Law Students

Bill Clinton: It's 5 minutes 2 midnight for health care in America!

Posted on November 13, 2009
I wouldn't bet against America on healthcare, not because of some US government takeover of the health care system (a meme that is pure fiction), but rather because we STILL HAVE the most resilient entrepreneurial economy that the planet has ever known...

HHS & Meaningful Use: Innovation Happens!

Posted on November 12, 2009
The controversy surrounding MU will continue, but if the vendors displaying their ware at the WHIT Conference are a harbinger of things to come, and we believe they are, then innovation is increasing at alarming rate, and those providers that choose to remain on the sidelines waiting for the US Government to clarify every last term in the HITECH Act are going to get their "clocks cleaned" by more nimble competitors.

HHS: New Sheriff in Town?

Posted on November 03, 2009
On October 30, 2009 HHS issued the following release: >> The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued an interim final rule today to conform the enforcement regulations promulgated under the Health Insurance...

Danger: Smart Government at Work?

Posted on October 30, 2009
A privacy policy, however, is culturally and organizationally complex (i.e. a wicked problem) and historically we have not been so good at solving these kinds of problems. All the really tough problems facing us (and the planet) are wicked problems. We should collectively become more fluent in problem identification because if we don't understand the nature of the problem, we have little hope of solving it effectively or efficiently.

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HIT/EHR Implementations are Wicked Problems!

Posted on October 27, 2009
As counter intuitive as fail forward fast may seem (i.e. even more so in the heath care industry where anything that smacks of failure is anathema), this is right prescription but will almost universally not be followed. Why? Because as a society we appear to be hell bent on using engineering methodologies even in cases where agile methodologies are clearly called for...

Breach Notification?

Posted on October 27, 2009
Medicaid Payer Gives Breach Notification. By all accounts it looks like CalOptima, a Medicaid managed care plan serving 360,000 recipients in Orange County, Calif., quickly responded to this PHI breach. It notified the appropriate authorities and is in the process notifying individuals as per the requirements of HITECH Section 13402.

HITECH/HIPAA Survival Guide Release 2.0 Now Available

Posted on October 19, 2009
DBLG Announces Release 2.0 of The HITECH/HIPAA Survival Guide and a HITECH Risk Management Webinar Series. We are happy to announce Release 2.0 of the HITECH/HIPAA Survival Guide and a HITECH Risk Management Webinar Series starting in January 2010 (final date TBD).

HIT's buzzword "kool aide" could be dangerous to your health?

Posted on October 04, 2009
For example, "substitutability" is a nice word and certainly monolithic EHR apps that want to "be everything to everybody" leave lots to be desired. The problem is that when you have too much interchange of moving parts then when something goes wrong (which it always does) then who owns the problem

HITECH/HIPAA: Haven't Heard of HL7 Yet?

Posted on September 22, 2009
The pieces of this puzzle are coming together and they have nothing to do with "healthcare reform" and everything to do with the HITECH Act that was signed into law in February 2009. It is already a done deal. All this brouhaha over healthcare reform, while important in its own right, does not change the HITECH Act in the slightest.

HITECH / HIPAA Compliance Frameworks?

Posted on September 15, 2009
The authors of the HIPAA Survival Guide will be presenting at the World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on HITECH and HIPAA Compliance Management for Providers.The title of our presentation is: "Meaningful Use Under HITECH: Why HIPAA is No Longer a Paper Tiger...

Health 2.0 is coming to a theatre near you?

Posted on September 13, 2009
It is a matter of economic survival in a world economy wherein a sick America won't otherwise be able to compete. It is the right thing to do as well. It is a legacy that we owe our children and grandchildren. It is as basic as the First Amendment, the right to vote, and equal protection under the law.

Living in Internet Time: This is not your daddy's healthcare industry!

Posted on September 11, 2009
What does the mean to the healthcare industry as it undergoes transformational reform and nothing short of an electronic revolution? Well, for one thing it should be a wake up call to healthcare executives that privacy and security breaches are likely to make national (and likely international) news.

HITECH/HIPAA and Medical Transcription Services

Posted on September 07, 2009
As an indicator of how pervasive the HITECH Act's Privacy Provisions (Subtitle D) are (i.e. regarding HIPAA compliance) there is an entire industry that it had not even occurred to us would be impacted in a significant way.

HITECH / HIPAA: The Security Rule Dissected (Part 3)

Posted on September 06, 2009
There is good news and bad news with respect to HIPAA's Technical Safeguards ("TS"). The good news is that many of the TS requirements will be implemented using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software and hardware. The bad news is that these requirements are highly technical.

Don't miss it! The World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on HITECH & HIPAA Compliance

Posted on September 05, 2009
The World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on HITECH & HIPAA Compliance Management: Our presentation >> Meaningful Use Under HITECH: Why HIPAA is No Longer a Paper Tiger

Online Regulatory Compliance: New Sheriff in Town?

Posted on September 03, 2009
It may have been (and it was) the wild, wild west on these "Internets" for the last 15 years but it looks like Wyatt Earp and the boys are "fixin" to try and clean it up.

HIPAA Regs Full Text Now "Clickable!"

Posted on August 30, 2009
The HIPAA Survival Guide (HSG) online now has the full text of the HIPAA Regulations available in a "clickable" format. What does that mean? You can think of it as a point and click navigation for the regulations in a Wikipedia like format.

HITECH / HIPAA: The Security Rule Dissected (Part 2)

Posted on August 24, 2009
The objective of this series on the HIPAA Security Rule ("SR") is not to provide an exhaustive review of the SR, but rather to get those unfamiliar with its requirements grounded. One important thing to keep in mind is that the SR is a great example of the convergence between policy, law and technology.

HITECH / HIPAA: The Security Rule Dissected (Part 1)

Posted on August 21, 2009
From a healthcare business perspective, a better understanding of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules is mission critical since compliance with the rules is now an integral part of HHS' meaningful use definition. In other words, non-compliance means that a provider or facility may not get paid their EHR incentives.

The Problem with Health Care Standards?

Posted on August 17, 2009
We need open source health care standards.

Health Care Reform: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way!

Posted on August 17, 2009
In short, health care reform matters. It may be the single most important domestic political agenda item of our generation. It is simply unconscionable to remain on the sidelines and not to engage.

Healthcare Providers Online: Legal Perils for the Uninitiated?

Posted on August 14, 2009
Providers going online must comply not only with the required HIPAA Privacy Notice, but also with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) and other applicable laws.

HITECH/HIPAA Effective Dates & Commentary

Posted on August 12, 2009
You can find an excellent summary of the modifications to HIPAA mandated by the HITECH Act here. It is one of the more thorough summaries we have found to date, with Appendix A containing a calendar of HITECH/HIPAA due dates...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part VIII

Posted on August 11, 2009
Part VII of this series can be found here. Finally, we arrive at the end of this series of posts. However, if you are considering implementing an EHR and have already started thinking about HITECH/HIPAA compliance then this is the...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part VII

Posted on August 11, 2009
Part VI of this series can be found here. Most providers and facilities will find it extremely difficult to meet their EHR/compliance objectives without an effective partnering strategy. Why? For all the reasons that we have discussed during this series...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part VI

Posted on August 09, 2009
Part V of this series can be found here. This post focuses on Internet resources and stresses the importance of leveraging what is available. There are a significant number of high quality resources now available on the Internet. Some of...

Why a HIPAA Survival Guide?

Posted on August 07, 2009
The following is paraphrased version of the introduction to the HIPAA Survival Guide(HSG): This Survival Guide attempts a "forest from the trees" overview of the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules The genesis of these rules is covered in the Background...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part V

Posted on August 06, 2009
The governance issues related to HITECH/HIPAA compliance were discussed in Governance Under HITECH/HIPAA: Two Types of Risk? By far, the business risks associated with non-compliance will completely overshadow the compliance risks, despite the fact that the HITECH Act has completely...

EHRs: Coming to a Cloud Near You?

Posted on August 05, 2009
Salesforce.Com getting into the EMR Business? Invests in Practice Fusion. As discussed here, there are perhaps many compelling reasons for a provider or facility to select a "cloud based" (read software-as-a-service or SaaS) solution for their EHR implementation, not the...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Moving from "No Story" to a "Good Story?"

Posted on August 04, 2009
HITECH/HIPAA compliance is not a one time event but a process. The same holds true for implementing an EHR system. In order for a provider or facility to reach their objective they will need to work on the people, process...

HHS Staffing Up for Mandatory HIPAA Audits?

Posted on August 03, 2009
That would be a fair inference. As discussed here, Section 13411 of HITECH Subtitle D requires that HHS conduct mandatory audits (emphasis added). The Secretary shall provide for periodic audits to ensure that covered entities and business associates that are...

HHS Now Has a HIPAA Money Making Machine?

Posted on August 03, 2009
In the past CMS was responsible for enforcing HIPAA's Security Rule. As indicated here, the HITECH Act turns HIPAA into a potential money machine for HHS. 13410(c): In general, proceeds from certain civil fines shall be transferred to HHS/OCR to...

HITECH Act: Full Text Now Available and "Clickable!"

Posted on August 02, 2009
As part of the HIPAA Survival Guide site we have now made the entire HITECH Act available and fully "clickable." This means that if you want to read the Act in its entirety, you can do so without parsing through...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part IV

Posted on August 02, 2009
Part III of this series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in a quasi presentation like format. The...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part III

Posted on August 02, 2009
Part II of this series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in a quasi presentation like format. There...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part II

Posted on August 01, 2009
Part I of these series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in a quasi presentation like format. There...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part I

Posted on August 01, 2009
The overview post that started this series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in quasi presentation like format....

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems?

Posted on July 31, 2009
OK, it is not quite like solving world hunger, but for the reasons discussed here, the implementation of an EHR that meets the meaningful use requirements (including full compliance with HITECH/HIPAA) is a totally non-trivial problem. Old waterfall methodologies are...

Governance Under HITECH/HIPAA: Two Types of Risk?

Posted on July 30, 2009
In general, a provider or facility must consider at least two kinds of risk under their HITECH/HIPAA compliance governance strategy. One is clearly compliance risk (i.e. the risk of fines under HITECH's Enhanced Enforcement-Subtitle D). The other type of risk,...

HITECH/HIPAA Compliance Newsletter August 2009 Released

Posted on July 30, 2009
Our first issue of the HITECH/HIPAA Compliance Newsletter was released this morning. The featured article is entitled "HITECH/HIPAA and Meaningful Use: Part I." Any new subscribers between July 30, 2009 and August 15, 2009 will be sent an individual copy...

Why HITECH/HIPAA Compliance is a Wicked Problem?

Posted on July 29, 2009
There are many reasons why HITECH/HIPAA compliance is a "wicked problem." To move along the compliance continuum from "no story" to a "good story" is a non-trivial exercise. However true that may be, the real reason that HITECH/HIPAA is a...

Meaningful Use: Connecting with Patients?

Posted on July 29, 2009
Although providers have been slow to adopt email as a mode of communication with patients because of HIPAA, privacy, and other reasons, that may soon be changing. Patients will come to expect providers to be electronically enabled, including the millions...

HITECH Act: Using SaaS to Mitigate Compliance Issues?

Posted on July 28, 2009
There has been has been significant discussion on the "Internets" regarding the pros/cons of going with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) EHR vendor. I don't want to jump into these religious wars but I would like to comment regarding what has not...

HITECH Act: Breach of 600K records of PHI?

Posted on July 28, 2009
Network Solutions breach exposes nearly 600,000 | InSecurity Complex - CNET News. NO, BUT if you think this is news, wait until there is a breach of a fraction of this number related to protected health information (PHI). Healthcare providers...

HITECH Act: Subtitle D Full Text Available/Clickable Online!

Posted on July 28, 2009
If you are interested in researching/studying the HITECH Act's Subtitle D-Privacy, the full text is now available and "clickable" online (click on the link). HITECH's Subtitle D-Privacy is the intersection point between HIPAA's Privacy and Security Rules and "meaningful use...

HITECH Act Summary: 13410 Improved Enforcement

Posted on July 27, 2009
The HITECH Act's Subtitle D Section 13410 is called "Improved Enforcement." It puts significant teeth into HIPAA enforcement, and has the potential to dramatically change the HIPAA regulatory landscape. 13410(a): In general, non-compliance due to ?willful neglect? mandates a penalty...

HITECH Act: Any role for the FTC & The Red Flags Rule?

Posted on July 26, 2009
Health care providers implicated in the FTC's Red Flags Rule. As the link indicates, enforcement of the Rule begins on August 1, 2009. In short, within five business days. Large numbers of health care providers fall under the Rule since...

HITECH Act: Mandatory HIPAA Audits!

Posted on July 24, 2009
Section 13411 of the HITECH Act's Subtitle D requires that HHS conduct mandatory audits (emphasis added). The Secretary shall provide for periodic audits to ensure that covered entities and business associates that are subject to the requirements of this subtitle...

Want to get paid under HHS' "meaningful use" criteria?

Posted on July 22, 2009
If so then you need to understand HITECH'S Subtitle D. The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules are now part of HHS' "meaningful use" definition. As a practical matter, what this means is that a provider or facility that is non-HIPAA...

How will the HITECH Act Change HIPAA Enforcement?

Posted on July 22, 2009
You can review HHS' past HIPAA enforcement process as a reference point for how things are likely to change under the HITECH Act. The diagram below is certain to change once the HITECH effective dates kick in.

HITECH Act: We are from the U.S. Government & we are here to help.

Posted on July 22, 2009
HITECH Act Subtitle D: Education on health information privacy (13403). 13403(a): HHS Regional Offices to provide education to Covered Entities, Business Associates, and individuals on their rights and responsibilities related to Federal privacy and security requirements for PHI...

HITECH/HIPAA: Notification in the case of breach (unsecured PHI).

Posted on July 21, 2009
Section 13402 of HITECH's Subtitle D is one of the significant changes between what the HITECH Act requires and versus HIPAA did not. Providers are well advised to have a notification plan in place when (likely not if) the inevitable...

HITECH/HIPAA: Who is a Business Associate?

Posted on July 20, 2009
Business Associate (BA): This term has broad applicability under HITECH/HIPAA and includes "partners" wherein the product/service provided requires the disclosure of protected health information (PHI). BA?s may include: Accountants Consultants EHR/PHR Vendors Potentially Many Others (e...

EHR Implementation: What is it going to take?

Posted on July 20, 2009
What is it going to take for a health care provider to implement an electronic health record (EHR) system so that they can participate in the HITECH Act's incentives? Redefined Workflows National Health Care Infrastructure Certified Electronic Health Records Industry...

Summary of HHS? Meaningful Use Matrix

Posted on July 19, 2009
1) Five Policy Priorities (a) Improved Quality, Safety, and Efficiency (b) Engage Patients and Families (c) Improve Care Coordination (d) Improve Public Health (e) Ensure Privacy & Security Protection for PHI* 2) Care Goals 3) A Set of Objectives &...

CDT Provides an Excellent Summary of HITECH/HIPAA Mods.

Posted on July 19, 2009
The Center For Democracy & Technology is a great resource for health privacy related information. Here is how they describe their Health Privacy Project: CDT?s Health Privacy Project will take on key policy questions, including: the proper role of notice...

HITECH/HIPAA Subtitle D - Privacy.

Posted on July 18, 2009
A more readable version of the HITECH Act's Subtitle D - Privacy can be found here. The table of contents can be found below. The sections highlighted in red are part of the reason that HIPAA is no longer a...

Much To Do About Nothing?

Posted on July 18, 2009
Why So Much Hand-Wringing Over TechCrunch's Decision to Publish 'Hacked' Twitter Documents? - Techcrunch - Gawker. It seems to me that from a legal perspective Techcrunch's decision to publish Twitter's confidential documents is, as the link suggests, just good 'ole...

What does "willful neglect" mean under HITECH/HIPAA?

Posted on July 17, 2009
Well that is anybody's guess at this point but as a privacy lawyer I can assure you that HHS/OCR or CMS will "know it when they see it." I am going to offer up a common sense definition of what...

HITECH Act "Meaningful Use" Final Definition.

Posted on July 17, 2009
The final definition of "meaningful use" under the HITECH Act can be found here. One thing to note is that compliance with HIPAA's Privacy & Security Rules not only remain part of the meaningful use definition as a policy priority,...

HIPAA, HITECH & FTC Red Flags Rule

Posted on July 15, 2009
HealthBlawg: Red Flags Rule: The FTC piles on, because HIPAA, ARRA and overlapping state laws just weren't enough. David has an excellent post summarizing the impact that the FTC's Red Flags Rule may have on healthcare providers. As I have...

HITECH / HIPAA Compliance is Serious Business!

Posted on July 14, 2009
Well yes it is but, then again we all need a little levity, and no one needs it more than a HIPAA lawyer or a HIPAA compliance officer. Without a little humor, the HITECH alphabet soup might just drive you...

Copyright Holders Beware!

Posted on July 14, 2009
Are You Gambling With Your Copyright By Entering That Photography Contest? : Owners, Borrowers & Thieves 2.0. Lots of copyright traps to fall into for the unwary. Most small businesses and independent contractors simply do not pay enough attention to...

HITECH/HIPAA Timelines?

Posted on July 11, 2009
Here are some of the relevant timelines for HITECH/HIPAA compliance. Refer to the Subtitle-D table of contents below for a quick reference to the respective sections. HITECH enactment (February 17, 2009) Tiered civil penalties based on the nature of HIPAA...

FTC Red Flags Rule & Health Care Providers?

Posted on July 11, 2009
Many health care providers probably do not realize that they may be considered "creditors" under the FTC's Red Flags Rule, designed to prevent identity theft, usually involved with financial transactions, but which is increasingly spreading into other domains...

Gloom and Doom or the New Reality?

Posted on July 09, 2009
When Will The Recovery Begin? Never. | Robert Reich's Blog. I think it's the latter. The old economy is dead and it "ain't never coming back." Why? Because the consumer is broke, and becoming more broke everyday, globally. We are...

Twitter & Virus Tracking?

Posted on July 09, 2009
Twitter: Growing Virally But Can It Stop Viruses?. Interesting post from Chris Thorman regarding the use of Twitter by health care professionals to track viruses. Of course, as the post highlights, there are many issues to be worked out before...

Canadien Health Care Data Breach

Posted on July 09, 2009
Computer virus copied thousands of Alberta health records. This is not the kind of thing a health care organization wants to be talking about. The next time a health care data breach of this magnitude happens in the U.S. it...

Canadian Health Care Data Breach

Posted on July 09, 2009
Computer virus copied thousands of Alberta health records. This is not the kind of thing a health care organization wants to be talking about. The next time a health care data breach of this magnitude happens in the U.S. it...

Enforcement of Privacy Laws: A Freight Train is Coming

Posted on July 08, 2009
European Privacy Law And Social Networking : Privacy Law Blog. This post is a good indication why privacy on the internet is not only front and center as a national issue in the U.S. but is a concern internationally as...

It's Early in Web Years Redux

Posted on July 06, 2009
Details on Marc Andreessen?s New Fund (Plus Five Other Interesting Things He Said). Anyone heard of Marc of Netscape/Ning fame? He is one of the most grounded people in Tech. Why? He has this smart no BS, common sense, way...

SaaS Versus No SaaS: the song remains the same!

Posted on July 03, 2009
Authorize.net goes down. That is a serious outage, but non-SaaS enterprise apps experience similar outages, and to one degree or another, these things are to be expected. Sure everybody should be concerned with availability (and ?scalability?) when they select a...

FTC's Red Flag Rule for your online business?

Posted on July 01, 2009
The Red Flags Rule applies to ?financial institutions? and ?creditors.? The Rule requires you to conduct a periodic risk assessment to determine if you have ?covered accounts.? You need to implement a written program only if you have covered accounts...

No longer business as usual at the FTC?

Posted on July 01, 2009
FTC Tells Sears That Consumer Disclosures Must be More Conspicuous : Privacy Law Blog. Here's yet another indication of how the rules of the road may be changing with respect to privacy & security. Companies that want to collect the...

Do I need to audit my website?

Posted on June 30, 2009
As an Internet Lawyer I get ask this question often. Think of a website audit as a kind of insurance policy. An audit helps protect you from the downside risk of doing business online. You have likely spent a great...

Data Breach: TJX Hit with $2.5M Fine

Posted on June 29, 2009
Data Security is Serious Business. TJX, the company that owns TJ Maxx and other subsidiaries, gets hit with a $2.5M fine for data breaches of 100 million consumer credit card records that occurred in 2005-2006. TJX did not admit any...

Data Security for Online Businesses?

Posted on June 28, 2009
As a Privacy Lawyer I get asked all the time what kind of processes do we need to support our privacy policy? A policy without the appropriate processes in place won't do an online business much good. Sure, small businesses...

We are the web? Web 3.0?

Posted on June 27, 2009
Lots of good "stuff" from Kevin Kelly of Wired. One thing that stands out is the concept of "transparency" and our identities on the Internet. Kevin mentions it in his talk but doesn't focus on it (i.e. he covers a...

Pushing the Search Envelope!

Posted on June 27, 2009
The Real Time Search Dilemma: Consciousness Versus Memory. This is a great post about emerging innovations in search technology and how, once again, it is the small and nimble that are driving the next wave. I believe that real time...

More stringent Internet privacy regulations imminent?

Posted on June 26, 2009
Web Privacy Efforts Targeted - WSJ.com. This article is probably an indication that industry groups are becoming increasingly alarmed that if they do not take steps to better protect consumer privacy on the Internet then the U.S. Congress will step...

Does HIPAA Preempt State Privacy Laws?

Posted on June 26, 2009
Minnesota Court of Appeals decision extends privacy claims to Internet - TwinCities.com. This will be an interesting case to watch. HIPAA, which does not currently allow an individual to bring a privacy suit (i.e. an individual's only recourse is to....

Privacy & Data Security

Posted on June 24, 2009
EU Advisory Group Proposes Tighter Privacy Regulation On Social Networks. It seems like everyone is jumping on the privacy & data security bandwagon. Here an EC group wants tougher regulations on Social Networking Sites (SNS). We are likely to end...

Is Privacy An Illusion?

Posted on June 22, 2009
Is Privacy An Illusion? Facebook ?Fans? Claim Hack Exposes Private Profile Information (Update). Online businesses need to "wake up and smell the coffee." These privacy issues are not going away. Privacy and security are some of the hottest online legal...

Caveat Employer?

Posted on June 20, 2009
Employers should look before they leap.. Employee non-compete clauses are not favored in CA and apparently an employer better have its ducks in a row before it brings a trade secret action without any evidence in that forum as well....

Should 47 USC 230 be an affirmative defense?

Posted on June 19, 2009
No. I agree with the analysis here. A defendant should be able to prevail on a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss when the plaintiff clearly does not state a valid claim under 47 USC 230. To hold otherwise will allow unscrupulous...

Copyright: Second time is not the charm?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Record companies win $1.92 million in case against individual file sharer : Internet law - Evan Brown - Internet Cases. Be careful what you ask for, copyright infringement awards vary widely and this time it looks like this defendant lost...

HHS Privacy & Security Guidance

Posted on June 17, 2009
HealthIT.hhs.gov: Privacy & Security Framework. As discussed in the HIPAA Survival Guide it looks like HHS is taking additional steps to provide much needed guidance to small primary care providers for dealing with the "monstrous" regulatory scheme that is emerging...

Sign of the Times?

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Music Industry Will Need To Win More Than Just The Legal Arguments In Capital v. Thomas : Owners, Borrowers & Thieves 2.0. Sweden's Pirate Party gets a seat in the European Parliament as a result of Sweden's liberal view...

Red Flags & eCommerce Websites?

Posted on June 15, 2009
Red Flags and Address Discrepancies FAQs : Privacy Law Blog. Good post here about the FTC "Red Flag" rules. Financial institutions are "covered entities" BUT what many eCommerce websites don't realize is that they are potentially covered entities as well...

HITECH Act: HIPAA Survival Guide (HSG) Online

Posted on June 13, 2009
I recently launched a website that has The HIPAA Survival Guide (HSG) viewable online. The HSG is a concise overview of the HIPAA Regulations in light of the new HITECH Act (part of President Obama's recent economic stimulus package.) I...

Privacy Online?

Posted on June 11, 2009
IP Osgoode - Intellectual Property Law . I help clients develop their website privacy policies. As an internet lawyer, I know how critical it is to have not only the appropriate language in place, but more importantly, to have the...

Changing Terms of Use Agreements?

Posted on June 10, 2009
Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Stop Saying "We Can Amend This Agreement Whenever We Want"!--Harris v. Blockbuster. One possible way to solve this problem, regarding unilateral modifications to a website terms of use contract, which for obvious reasons (as Eric...

Redundant Internet Connections

Posted on May 07, 2009
Rick Georges (aka The FutureLawyer) has a great post about the necessity for having redundant access to the Internet. When your Internet connection goes down your practice grinds to a halt. This is not something that you want to happen...

Complexity Is Chaos

Posted on April 28, 2009
Keep It Simple, Stupid. OK, that may be an overstatement, but when it comes to most apps that we use, it is almost always true. Why? Because there is only so much complexity that we can handle and we already...

Twitter Me Not!

Posted on April 25, 2009
OK, I confess I must be getting old (true) and turning into a Luddite. But unless you are essentially in the journalism business, whether mainstream or not, I still don't see the general purpose business use case for Twitter. Not...

A Mile in My Shoes?

Posted on April 14, 2009
That's the title of a wonderful blog I just ran across. It is not about technology or the law but more about things we often lose sight of while we focus on the constant stream of information that we process...

Small is the new big?

Posted on February 24, 2009
After well over 25 years I am re-reading Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher. It's clear to me that Schumacher predicted the current wall that we have hit. His basic thesis is that "you cannot...

Heathcare War: It is Game On!

Posted on February 17, 2009
The Health Care Blog: Fear and Loathing over the Stimulus Bill. The first thing to note is that obviously this fight is not about healthcare, electronic medical records, or any such thing. It is much more sinister than that. It...

Moving forward? Yes!

Posted on February 17, 2009
Healthcare & Technology: eClinical Nirvana?. Debbie makes some great points here and I just wanted to add that whatever the merits of the arguments regarding the specifics of the stimulus package, as it relates to healthcare, there is certain to...

HIE, SaaS and Low-Cost, Nationwide

Posted on February 15, 2009
HIE, SaaS and Low-Cost, Nationwide Adoption of EHRs « Chilmark Research. This post highlights why SaaS is the preferred architecture for small primary care providers that will soon be "incented" to make the move to electronic health records.Given the architectural...

Focusing on EMR's Misses the Point

Posted on February 11, 2009
Given the funding available in the stimulus package for adoption of electronic medical records it is little wonder that the buzz factor has increased significantly around this topic. Healthcare is one industry likely to see significant economic activity over the...

Google & IBM: Taking Your Pulse?

Posted on February 05, 2009
Tech Giants Want to Take Your Pulse: This article from Forbes illustrates why change will come to the healthcare industry. It will come partly from technology vendors pushing the interests of consumers with support from the Federal government. It is....

EMR Pain is Real!

Posted on January 29, 2009
Obama and Congressional Leaders Can?t Overlook EMR Failure Rates | EMR and HIPAA. This post raises some not only interesting, but ultimately quite useful, points regarding the level of resistance that might be encountered as the nation attempts to move...

Why Knowledge Management?

Posted on January 29, 2009
We forget. That's one of the key reasons for using knowledge management technologies. We all know stuff, but unless that stuff is organized in a manner that is readily accessible (and "searchable") then for the most part it is fugitive....

The Pope Goes to YouTube

Posted on January 27, 2009
Here's the Vatican's YouTube channel. There's a rumor (far as I know) about how Jesse James answered when someone asked him "Why do you rob banks?" The answer was purportedly "because that is where the money is." I suspect that...

Gov 2.0 & Health 2.0

Posted on January 21, 2009
White House 2.0 is indicative that there is a new sheriff in town and what may have been partly missed in all the discussion regarding race and history is the fact the Obama is clearly looking forward to engage with...

Full EHR by 2014?

Posted on January 14, 2009
Obama Wants Full EHR by 2014 | EMR and HIPAA. Full EHR by 2014 is certainly an ambitious goal but if we do not put a stake in the ground it will be 2050 and there will be little or...

Healthcare Poised for a Business Revolution?

Posted on January 13, 2009
Building a Healthcare Bubble « Remaking Healthcare. Expect to see a significant amount of entrepreneurial activity in the healthcare space over the next few years. Anyone that remotely follows this industry gets this sense on a daily basis. The signs...

The cloud? It's Just Economics 101.

Posted on January 13, 2009
That is the argument that Nick Carr makes in The Big Switch with respect to cloud computing. Here's the money quote: A hundred years ago, companies stopped generating their own power with steam engines and dynamos and plugged into the...

Law Practice on the Cloud and Amazon's S3?

Posted on January 11, 2009
We host our entire law practice on the cloud: matter management, document management, email & calendaring, accounting, phones & fax (VOIP), etc. Well, not exactly everything, we still create and store client documents temporarily on local devices, as well as...

New Laws for Electronic Medical Records?

Posted on January 10, 2009
HealthBlog : Electronic Medical Records--just part of needed transformation. The Obama administration is apparently putting a stake in ground with respect to electronic medical records (EMRs). This is a welcome development but not surprising since there is widespread consensus that...

Moved to eBay?

Posted on January 08, 2009
I have a good friend who is a CIO within a commercial real estate firm and we had a recent conversation about retail space. The anecdotal information he gets from brokers is that this downturn is different from others in...

Health Care Fee For Service is Dead: RIP

Posted on January 08, 2009
OK, maybe it's not dead yet but it is on its way out if you read between the lines. I caught Stuart Altman on the NewsHour tonight and he gave a nod in that direction. For those of you who...

Healthcare Reform: It's the MHR Stupid!

Posted on January 05, 2009
Electronic health records are all the rage in healthcare circles these days and you are likely to see all of the following acronyms used: EMR (electronic medical records), EHR (electronic health record), PHR (personal health record). The healthcare industry uses...

Healthcare & Education

Posted on January 04, 2009
There is a lot talk about "shovel ready" projects related to infrastructure where the stimulus money needs to be spent, and where it can quickly be spent, in order to get the economy moving ASAP. I am all for rebuilding...

Chuck Newton is The Third Wave

Posted on January 03, 2009
Futurelawyer: Chuck Newton Third Wave Manifesto. I would like to echo The Future Lawyer's recommendation of Chuck Newton's blog. Chuck is a gifted writer and consistently offers sage advice regarding alternative ways of practicing law. This guy is the real...

Twitter for Lawyers?

Posted on January 03, 2009
HealthBlawg: Twitter for lawyers. I am one of those geek lawyers who have resisted Twitter until recently, convinced by another uber HealthTech blogger and for all the "social media" reasons that David cites in his post. Looks like 2009 will...

Why health care is broken and why there is hope?

Posted on December 31, 2008
For various reasons I will be turning my professional attention to the health care industry in 2009. So as part of that initiative I have started reading Redefining Health Care by Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg. This is a dense...

Escaping the Web 2.0 Echo Chamber?

Posted on December 28, 2008
Google, WalMart, and MyBarackObama.com: The Power of the Real Time Enterprise - O'Reilly Radar. This is an extremely insightful post on Tim's part. The tech echo chamber tends to focus on "fads" that are important, but ultimately unsustainable. The real...

Amazon's Santa?

Posted on December 27, 2008
At Least Amazon Had A Good Christmas. When almost all retailers, including the online retailers (but less so here), had a bad Christmas,why did Amazon have a good one? A trusted brand is clearly one reason, but I think there...

Not a News Flash, BUT:

Posted on December 25, 2008
Pew Survey Confirms What We All Know: Net Beats Newspapers As A Source For News. Definitely this is not news for most of us because we have been getting our news online for many years now. Still, to have the...

Malcom Gladwell: Outliers

Posted on December 23, 2008
Malcolm has done it again. This is another great read. Lots of good stuff here, despite the fact that it might not get quite the acclaim of "The Tipping Point" and "Blink." Malcolm has a unique gift of following a...

Blockbuster v. Netflix?

Posted on December 23, 2008
OK, I have been hanging on to our Blockbuster membership despite the fact that I knew that there were other "more viable" options. I clearly was aware of Netflix's offering. Why hang on? Dunno. Ritual maybe. I would usually go...

Digital Haves and Have Nots?

Posted on December 09, 2008
Link: Tribune Company Files Bankruptcy. OK, perhaps there are any number of reasons why this happened, and not just the death spiral of its newspaper holdings, but I suspect that this is a harbinger of things to come. The brave...

Twitter as a News Source?

Posted on November 27, 2008
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/27/i-cant-believe-some-people-are-still-saying-twitter-isnt-a-news-source/ I believe that Twitter (and Yammer but probably to a lesser degree because it does not have the same "network effect") will likely emerge as part of an emergency management notification system...

More on Cloud Computing.

Posted on November 26, 2008
It seems like more and more I have been reading about cloud computing and reasons that businesses should fear it. I suppose that this is "natural" since people tend to fear what they don't understand or in the case of...

Virtual Conferences?

Posted on November 20, 2008
Link: Healthcare & Technology: Have you ever attended a Virtual Conference?. Wow, this is amazing stuff. I got a sneak preview into this virtual world and was "blown away." While I am definitely a geek, I have yet to venture...

The End of Bigness?

Posted on November 15, 2008
Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the dominance of huge business organizations? Look at who is failing in a colossal fashion: big banks, big automakers, big insurance companies. Sure, there are probably, percentage wise, a significant number...

The Internet & the Presidency?

Posted on November 05, 2008
This post is not political commentary but rather one related to the idea captured in Clay Shirky's book "Here Comes Everybody. The power to organize without organizations." This is part of the untold story of this election. Who needs brick...

Cloud Computing & Recession?

Posted on November 02, 2008
I often "wax poetic" about the power of enabling technologies with respect to exploring revenue opportunities that were simply out of reach in the past for most small to medium size businesses. I remain a believer. We use these technologies...

The Next Frontier(s) of Search?

Posted on September 11, 2008
Link: Marissa Mayer Clarifies: Search Is Only 10% Done, Not 90%. I agree with Marissa's clarification. Search is just getting started, and so is the web (i.e. It is Still Early in Web Years). The future will continue to surprise,...

Self Powered Data Centers in the Ocean?

Posted on September 08, 2008
Link: Google makes waves and may have solved the data center conundrum | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com. OK so I have somewhat of a Google fixation but really, this is one of the most incredible ideas I have ever...

Google is God or Not?

Posted on September 07, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The Omnigoogle. I like this "complements" based economic analysis that Nick uses, it has a certain elegant appeal. But I do not believe it is the entire story, only the foundation for a much...

Don't Look to Academia!

Posted on September 06, 2008
Link: MediaShift . Embedded at NYU::Old Thinking Permeates Major Journalism School | PBS. This post presents a more general point that highlights why "to get the Internet you have to live online." Many academics simply do not understand just how...

Chrome: the UI for the cloud!

Posted on September 02, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The cloud's Chrome lining. Google has decided to take matters into its own hands with its Chrome browser, and rightfully so. It needs to control its own destiny and transform the cloud from something...

Reading Online: Is it really different than paper?

Posted on June 14, 2008
Link: How we read online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine. The answer appears to be yes. I recently participated in panel discussion at RealComm entitled: "The Future of IT: Social Networking & Beyond." The question that I took...

Social Networking Gets a Sanity Check

Posted on June 13, 2008
Link: Social Networking Gets a Sanity Check - GigaOM. The numbers are starting to reflect what common sense makes obvious--there are only so many Facebook's & MySpace's that the known universe will suffer. This space will quickly consolidate but that...

Twitter

Posted on June 09, 2008
Link: Futurelawyer: Summize Conversational Search. I am definitely with Rick regarding Twitter. Who has time to follow all these conversations outside of the Tech guys who are able to monetize it because the "conversation" is their business? I have yet...

Change or die?

Posted on June 05, 2008
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: Investing in Law Firms - Right Now [Interview of Lyceum Capital]. Foreign investments in law firms will drive the transformation of legal industries abroad because it will allow well capitalized firms to make the necessary...

The Singularity?

Posted on June 03, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: What we talk about when we talk about singularity. Indeed the singularity may never in fact arise but the movement toward it is what I find of interest. Not only is this idea "conceivable"...

Amazon & Goolge: Scale is Mission Critical

Posted on June 01, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Understanding Amazon Web Services. Nick makes a great point here. Scale is mission critical for Amazon & Google and therefore they have to get it right in order for their core business to survive....

Smart Buildings & Ideas that Scale

Posted on May 31, 2008
Link: Twitter: Don?t blame Ruby, blame Scoble » VentureBeat. Clearly the ability to scale an app to a "massive" number of users is a problem for a startup. You don't have the luxury to see that far ahead when what...

Google v. Everybody Else?

Posted on May 30, 2008
Link: Obama Spent Most of $3.5 Million This Year on Google - ClickZ. Need more convincing that Google should be the primary, if not ONLY, focus of PPC for online entrepreneurs? The Obama campaign spent over 80% of its online...

Lawyers & Process

Posted on May 28, 2008
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: Measuring Lawyer Quality. Ron has a couple of excellent posts here regarding lawyers and process issues. It seems like, despite how legal services are sold, that there is relatively little process (read quality assurance) that...

Online: This is not your father's Chevy!

Posted on May 26, 2008
Link: Why Traditional Advertising Formats Fail On The Web - Publishing 2.0. Scott does a great job in this post of illustrating why most online advertising doesn't work. Only Google has cracked the code by tying ads to utility value...

Gilligan's web?

Posted on May 14, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Gilligan's web. I am not certain that I buy this "liberation mythology" argument. It certainly raises some interesting points but Clay's argument is not quite as "simple minded" as portrayed here. Sure there is...

Open Source Law?

Posted on May 08, 2008
Link: Harvard Law School goes open access! - Boing Boing. Why shouldn't the masses be free to read the best in legal scholarship right along with the elite few? This is an important step on the part of Harvard Law...

Identity. Context. Presence.

Posted on May 06, 2008
Link: At Rearden Commerce, Addiction is Job One ($100 Million Round Confirmed, Major Deal With JPMorgan Chase). Think that "Web 20 like" apps are not going to have an impact on enterprise computing? Think again. Point and click ease of...

Lawyers: Risk Aversion = Missed Opportunities

Posted on May 05, 2008
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: Risk Aversion and the Failure to Consider Alternatives. This little snippet is indicative of why many law firms will be slow to leverage the Internet in an aggressive way. It seems that lawyers are mostly...

Darkside of SaaS?

Posted on May 04, 2008
As we move more and more of our computing to the cloud one thing will become painfully obvious. It is not the service provider with the coolest interface or lowest cost that will win. It is the provider that can...

Super Blogger Makes TIME 100

Posted on May 01, 2008
Link: Michael Arrington - The TIME 100 - TIME. Is this is a sign of things to come? No. Blogging (and new media in general) have completely transformed journalism. It is game, set & match. It has been for awhile....

Tim Berners-Lee reads Web-tones?

Posted on April 30, 2008
Link: BBC NEWS | Technology | Web in infancy, says Berners-Lee. Well not really, but he does agree with me that it is still early in web years. Even though what we have seen so far is amazing, even despite...

SaaS is a no brainer!

Posted on April 29, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: McKinsey surveys the new software landscape. The software as a service model is a "no brainer" and it is not surprising that McKinsey is finding growth. Just about all the trend reports I read...

Long arm of the law?

Posted on April 29, 2008
Link: Malware gets a EULA - Boing Boing. Here even the bad guys are trying to control downstream uses of their stuff. Of course, for obvious reasons, illegal activity will not be protected under any doctrine where the subject matter...

Brave New Internet(s)

Posted on April 28, 2008
Morgan Stanley?s March Internet Trends Report: Social Applications Dominating: It looks like social networking is certainly not a "fad" if these numbers are reliable. One extremely interesting data point is the non-US growth that is occurring. It remains to be...

Content Ownership Showdown!

Posted on April 27, 2008
Sports Blogging: Yeah this controversy is probably headed for the Supreme Court. Why? Well because big money is on either side of the "v" and the issue needs addressing. Professional sports organizations are concerned with the sports media using too....

Mac v. PC

Posted on April 26, 2008
Rick Georges, Futurelawyer & Godfather: I should have known this was coming. Where is Grant Griffiths when I need him? Rick has a good point and made his case (quite eloquently I might add) in a recent article in the...

Looking for inspiration?

Posted on April 25, 2008
Check out the 212 Movie! This is one of the best pieces I have seen on these Internet(s) ever. I have been surfing for quite some time, before Netscape; before Mosaic. This short piece is phenomenally well done and quite...

Switching Costs

Posted on April 24, 2008
I have made the decision to go the darkside and am switching to the Mac. I am excited about it? No. Are there legitimate business reasons for making the move? Yes. But I have to keep telling myself it will...

Glass half full or half empty?

Posted on April 23, 2008
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: The Future of Law Practice: Change or More of the Same?. Some traditions, such as the practice of law, seem capable of resisting changing more than others. But the keyword here is "resisting." What is...

Linking good for business?

Posted on April 21, 2008
Link: Join The Web Content Conservation Movement - Publishing 2.0. Linking also just makes good business sense because once all the megaphones of the various echo chambers begin to fade (start leaking because of the noise), readers will be drawn...

Neighbors

Posted on April 20, 2008
I have a great neighbor. His name is Frank Barrett (family name is really Barrettino but the judge shortened it when his father emigrated from Italy. Maybe figured the family would fare better with a Waspy name?). He is 84...

Roll your own "A" List

Posted on April 17, 2008
From time to time you hear someone complaining about how ?A? list bloggers are gatekeepers and other similar whining. I wrote about that here. Sure there is an ?A? list. So what? The ?A? list built the ?A? list. It...

SEO Underground?

Posted on April 13, 2008
Probably the "best and the brightest" in the SEO space have always been underground. Any information shared with the masses at conferences and SEO Blogs (e.g. 10 best tips, techniques, etc.) is almost always link bait for the particular site/conference...

Law firms leveraging the Internet?

Posted on April 12, 2008
If you want proof that in fact most law firms are not leveraging the Internet go here and review how many inbound links some of the top firms in Florida have to their websites. Sure inbound links are not the...

Six Degrees of Separation

Posted on April 12, 2008
Some of my earliest telephony recollections were of sitcoms like "The Real McCoy" or "The Andy Griffith Show" where someone is cranking a phone, talking to an operator, and asking to speak to "Mabel". Or even closer to home, my...

It is early in web years!

Posted on April 09, 2008
I have been doing more than my usual share of hardcore surfing in preparation for the launch of a new ?digital venture.? Much of this has been related to SEO and online marketing in general. This post has been ?brewing?...

Lawyers Blaming IT? The song remains the same.

Posted on April 07, 2008
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: Blaming IT. Ron has an interesting take on the results of the survey, and no doubt there is probably enough "blame" to go around, but the problem is more deeply rooted. Many knowledge workers are...

Anatomy of a ?Blogging will kill you? story?

Posted on April 07, 2008
Link: Anatomy of a ?Blogging will kill you? story: Why I didn?t make the cut | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com. This is too absurd a premise for it not to be link bait, an indication that in some perverse...

Are ideas worthless?

Posted on April 01, 2008
Link: Paul Buchheit: Ideas vs Judgment and Execution: Climbing the Mountain. Paul does a nice job here of shedding some light on recent conversations of interest regarding startups. But additional light is shed by some of the commentary. Why? Because...

Project Virgle

Posted on April 01, 2008
Link: Official Google Blog: Announcing Project Virgle. You may have to volunteer but I in fact was recruited for project Virgle (mission to Mars). In my case, I think it is a conspiracy to try and remove me from this...

If the CIA likes it, why wouldn't a law firm?

Posted on March 30, 2008
Link: Google has lots to do with intelligence. Search as a concept and technology is SO BIG that we have just started scratching the surface of what it can do. I wrote about it in Search, KM & the Practice...

Can't Live Everywhere Online!

Posted on March 30, 2008
Link: Loic Le Meur Blog: My social map is totally decentralized but I want it back on my blog. I think that Loic has got it right. I don't want to "live" in twenty different places online, although I might...

Habeas verbus ad subjiciendum

Posted on March 29, 2008
Ironically this week, just after posting about the fear of legal discovery in a world gone mad with out of control communication (Here), I heard of exactly that: a friend of mine who was named in a wrongful termination suit...

Web Content Management Goes Open Source

Posted on March 27, 2008
Link: Pirillo Starts Large Scale Community CMS Project. So what? Well here is the so what. The search engines (is there still more than one?) love quality content. However, quality content is hard to do even with the best Content...

Welcome "Senor Saah!"

Posted on March 23, 2008
I have been encouraging Chris Saah to lend his voice to the conversation for quite some time now. As CIO of a distributed organization with well over 1000 employees, he lives in the "trenches" and has both the "scar tissue"...

Plantation or the Law of Private Agreements?

Posted on March 23, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Meanwhile, back at the plantation. Nick writes a populist post for the Internet masses (musicians in this case) which is not exactly what you might expect from him. It is quite well done and...

Pandemic in the Verbosphere

Posted on March 22, 2008
{I'm honored to be invited as a guest blogger by my good friend Carlos, and hope that my contributions will be worthy of the Leyva-man and his Web-Tones.} I remember hearing the results of one of those studies a few...

Flip: The Zen of Less is More

Posted on March 21, 2008
Link: Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot - New York Times. This a brilliant product (low end camcorder) not because of the features it has but because of those it lacks. Almost all of us have experienced "remote control hell"--the...

Making the Case for Law 2.0

Posted on March 20, 2008
Paul Lippe, founder and CEO of Legal OnRamp, makes the case for Law 2.0 here. His primary thesis? Well, it should sound familiar to Web-Tones readers: "cloud computing and Web 2.0 apps will transform the practice of law." OK, but...

Google Apps: Raising the Bar

Posted on March 19, 2008
Link: Google Spreadsheets Adds Gadgets, a Directory of Features. Google Apps just keep getting better and we are ONLY somewhere circa 1982 (in PC historical terms) in the evolution of the "cloud." As a recent convert (to the actual platform...

Social Networking Sites for Business

Posted on March 16, 2008
Link: Online Business Networking: 2 Horse Globalization Race - ReadWriteWeb. I believe that the value of these sites for businesses of all kinds is still underestimated. Sure there is tons of press for what the kids are doing on MySpace...

Google Apps Rock!

Posted on March 13, 2008
Why? Because of anywhere/anytime/any device(soon) access to all the necessary basic computing infrastructure that any small to medium size business might need! All the e-Bilities are in place: scalability, reliability & availability. In addition, the apps are highly functional today...

Musings on cloud computing--finding the onramp!

Posted on March 10, 2008
Link: Ericsson predicts demise of hotspots | InfoWorld | News | 2008-03-10 | By Mikael Rickn?s, IDG News Service. Ok, here is where the rubber meets the road. I am in the process of launching a "digital business" of sorts...

More Startup Advice

Posted on March 10, 2008
Link: A Couple of My Rules for Startups - Blog Maverick. Mark Cuban jumps in with more startup advice. Many of these rules apply to all startups, including law firms. The beautiful thing about the Net (at least one of...

How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)

Posted on March 08, 2008
Link: How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips). Asttorneys thinking about going solo or starting a boutique firm (apparently many are) could benefit from "groking" this list. Keep your burn rate low and more money goes...

It is all beta, all the time!

Posted on March 07, 2008
Steve Jobs once said (or is given credit for saying) the following: "real artists ship." Now you can read whatever you like into this quote, but for me it says that you have to build something worthwhile and get it...

1000 Fans?

Posted on March 05, 2008
Link: Kevin Kelly -- The Technium. Kevin Kelly is one of my favorite elder statesman of the web and his advice regarding "1000 true fans" is applicable to any aspiring digital entrepreneur (he is specifically referring to artists) IMHO. You...

Feed the network and the network feeds you?

Posted on March 02, 2008
Link: Innovation comes cheap, says Google engineer Kevin Marks | The Social - CNET News.com. Clearly that is Google's vision vis-a-vis improving the ecosystem. Whenever the ecosystem prospers, Google gets a "little" (perhaps not so little) size of the increased pie...

Here come the boys from Redmond, again!

Posted on March 01, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Rumor: Microsoft about to unveil web-apps    strategy. Really, no one should be surprised that MS will move aggressively to "cloud." Remember that Ray Ozzie, the father of both Lotus Notes and Groove, understands a thing or two about collaborative computing...

Microsoft/Yahoo No Big Deal!

Posted on February 05, 2008
Link: blog.pmarca.com: Silicon Valley after a Microsoft/Yahoo merger: a contrarian view. I agree with Marc, this deal if it happens just sets the stage for the next wave of innovation. We have had consistent consolidation in the software space for quite some time, this is nothing new...

Legal Professional Services: A Blood Sport?

Posted on January 24, 2008
Link: Adam Smith, Esq.: An inquiry into the economics of law firms..... Yes the PSF landscape is becoming even "dicier" with enabling technologies now allowing boutiques to compete more effectively with BIG LAW--there is simply very little (in any) by way of technology infrastructure advantage that bigger firms have over the nimble and the smart...

Darwin or pre-existing wiring?

Posted on January 19, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Rewiring the mind. I don't by the argument that the web is "messing with our brains." Sure, our behavior is changing with respect to how we use information in this medium as opposed to other mediums, but it is not because something fundamental is changing at a cognitive level, but rather that something fundamental is being re-awakened...

Open Source Software is Big Business

Posted on January 16, 2008
Link: Open Sources | Rodrigues & Urlocker | InfoWorld | Sun Shines on LAMP | January 16, 2008 05:40 AM | By Zack Urlocker. If anyone doubts that OSS is big business than they should pay attention to this announcement. Sun is not doing this because they are "nice guys" but rather they perceive this as potentially "game changing...

Digital uniqueness or settled criminal law?

Posted on January 16, 2008
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Is encryption a right?. Indeed this case will be an interesting one to watch, because while the "digerati" like to see many issues in a new "cyber legal light" the truth is that many old doctrines are controlling, the "cyber" nature of the legal issue is simply a new application of settled doctrine...

Open Source Education?

Posted on January 14, 2008
Link: Michael Geist - Why Is There No Canadian MIT?. There is something fascinating (and important) with respect to what MIT (and the consortium) is doing vis-a-vis higher education. It is called "accessibility" to the masses. The dissemination of knowledge, and the rate by which it is being disseminated, could be what makes (or breaks) some nation states in the 21 century...

Legal Marketing Wisdom!

Posted on January 07, 2008
Link: Build A Solo Practice, LLC: "Tip of the Week" (II) - How Creativity Will Save the (Legal Marketing) World. This post is actually more profound than what might initially be apparent. Why? Because lawyers appear to be much too conservative in how they approach marketing...

Taking on Google?

Posted on January 03, 2008
Link: The Next Google Search Challenger: Blekko. It is clear that there is still plenty of room for innovation in Search, but it is a lot less clear, if/when the innovation occurs that it is: 1) compelling enough to unseat Google; or 2) cannot be replicated by Google, even if it takes a ton of money to do so...

TV is Dead!

Posted on January 01, 2008
OK, maybe it just has its big toe in the grave, I mean, I will probably still watch some football today, and maybe catch the weather on the evening news. BUT, definitely, "the beginning of the end has reached a new milestone." Why? Because after two years of the worst kind of TV commercialism on display,i...

Very Clever!

Posted on December 31, 2007
Link: Micro Persuasion: Become a Knowledge Management Ninja with Google Reader. Steve, this is a very clever way to leverage RSS! I currently use gmail, but have continued to use Bloglines simply because there is only so much "switching costs" I am willing to endure at various points in time...

Email Still the Killer App?

Posted on December 31, 2007
Link: Email And Cellphone Contacts Are The Real Social Graph - Publishing 2.0. Yeah, I think that Scott has it right. The cell phone rules the world, but for business it is still email that mostly matters. I have often wondered, outside of students, and the digerati that make a living one way or another from this stuff, who has time to spend on Facebook and MySpace? Well, there is probably a case to be made that some time can be spent by business people who see these sites as a potential marketing tool (myself included), and no doubt some are making clever and profitable uses, but still the song remains the same...

KM is for the "Grinders"

Posted on December 28, 2007
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: Why KM May be Widely Adopted but Under-Appreciated. Of course KM is for the "grinders!" These are the folks that do the work. If your job is to make it rain (i.e. a "finder") then KM may have some value to you but not as much...

Give me bandwidth or give me death!

Posted on December 24, 2007
Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Illuminating cities: Cisco's grand ambition. Cisco wants to "light up" entire cities with IP technology, fascinating stuff! I would like to reside in one of these cities, where bandwidth is presumably plentiful...

E-Greetings R' US

Posted on December 24, 2007
Link: E-Greetings Gain Ground at Businesses This Season - New York Times. Many commentators like to indicate how e-greeting are "green friendly"--which of course they are, but it is as if they need some justification for this behavior. It is simply a reflection of our "digital lives"--a  profound transformation of how we live, work and play...

Strategic Legal Technology :: Dressing the Emperor: Jones Day M&A Lawyers Speak Out

Posted on December 20, 2007
Link: Strategic Legal Technology :: Dressing the Emperor: Jones Day M&A Lawyers Speak Out. I see signs everywhere that the practice of law is no longer what it use to be. Those that are not innovating will soon be forced to. The leveling effect of the Internet and enabling technologies are changing the rules of the game, permanently...

Anonymous in Arizona? Maybe Not. : Privacy Law Blog

Posted on December 20, 2007
Link: Anonymous in Arizona? Maybe Not. : Privacy Law Blog. Not a day goes by when cyberlaw does not morph in some way, shape or form (sort of). Yeah the law still moves rather slow, but the pace with respect to the Internet feels likes it is moving quite fast in an attempt to catch up...