Futurelawyer

Your Smartphone Needs More Security Than Your Notebook Computer

Android Security. While I am on the topic of computer security, what is the least secure device in your possession? Of course, it is your Smartphone. It is mobile, small, and easily stolen or lost. It's only advantage is that, since it is usually in your possession (like, all the time?) you would immediately notice it was missing. However, if it is stolen, it is imperative that you have it secured with a PIN or comparable entry security. In addition, you need to keep it updated all the time, and, number one technique...encrypt the contents. Even if someone breaks in, you need to make the data incomprehesible to all. Do it now.

Zoom Increases Privacy And Security With Update

Zoom Update Boosts Privacy And Security. Let us begin with this: Nothing on the Internet is secure. Just get over it. Some Internet apps are more secure in different ways. Suck it up. Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the subject de jour, video conferencing. Yes, Virginia, we are doing more of it. No, Virginia, none of the video conferencing apps is immune from hackers and script kiddies who want to photo bomb you. But, as with all things Internet, security mostly lies between your ears. Educate yourself. Use the tools. Use passwords. Limit the persons you invite to your conferences, and don't publish the links on public sites. This isn't brain surgery. Now, if you want to extend encryption, there are improvements that can be made. Zoom, the most popular choice, has updated its software to meet this need. But, even lawyers talking to clients aren't required to have 100% security. The word "reasonable" is used for a reason. Jeez.

Why Every Lawyer (And The Rest Of You) Should Be Using Signal As Your Only Messaging Client

Signal Secure Messaging. Why isn't everyone using Signal text messaging? It is a no brainer for lawyers, who communicate about confidential, sensitive client matters every day. It is encrypted, end to end, and only the sender and recipient can read texts sent in it. Why aren't every actor, politician, political party, lawyer, and anyone else who cares about security using this free tool for sending encrypted texts? Explain it to me, please. Pretend I am a two year old, and tell me what are people thinking, who say embarrassing things in texts, and tweets, and other Internet utterances that inevitably get hacked. People get cancelled in our cancel culture. People lose jobs, spouses, and more. People, what are you thinking? Of course, the answer is that you aren't thinking about consequences. So, protect yourself from drunk texting. You can set your texts to disappear in a few seconds or a few minutes, and even your recipient can't save them. Free speech means freedom from having our thoughts hacked and being punished for them. I know it is popular for thoughts to become crimes these days; so, protect yourself. Jeez.

Facial Recognition Tech - Should It Be Banned?

Facial Recognition Ban Proposed. Is facial recognition tech so dangerous to privacy rights that police should be banned from using it? A bill has been filed in the Senate proposing just that. As tech advances, the push and pull between legitimate societal needs for law enforcement, and individual rights to privacy, continue to be tested. It is highly unlikely that any advanced tech will be forever banned, however. The regulation of such technology will be the field we play on in the future. This bill doesn't have much of a future; but, it is certainly a starting point for a societal discussion of how to regulate the tech in the future. What do you think?

Google Phone Introduces Call Recording - Lawyers Celebrate

Call Recording In Google Phone. 12 States in the U.S. prohibit the recording, interception or other interference in telephone calls unless both parties consent. What constitutes consent, such as implied consent, and how the parties must be notified in order to assume their consent in continuing the call has been fodder for giving work to many lawyers, which I, as a lawyer, applaud. However, the implications of this are becoming more complex now that Google is bringing recording capability to its phone app. There have been Android and iPhone call recording apps around for a while; but, providing the service in an app that comes with the phone will make this a much more common phenomenon. Wiretapping, which is what secret conversation recording is ususally called, requires the intervention of a Judge and a warrant if one of the parties won't know it is happening. However, exceptions have been carved out for situations where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. For example, a prisoner talking in the presence of other people can't later say that he didn't consent. More work for lawyers. Yea. The Google app will notify both parties at the beginning that the call is being recorded. This implies the consent of either party continuing the conversation after being told that. But, I can envision enterprising lawyers challenging the implied consent. My client was impaired, due to illness. My client didn't understand or hear the warning. My client entered the conversation after the warning was made. Etcetera, etcetera. In a society in which our every movement is tracked by computers, and cameras, and our online presence is recorded and tracked by others, are two party recording statutes an anachronism?

Sometimes You Don't Want To Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name

DuckDuckGo In addition to using a VPN to anonymize your Internet access and usage, if you really want to be anonymous on the net, you need a search engine that doesn't track you and doesn't know what you search for. DuckDuckGo doesn't track you, doesn't bombard you with ads, and generally leaves you alone. Sometimes, you don't want to go where everybody knows your name. DuckDuckGo is the search engine for that. Before you make judgments about why someone might want to remain anonymous, remember that lawyers sometimes do work for clients that must remain confidential. In fact, lawyers have a duty to keep their clients' secrets. Anonymity can be  used for good purposes. Be careful out there.

Stalkerware - Computer Security Isn't Just About Data

For Cybersecurity and Domestic Violence Awareness months, we pledge to fight stalkerware - Malwarebytes Labs | Malwarebytes Labs. In the age of the Internet, email and social media, person on person domestic violence isn't the only way in which humans prey upon each other. The Internet is a fertile field for stalkers who are experienced with computers. Keyloggers, and other stalkerware software can create scary invasions of privacy by notifying the stalker of a user's location, activities, and personal actions. Of course, we need to do a much better job of not filling social media with our every move and making our lives too public; but, the real danger is a motivated stalker who can plant software on our computers, with with physical access to them, or over the Internet. My favorite cybersecurity software, Malwarebytes Premium, is a great defense to computer stalkers, and it should be installed on every computer you own. In addition to preventing stalker activity, it can serve to prove the identity and actions of the stalker in litigation. What are you protecting yourself with?

Big Brother Is Here - You Just Can't See Him

Science fiction has become dystopian fact | Niall Ferguson | Journalism. As mass surveillance became ubiquitous over the past two decades, it was inevitable that 1984 would become likely; even though it wouldn't be as stark and dystopian as the movie. Real totalitarian control in the Internet Age is much more muted, and hidden from view. Think of a frog put in a pot of water, and then bringing the temperature to the boiling point very slowly. The frog still dies; but, it isn't aware it is happening. Mass technology, and political unrest, are the results of our history of seeking control over our fellow humans. Every thinking human needs to be a privacy advocate, and we all must fight to remain free.

Smart Mirror: Future Magic Or 1984 Tyranny?

Electric Mirror: Savvy SMART MIRROR | World's smartest smart mirror. I haven't been this conflicted since the last time the Redskins played the Bucs in a playoff game. I love tech. I write about tech. I own every tech gadget I can afford. But, the Internet of Things has brought smart technology to every device in my life. My phone, my glasses, my watch, my clothing, and now, my bathroom, are all connected to the Internet. My TV and speakers listen to me and watch me. Until now, the only safe space was the bathroom. Now, smart mirrors are becoming common in bathrooms in some communities, and these things can measure heart rate, see whether there are body changes, and more. Do I want my bathroom mirror to see me naked? Hell, I don't want anyone to see me naked, with one notable exception. While this kind of tech may be inevitable, I hope that we craft laws that make a violation of privacy by tech becomes a very serious offense, that is enforced. Otherwise, I weep for our children and the possibility of a 1984 like police state. Am I the only one worried about this?

Computers That Know Everything About Us? Never Happen. No Way.

We would never allow technology to so invade our lives that data about every piece of our bodies and history would be stored and mined somewhere, would we? We would never allow ourselves to be scanned, stored, and used like data sets in some remote computer would we? At the very least, we would never contribute to the process by completing surveys on the Internet, answering personal questions online, playing online games that exposed our weaknesses, or, God forbid, allowed medical testing of our bodies to be stored somewhere out of our control, would we? Well, would we?