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FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Borders has long collected personal information from customers and promised that such information would not be disclosed without consent. In light of that and Borders’ current bankruptcy proceedings, the FTC has sent a letter to the consumer privacy ombudsman overseeing the Borders bankruptcy that seeks the protection of customer personal information. The FTC’s letter appears prompted by its understanding that customer personal information held by Borders is scheduled to be auctioned and thereafter there will be a sale hearing....

Google, not content with controlling most of the world’s search, email, and web browsing, released its own “iPhone killer” this month, the Google Pixel. Now, Google technically already controls the mobile phone market as well. Its Android operating software is used on almost 90 percent of all smartphones worldwide. But Pixel is Google’s latest, most aggressive shot at conquering phones themselves, coming on the heels of its Nexus phones. And it has pretty great reviews so far....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) generally grants broad immunity to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with respect to third-party content posted on the ISP sites. The legislative history behind CDA Section 230 makes plain that Congress intended for the Internet to flourish for businesses and the US economy, and that intent would be thwarted if ISPs had the onerous duty to police and somehow regulate information and communications posted on their sites by others the ISPs do not control....

For many of us, holiday cheer comes in liquid form, is often bubbly and – gets us wasted. Oh, don’t be shy. Didn’t you know? Lawyers are the party animals of the professional crowd. While you are much more tame and would never be called a party animal, that doesn’t mean there will come a point in the night where you’ve had a few to drink, and then need to figure out how to get home – safely....

Though lawyers are becoming increasingly mobile, we can’t do everything on a tablet or cell phone. Truth be told, there’s nothing quite like the ol’ QWERTY keyboard and 100 wpm typing to burn through a brief or blog post in a hurry. Wait. Gizmodo is right. Now is the absolute worst time to buy a laptop. They point out one very compelling reason: Intel’s upcoming Haswell processors. We’d also point out the impeding Mac updates and Windows Blue as reasons to hold off for a couple months....

Everybody knows discovery – including electronic discovery – can be a virtual hole into which many lawyers have disappeared and for which many clients have paid dearly. But if there is a necessary evil in modern law (besides opposing counsel) it is the need to preserve electronic evidence. Part of FindLaw’s Legal Technology resources, this article provides a general overview of e-discovery preservation. It reviews the general axiom in most common law standards that the duty to preserve electronically stored information (or any potentially relevant evidence) attaches when a party reasonably foresees that the information may be relevant to future litigation – and how that plays out in practice....

There are a lot of cloud storage options out there, for lawyers and laypeople alike. But Microsoft’s OneDrive stands out, largely because of its ubiquity. The online file hosting service comes included with Windows 8 and 10 and integrates directly with Microsoft Office applications, like Word and Excel. But getting the most out of OneDrive takes a bit of finesse. Here are our top suggestions to attorneys and legal professionals who want to make OneDrive work for them....

Ever see that object lesson with the jar getting filled with rocks and sand? If you put the sand in first, you might not have room for the rocks. But if you put the rocks in first, the sand fills in the gaps. It works for lawyers too, especially when it comes to managing interruptions in your busy day. The lesson is to do the big things first and the little ones later because your livelihood may depend on it....

Big data makes measurable what wasn’t measurable before. The more information firms can measure, the better they can manage their practices, predict outcomes, and make informed decisions. So the big data marketing pitch goes. While data and analytics have been flourishing in the software and financial sectors, they’ve yet to make big inroads into the legal sphere. Here’s what law firms could be missing out on. First things first: not all data is big data, even if it’s humongous....

Curiosity and controversy continues to mount over the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs. Bruce Selya, senior federal judge on the First Circuit, gave a talk this week on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, explaining the inner workings of the secret court. The lecture, entitled “The View from Inside the FISA Courts,” was the first in a series of security seminars sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University as part of its ongoing expansion and redesign....

Back in August, the First Circuit decided Penn v. Escorsio, an arguably obvious case where qualified immunity was denied to prison guards who knew about an inmate’s suicide risks, ignored his very vocal threats to do exactly that, then found him strung up in his cell. The inmate, Matthew Lalli, suffered severe brain damage and will require $9 million in care, according to his mother, who brought suit on his behalf....

In-house attorneys need to be able to handle insurance issues in order to help their company avoid unnecessary litigation. Here’s a short list of things you should definitely know if you’re working in-house. 1. Insurance Types The list of things you can insure against runs the gamut – really. Types of insurance range from “Errors and Omissions,” “Directors and Officers,” and even “Cyber and Privacy Liability.” The sheer number of insurance types would make the layman go mad....

On Monday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals became the first federal appellate court to overturn a state’s “informed consent” law for abortions. These laws require physicians to recite a state-mandated script before performing an abortion. In the case of North Carolina, physicians were required to conduct an ultrasound, point out to the patient the fetus and any visible body parts, and advise the patient on alternatives to abortion. All of this, said the Fourth Circuit in stark, uncompromising language, went way too far....

Now that the market is starting to pick up, you may feel tempted to muster up the courage to ask for a raise. But before you stick your palm out with a “Yes, please” and “Thank you,” remember you need to lay some groundwork before you do the big (t)ask. Anticipate questions – and have answers ready. Of course, the biggest question you’ll need an answer for is: “Why should your salary be higher than it is now?...

In US v. Dean, No. 09-13115, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction for having traveled in interstate commerce and knowingly failing to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, on the ground that the public safety argument advanced by the Attorney General was good cause for bypassing the notice and comment period under the Administrative Procedure Act. As the court wrote: “Christopher Dean appeals his guilty plea to the charge of having traveled in interstate commerce and knowingly failing to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, in violation of 18 U....

A federal appeals court ruled that federal copyright law preempts state-based publicity rights, rejecting claims by former student athletes over photos downloaded from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the Copyright Act protects the photographers’ copyrights, which cannot be trumped by state laws protecting people who are photographed. In Maloney v. T3Media, the appeals court said the plaintiffs sought to “control the artistic work itself” by suing the distributor over copyrighted images....

How good is it when your lawyer can get a judge not to follow the law for you? Not very good, according to a federal appeals court. While a BigLaw partner might have impressed his clients in the trial court, it backfired at the U.S Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate judges had ruled earlier in the case, and sent it back to the trial judge with instructions. The judge didn’t follow them in Winn Dixie Stores v....

For lawyer-techies, trying to think up an excuse to buy a 3D printer for the law office isn’t easy. After all, nearly anything you’d do with it for a case can be done, and would likely still require, using third party services. Even if you get expertly skilled with it, judges aren’t likely to just let a 3D printed object into evidence without an expert (unless you can get your adversary to stipulate, maybe)....

It’s important to keep your state bar filings current. If you don’t submit the required updates at the required time, your license could be suspended. Even if you’re in-house. Last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concluded that a lower court had properly ordered a six-month suspension for an in-house attorney who kept practicing after her license was administratively suspended, BNA reports. According to the opinion, Lauren Gustafson was admitted to the practice of law in 2008, and properly registered with the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers 2009....

Harrell v. Fla. Bar, No. 09-11910, involved a First Amendment action by a lawyer who advertised the services of his firm extensively, claiming in a broad facial challenge that nine advertising-related provisions of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar were so vague as to violate his due process rights. The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants, holding that plaintiff did not give any substantial reason to believe that submitting a bare script or outline of the advertisements he proposed would constitute a hardship....