Category: Articles, Computer/Internet, e-Discovery, Resources for Attorneys Information: The Next Natural Resource TASA ID: 1335 ABSTRACTI’ve spent my career looking at how large quantities of complex information affects every part of our lives and this is the most exciting time to be doing that. Information affects finances. Information affects your health. It affects the life choices presented to you. It cannot be overstated how important the accumulation of enormous sums of detailed data about all of us and every aspect of business is.Ten years ago, who would have imagined that so much of the planet would be photographed, and those photographs made widely available, as in Google Earth? Or, who would have imagined that we would be so willing to share large amounts of personal information through public and quasi-public outlets like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare?How much data are we talking about? The earth generated about four zettabytes of digital data in 2013. IDC forecasts that we will generate 40 zettabytes (ZB) by 2020. Now, all that data isn’t used, but increasingly, more of it is. And it’s not just stored once. Data with value is branched off into numerous databases across multiple companies. In only the last few years, as much data has been generated as had previously ever existed. Read more
Category: Articles, Computer/Internet, Crime Investigation, Handwriting Examination, Medical & Healthcare, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Security, Toxicology “Who Wrote That Email?” Forensic Authorship Attribution and Stylometry TASA ID: 3949 Some cases hinge on the authorship of a document. Whether we want to know about the author of a defamatory email, the source of a ransom note, or the authenticity of a will, one of the most important pieces of evidence is the one that establishes who wrote it. Historically, most documents were handwritten and handwriting experts (today they go by the title “forensic document examiners”) could determine who wrote something from the slant of an f or the height of a t. Even with typewritten documents, they could notice a chipped p or an out-of-line c and identify the specific typewriter that created the document. Physical creation also produces physical variance. Read more
Category: Computer/Internet Ransomware Hits Apple Mac Computers TASA ID: 4285 Traditionally, users think ransomware and other malware are relegated to Windows-based computers, but the overwhelming adoption of other devices (Apple Macs, iOS mobile devices, Android, etc.) has increased the payoff for cyber criminals to spend effort attempting to infect these systems. Read more
Category: Computer/Internet, e-Discovery Local Bar Associations Getting on Board with Social Media TASA ID: 4285 Look no further than your local bar to realize that ignorance is no longer an excuse for not appropriately dealing with social media issues for yourself or your clients. With the Philadelphia Bar Association’s guidance, released this summer, that excuse will certainly no longer apply to attorneys in the City of Brotherly Love. Read more
Category: Computer/Internet, Intellectual Property CAUTION! CAD Drawings May Be Fatal To Your Design Patent TASA ID: 370 Most designers working today use a variety of CAD programs to design products and to generate two-dimensional drawings which can be used as the figures in design patent applications. Is this really a good idea? Read more
