (rsnow@ncsc.org).”

As we becme increasingly dependant on information transmitted and stored in digital formats, ssues related to cybercrime are rapidly becoming central to all areas of the law. This is not stated as a criticism but rather as a fact that must be addressed by whatever means possible, including programs such as the one described below::

The White House announces a Cyberspace Policy review, proclaims a national security concern and appoints a czar; the FTC is about to issue “Red Flag” ID-theft compliance plan mandates; the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIPS) units at DOJ and various U.S. Attorney’s Offices are gearing up; and “hacking” and HIPAA prosecutions are on the rise. Get the picture?

Whether you provide compliance/governance advice to corporations, counsel corporations about data breach crisis-response, or defend individuals, getting up to speed on where we are and where we are going is critical. An experienced panel of prosecutors, defense lawyers and cyber-experts will discuss these and other issues.

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