As i have gradually progressed through the last few months, i have noticed a few changes, namely

• My posts are getting shorter
• My posts are contain more contemporary information and slightly improved HTML skills
• My posts, i think, are more appropriately focused on the target audience.

At the outset i looked upon blogging with a cynical eye, but i think i have now developed a more curious appreciation of the power and value of blogs.

Roll on.

Jon Lech Johansen, who runs a software company in San Francisco called DoubleTwist Ventures, said yesterday his program would fool computers into thinking that any MP3 player was an iPod. He said it would also make any piece of music or video downloaded from the internet appear to have been bought from iTunes.

Take a look

HERE

Mr Johansen, a self-trained software engineer, is one of the world’s most notorious hackers. He was accused of breaking the coding that protects DVDs from being copied – a hack that Hollywood claimed cost billions in lost revenue – but was acquitted of all charges after a lengthy trial in Norway.

The hacking of the security code once again raises some complicated legal questions.

At this stage however, it appears that Apple may not be able to take any action, because, rather than removing protection, his programs are technically adding copy protection. 

The forward button or the “reply all” button provides a way for someones personal message to be instantly forwarded on to a global audience.

Such problems raise security concerns for law firms who stand to lose credibility and reputation.

Take a look HERE

The creator of LexBlog.com, Kevin O’Keefe, sees law blogs as an important way to enhance one’s reputation and to network with both your prospective clients and those that would influence your prospective clients. 

He suggests that a good legal blog focuses on a niche topic.

He notes that there is a danger that blogs could be used as blatant public relations marketing tools.

Further details can be found here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003213602_btinterface21.html

My personal view is that legal blogs are of limited value.  In the legal sphere, accurate information is the key.  Blogs are primarily concerned with opinion and anecdotal comments which cannot be relied upon to any great extent.

Take a look HERE and think again. 

Thoughtless musings in cyberspace can have costly consequences.

A trial which ended today, involved a Florida jury ordering a Louisiana woman to pay $US11.3 million ($15.2 million) in compensation, after she used an internet forum to accuse another woman of being a con artist and a fraud. The damages award is believed to be the largest relating to amateur postings on the internet.

The Louisiana woman, Carey Bock, posted the accusations against Sue Scheff, of Florida, on Fornits.Com, a bulletin board used by parents of troubled teenagers.

For Australian defamation experts, the US jury’s order is a reminder that online communications are subject to the same legal risks as older media such as newspapers.

The essential message here is that bloggers do need to take care because liability can attach to what you write.

Take a look at recent coverage here (updated link 13 October 2006)

Thanks to Graeme’s blog here for the SMH link.

AIDE which stands for ‘AustLII Inferencing Development Environment’ is a prototype rulebase application.  It is essentially the outcome of ongoing research at AustLII into the use of rulebase inference techniques in law.

AIDE aims to provide a quasi-natural language form of knowledge representation which is reasonably close to statutory language, while at the same time representing knowledge so that it can be used by an inferencing engine using predicate calculus, not only a propositional form of representation.

As the definition shows it is not necessarily a simple concept to understand.

More details can be found here:

http://bar.austlii.edu.au/au/other/CompLRes/2001/32.html

and

http://aide.austlii.edu.au/

Read more : here

Legal firm JDRLEGAL who has operations both in Melbourne and Los Angeles, provides client advising services to clients mainly busy executives via sms and mobile-phone messaging services.

As something of an unexpected development in the sphere of legal advice, it will be interesting to see how successful an idea will be.

The premium package goes for $5,000 for a full 12 month subscription.  Subscribers can request unlimited legal advice by SMS.

We worked through an interactive example using eGanges focusing on an international accounting standard.

I can see the logic behind the program, but on a practical note i’ not sure it is as complete as it could be.

Over at Sachin’s Blog, Sachin makes some interesting comments on this point.

While the definition may not spring into everyones mind, we unknowingly use digital certificates almost every time we visit a website. 

Digital Certificates are the electronic counterparts to driver licenses, passports and membership cards. You can present a Digital Certificate electronically to prove your identity or your right to access information or services online.

The most well known Certification Authority is Verisign, which can be found at <http://www.verisign.com.au>.

The use of digital certificates has become an issue in the online banking sector, where in recent times, security concerns have been raised by the emergence of fake websites which have been set up to obtain users’ login details.

Users can verify the authenticity of the site, by checking the digital certificates underpinning the website.

<http://www.smh.com.au/news/TECHNOLOGY/Wired-News-Lets-Users-Write-Wiki-Article/2006/09/07/1157222232030.html>

The online news service “WIRED NEWS” offered readers the opportunity to edit and contribute to an online article.

At first glance, the idea appears to be a success with over 300 drafts of the article and the word limit doubling.

However, the author of the SMH article noted that the quality of the Wiki depends on the quality of the contributions. Which opens the door to things like spam and other crudities being unleashed on the Wiki.

Worth a read!