ABA

Many lawyers never use return receipts for e-mails because they generally are not that useful as evidence in court. But when you are e-mailing important time-sensitive documents to clients or other lawyers, it is often helpful for you to know they received the document. Spam filters are one of many reasons an e-mail may not be received, but no "bounce message" is returned to you. Show your clients you care that they received a document and save yourself the agrevation of calling someone just to see if they got your e-mail by using the return receipt option. It is located under View, then Options in our version of Microsoft Outlook and can be located using the Help files if you use a different e-mail client.

A word of caution if you plan to purchase a new computer, laptop or desktop, in the near future. Microsoft has recently announced http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/mar06/03-21WindowsVistaDeliveryPR.mspx that, contrary to expectations, their new operating system, Vista, will not be ready for consumer release in time for the Christmas 2006 shopping season. Things have been running so smoothly for those of us who have already upgraded to Windows XP Professional and gotten past the hurdle of SP2, that PC based technologists may have been lulled into forgetting that Microsoft must drag us kicking and screaming to upgrade to a new operating system periodically if Bill Gates is to continue to be the world?s richest man. On the bright side, Vista does promise to offer some substantial gains in exchange for the pains of upgrading, but, as is always the case, a new, more powerful operating system will demand more computing power. If, like most lawyers, you need a new computer NOW and you intend to squeeze every possible drop (and day, month and year) of use out of any computer that you purchase between now and the end of 2006, you should go ahead and get one with Windows XP Professional, but make sure your hardware is selected with Vista?s requirements in mind. Ellen Freedman, the practice management advisor for the Pennsylvania Bar Association has written an excellent blog post that covers the RAM, throughput and graphics card requirements for Vista at http://www.pa-lawpracticemanagement.com/?p=139 so I won?t repeat them. You can also take a look at the Windows Vista page to see Microsoft's hardware requirements listing at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/versions/default.mspx

On January 24th, it was announced that the National Security Agency (NSA) had released a 13 page paper called "Redacting with confidence: How to safely publish sanitized reports converted from Word to PDF." Following several incidents in which sensitive data was unintentionally included in computer documents and subsequently revealed, NSA is at pains to make sure that users understand that information hidden or covered in an electronic document can almost always be recovered. NSA stresses the importance of actually removing the sensitive information, rejecting all thoughts of covering texts or graphics with black images or highlighting. The paper also deals with the removal of metadata from documents, giving step-by-step instructions on how to strip a Microsoft Word document of confidential information and then convert it to an Adobe Systems PDF file. The paper notes: "As numerous people have learned to their chagrin, merely converting an MS Word document to PDF does not remove all metadata automatically." The paper may be found at http://www.nsa.gov/snac/vtechrep/I333-TR-015R-2005.PDF

During the past 2 months, the Federal Trade Commission has announced settlements of 2 major enforcement actions arising from last year?s high profile data breach cases. Information about over 50 million consumers was exposed in these and a number of other data breaches. In February, the FTC announced the settlement (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/02/cardsystems_r.htm) of an administrative enforcement action against CardSystems Solutions, Inc., a credit and debit card processor. Hackers reportedly gained access to stored information about millions of cards, resulting in millions of dollars of fraudulent purchases. The FTC alleged that CardSystems failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security. The settlement requires CardSystems to implement a comprehensive information security program, with audits by an independent information security professional every other year for 20 years. In January, the FTC announced the settlement (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/01/choicepoint.htm) of a court enforcement action against ChoicePoint, Inc., a personal information data broker. The FTC alleged that ChoicePoint did not have reasonable procedures to screen prospective subscribers. Criminals posed as legitimate customers and purchased information about over 163,000 individuals and used it to commit identity theft. The settlement included a $10 million civil penalty and a $5 million fund for consumer redress. It also requires ChoicePoint to implement procedures to ensure that access to consumer reports is limited to those with a permissible purpose and to establish a comprehensive information security program, with audits by a third-party security professional every 2 years until 2026. These actions are part of a new enforcement approach which the FTC adopted in 2005. Until then, FTC enforcement actions in data breach cases were based on 2 legal theories, (1) breaches of express requirements for information safeguards under laws like Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Childrens? Online Privacy Protection Act, and (2) false promises of security, as ?deceptive trade practices? under the Federal Trade Commission Act. The new approach is that inadequate security for consumer information, by itself, is an ?unfair trade practice,? in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, even where there is no legal safeguard requirement and no false security promise. The ChoicePoint action also involved alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Data breaches and the legal issues relating to them , as well as other hot topics in technology law, will be explored at ?Law and Technology: The Year in Review and the Year Ahead? http://www.abanet.org/techshow/sessions/ht.html) at this year?s ABA TECHSHOW.

Don't miss out on an excellent opportunity to market yourself in the hundreds of e-mails you send out each year. Most e-mail programs have a ?signature? feature which automatically adds text to the end of every message you send. In Outlook you create a signature by clicking on Tools, selecting Options, clicking on Mail Format and clicking on the Signature button. This will open up a window that will give you a box for entering the text that will appear in a signature, and options for configuring it. After you have created a signature, it will appear automatically in every new e-mail message that you create. Your e-mail signature should include your name, job title, and phone and fax numbers (including area codes). Don't forget to include your e-mail address (it may not appear properly in a printed or forwarded copy of the message), your firm website URL, and any other relevant contact information. Include a divider bar to separate the signature from your message. And include two or three blank spaces above the divider bar so you can type your messages without having to move your signature down every time. If you do ?sign? the end or your messages with your name, you can include it in your signature to so you don?t have to re-type it every time Most importantly, take advantage of this opportunity to market yourself. Include a reference to an upcoming event you are speaking at, or a link to an article on your website. Here is a sample e-mail signature: Dan + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + Dan Pinnington dan.pinnington@lawpro.zzz Director, practicePRO Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO) (416) 598-5863 or 1 (800) 410-1013 (Fax) 416 599 8341 www.practicepro.ca and www.lawpro.ca On our new LAWPRO Magazine Archives page every article from every past issue is just one click away. See it at www.lawpro.ca/magazinearchives This is an excerpt from the Managing a better professional services firm booklet, ( www.practicepro.ca/servicesbooklet), published by the Lawyers? Professional Indemnity Company (www.lawpro.ca). __________________________________________