It’s getting down to the final few weeks of December. As some Slaw readers might remember, my year-end focus is on two activities: 1) the Clawbies, and 2) forecasting trends and making predictions about where the Internet is heading. 

(If you’re interested, you can look back to see how successful (or how terribly wrong) I’ve been in prior years. Here are my crystal ball attempts for 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010.)

So without further ado, these are the trends that I see emerging in 2014:

1. Biometric Authentication Finds a Market

Other companies unsuccessfully tried . . . [more]

At the end of November, Creative Commons announced the release of an updated set of copyright licenses, dubbed version 4.0. The aim, as it has been since the start of the Creative Commons movement, is to let producers and owners of content make that content legally available for re-use by others with no conditions or some few conditions attached, depending upon the particular license chosen.

Version 4.0 contains a number of important improvements. It has greatly improved the usefulness of CC licenses around the world by taking many countries’ copyright and other laws into account. As well, the . . . [more]

We don’t know whether the lawyers who worked in the PMO during the Duffy debacle – Nigel Wright and Benjamin Perrin – engaged in unlawful or unethical conduct. What we do know, though, is that two men with stellar public reputations, one (Perrin) described as a “hero” by Hillary Clinton (here) and the other (Wright) as a man “of good faith, of competence, with high ethical standards” by Jason Kenney (here), became embroiled in a public relations debacle – investigated by the RCMP, disavowed by the Prime Minister and publicly castigated for their potential involvement in . . . [more]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a new hearing this past Friday in Joffe v. Google, Inc., while affirming the decision in September that denied a motion to dismiss by Google.

Google had requested the class action be dismissed on the basis that their actions in collecting information for Google Street View was not illegal due to an exemption in the Wiretap Act, on the basis that they transmitted the data over a WiFi network. The Street View vans had used the service set identifier names and media access control address from routers . . . [more]

Some people just seem to have all the luck. Born into the right family, went to the right schools, landed the right job, works with the best clients and they make it all look easy. Maybe it shouldn’t be chalked up to “luck.” What else could it be? Huffington Post contributor and author of Embrace The Chaos, Bob Miglani writes… 21 Reasons Why Some People Get So Lucky in Life. He realized that some people… “Became ‘lucky’ because they think differently and take certain actions.” Below are several of the reasons that I think are particularly applicable to lawyers: . . . [more]

Having just enjoyed a challenging ice storm, I’m full of appreciation for Twitter and the role it plays in emergencies (and in daily life, which is a form of chronic, sub-clinical emergency, surely): what’s going on; what’s wanted, not wanted; what’s likely to happen in the immediate future — this is useful information.

But Twitter has a lighter side, because some people emit a steady stream of jokes; and some of the time these joke are pretty good, certainly good enough for a quick yuk or quiet smile, which are things not to be frowned on in the course of . . . [more]

By this time of year most law firms have will have prepared their strategic plan for 2014, which should flow from their existing 5- or 10-year overall strategic plan.

Most firms will have also done a risk scan of the environment to determine what factors can adversely impact their strategy and use that information to adjust their plans accordingly.

Most firms will identify compliance-type issues as risk factors.

Others will consider the economic environment and how that will impact revenue and use that to determine hiring practices.

The more thoughtful will analyze where their revenue comes from to determine if . . . [more]

Posting on Slaw will be light over the next little while as we let go of the legal world to take a holiday. Though there will be a few entries during the time between Christmas and New Year's Day, things won't get back to normal here until the second day of the new year.

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on technology, research and practice.

Technology

How You Can Reduce the Extreme Dangers of Using Public Computers
Dan Pinnington

Public computers in libraries, Internet cafes, airports, and copy shops are an extreme security risk. While you can take steps to reduce these risks, it is still very dangerous to . . .

Research

Parliamentary Documents
Shaunna Mireau

Researching federal legislation can be fascinating particularly historical legislation. The Canadian spirit of the times can gleaned from . . . [more]

Cybercrime is a real and present danger for law firms. All firms should work to understand the cybercrime risks they are exposed to and take steps to reduce the likelihood they will experience a data breach at the hands of cyber criminals. The following checklist is taken from the article “Cybercrime and Law Firms: The Risks are Real” from the December 2013 issue of LAWPRO Magazine.

To assess your cybercrime preparedness, see if you can answer the following questions:

• Are your passwords secure enough?
• Would you or your staff be duped by a phishing message?
• How would your

. . . [more]

The ice storm passing through Central and Eastern Canada is making many of us give pause. Many people are hours–and possibly days–without power, and some (the horror) are without cell phone or Internet access. It makes us thankful for what we do have, and what we typically take for granted. I am seeing a lot of people pulling together to help one another.

What about those who have to go without on a longer term basis? How are we pulling together to help them?

In Toronto I am particularly seeing a lot of support for the Daily Bread Food Bank . . . [more]

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Wise Law Blog   2. Off the Shelf   3. Precedent: The New Rules of Law and Style   4. Library Boy    5. Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada