Internet Security Experts Introduce Secure DNS in Singapore – NYTimes.com

A small group of Internet security specialists gathered in Singapore this week to start up a global system to make e-mail and e-commerce more secure, end the proliferation of passwords and raise the bar significantly for Internet scam artists, spies and troublemakers.

“It won’t matter where you are in the world or who you are in the world, you’re going to be able to authenticate everyone and everything,” said Dan Kaminsky, an independent network security researcher who is one of the engineers involved in the project.

The Singapore event included an elaborate technical ceremony to create and then securely store numerical keys that will be kept in three hardened data centers there, in Zurich and in San Jose, Calif. The keys and data centers are working parts of a technology known as Secure DNS, or DNSSEC. DNS refers to the Domain Name System, which is a directory that connects names to numerical Internet addresses. Preliminary work on the security system had been going on for more than a year, but this was the first time the system went into operation, even though it is not quite complete.

The three centers are fortresses made up of five layers of physical, electronic and cryptographic security, making it virtually impossible to tamper with the system. Four layers are active now. The fifth, a physical barrier, is being built inside the data center.

via Internet Security Experts Introduce Secure DNS in Singapore – NYTimes.com.

Companies set to gobble up Apple iPads; is it the right move? – Tainted Green

Before the Apple iPad debuted, concerns of an illegitimate operating system surfaced, leaving many to question its relevance as a handheld device. Those with technological expertise failed to see how a glorified iPhone could make an impact in the netbook, or hybrid device, market. Quickly, upon arrival, however, as Apple products always seem to do, the Apple iPad generated not only intrigue and envy, but it also may have made believers out of the technologically savvy IT crowd.

Apple has cashed in big time on the iPad. It is expected that sales could reach 13.3 million iPads in 2010, and by 2012, sales could reach as many as 56.1 million iPads. Of all forecasted tablet sales, the Apple iPad is likely to control 70% of the market.

The corporate and business crowd, however, is relatively untapped thus far.

According to a survey done by ChangeWave, out of 1,641 corporate IT buyers, 7% said their company now utilizes a tablet device, and of those that use a tablet, the Apple iPad seems to be the device of choice (controlling 82% of those purchases).

Perhaps most intriguing about the survey is that 14% of respondents believe their companies will purchase a tablet in the first quarter of 2011. Of those 14% that plan to purchase a tablet, 78% said their company plans to purchase the iPad.

It seems the doubts of the iPad being an illegitimate device are being dismissed by the technologically advanced minds in companies moving forward with the purchases of the iPad in the first quarter of next year.

via Companies set to gobble up Apple iPads; is it the right move? – Tainted Green.

Security concerns prompt D.C. to suspend Web-based overseas voting – Computerworld

Security issues have prompted election officials in the District of Columbia to suspend a service that aimed to allow overseas voters to cast their ballots via the Web in the November elections.

The vulnerabilities in D.C.’s new Digital Vote by Mail system were discovered during public testing last week by several security researchers.

Details of the flaws were not immediately available. However one of them, discovered by a researcher at the University of Michigan, was so serious it allowed the researcher to take complete control of the system hosting the Web application and tweak it so users who voted would hear a rendition of “Hail to the Victors,” a University of Michigan fight song, said one observer of the tests.

via Security concerns prompt D.C. to suspend Web-based overseas voting – Computerworld.

Android Takes Smartphone Lead From BlackBerry, iPhone — InformationWeek

Google’s Android has surpassed Apple’s iOS and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry OS to become the most popular smartphone operating system in the United States, a research firm says.

During the six months ending in August, the number of people who bought Android smartphones increased steadily, culminating in 32% buying the devices in August, Nielsen reported Tuesday. The BlackBerry and Apple iPhone in the last month of the period were at a statistical tie at 26% and 25%, respectively.

RIM’s and Apple’s OSes are proprietary software used only in the companies’ respective devices. Android, on the other hand, is used by a variety of manufacturers, such as Motorola, Samsung, HTC and others.

In looking at the share of each OS in the total market, Nielsen found that the BlackBerry OS continued to lead with 31% at the end of August, followed by iOS at 28%. However, while the BlackBerry OS has declined in share from 36% in January and iOS has remained steady, Android has climbed from 8% to 19%, Nielsen found.

via Android Takes Smartphone Lead From BlackBerry, iPhone — InformationWeek.

GM’s New Volt to Use Google’s Android Software – WSJ.com

General Motors Co. has paired with Google Inc. to create new features for the soon-to-launch Chevrolet Volt that combine the technology giant’s Android smartphone with the auto maker’s OnStar technology system.

Further pairings between GM and Google are in the works as the auto maker looks for ways to better leverage OnStar to attract new, younger buyers, according to people familiar with the discussions.

“There can be a technological tour de force beyond just vehicle applications,” OnStar President Chris Preuss said. “We’re looking to enhance the value proposition on OnStar to make us more competitive.”

On Tuesday, the auto maker said Volt owners, using GM’s OnStar information system and Google Android operating system, will be able to track the location of their vehicle on their Android phone.

The phone also will allow owners to use voice recognition software ask for Google map directions to be sent to the vehicle and delivered to the driver by OnStar’s navigation system, which gives turn-by-turn routes to drivers.

In addition to the Google features, GM already planned several features that would join the Volt and OnStar with smart phones, including the ability to charge the vehicle remotely and monitor battery power from a mobile device.

The moves are the latest indication of how electronics and in-car information systems are becoming a key battleground for car makers used to competing on horsepower and mileage.

via GM’s New Volt to Use Google’s Android Software – WSJ.com.

Estonia sets up international court for arbitration of business disputes

An international court for business disputes known as ICCMCA has started operations in Estonia and enables to resolve disputes in a more timely manner and with lower fees than the Estonian court system.

According to ICCMCA that stands for International Commercial Court for Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration, the court’s objective is to arbitrate civil disputes.

“The number of business disputes has grown considerably but because of the heavy workload of the courts the verdicts are often delayed. The internationally recognized dispute resolution model that ICCMCA uses is an outstanding alternative for many business disputes”, said William Cronenberg, Chairman of the Council of ICCMCA. “Arbitration rulings have to be accepted in the same way as judgements by the national court system. Faster processing is a clear advantage of arbitration and fees are approximately half of the levies raised by the state courts” he added.

Estonia has joined the New York Convention of 1958 and the rulings of an arbitration court are enforceable in all signatory countries.

At ICCMCA, as usual in arbitration proceeding, the parties are free to select arbitrators; alternatively, if the parties do not come to a conclusion about the arbitrators, they can be selected by the Council of the Arbitration Court.

via balticbusinessnews.com – Estonia sets up international court for arbitration of business disputes.

Delaware courts evolve to meet litigants’ needs | delawareonline.com

Seal of Delaware.
Image via Wikipedia

Last week, the state’s Superior Court system — which handles civil and criminal cases along with business lawsuits — established a division designed specifically to give corporate litigants a more focused, predictable forum.

The stakes of upholding — and when possible, improving — the nation’s perceptions of Delaware courts are huge. Yet there is some evidence that big corporate lawsuits are already going elsewhere, and that Delaware’s dominant status is slowly slipping away — possibly for good.

Without that reputation, the state is at risk of losing the big firms that incorporate here and help fuel the economy with millions in tax revenue, observers say. Others doubt Delaware is in any real peril, and have faith that the high standards of its judges and the depth of its case law will continue to outclass any other jurisdiction.

But that doesn’t mean the people who operate Delaware’s system never question the status quo.

Over the years, Delaware has repeatedly tweaked its system to keep pace with the needs of litigants — with more success in some cases than in others.

There’s a recognition here that when they’re able, big companies will “shop” for jurisdictions that offer advantages — litigants want a court that is knowledgeable, reliable, and efficient enough to avoid long, expensive proceedings.

via Delaware courts evolve to meet litigants’ needs | delawareonline.com | The News Journal.

Hogan Lovells Faces Challenge of Managing a Megafirm | National Law Journal

Hogan Lovells is, as of Saturday, a reality — a 2,500-lawyer, 47-office megafirm that spans four continents.

Now, the firm’s leaders have to manage their leviathan and clean up mass of details still facing them: Can they work out their compensation system? Can they build their corporate and finance practices into true power players? Can they forge a culture across a firm with this many lawyers in this many countries?

For months, since Washington-based Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells announced the merger, top partners have buzzed around the globe to sell the deal to clients and their fellow lawyers. Tech staffers have worked to pull together management, conflicts and other computer systems. Marketers have scurried to set up new website and sell the brand.

Despite all the work, the question remains: Is Hogan Lovells really a single firm? By traditional measures — sharing profits, a single compensation system and a single partnership — the answer is muddy. For tax and liability reasons, lawyers inside the United States and outside the United States will work in two separate partnerships, and profits will be pooled separately. A single comp system is to be phased in over time. “We’re looking at May 1 not as the finish line, but the starting point for the new firm,” said former Hogan Chairman J. Warren Gorrell Jr., who is co-CEO of Hogan Lovells.

At that starting line, the firm boasts 20,000 clients in about 80,000 ongoing matters; some 700 lawyers doing litigation work; and an instant top 10 ranking in terms of revenue and headcount. Gorrell said Hogan Lovells' work is roughly 35 percent corporate, 25 percent litigation, 15 percent finance, and the rest split between intellectual property and regulatory matters. Common clients between the legacy firms include Ford Motor Co., Barclays PLC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Iberdrola S.A., a Spanish energy company.

via Hogan Lovells Faces Challenge of Managing a Megafirm.

Is the UK heading for US style litigation? | Evolution Legal

With the news that Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations for small value road traffic accident injury claims are going to be implemented in England & Wales on the 30th April 2010, questions must be asked as to whether his recommendations are driving UK road users further down the path of US litigation methods.

Until 2001, if you had been injured in a road traffic accident (RTA) you simply made arrangements with a Solicitor to obtain compensation on your behalf. The question of costs was very rarely mentioned as it was an unspoken truth that the Solicitors expected to recover their costs in full from the negligent driver’s insurance company.

When Lord Woolf reformed the framework surrounding compensation claims in 2001, the system of No Win No Fee (NWNF) was introduced, which in theory allowed claimants to bring claims without the fear of accumulating large legal costs bills if they lost the claim, thus providing access to justice to individuals who previously may have been put off from claiming.

This access to justice was protected by the issuing of what was known as After the Event Insurance (ATE), an insurance policy that guaranteed that the legal costs would be paid in the event of the claim not succeeding.

In legal circles this type of arrangement is governed by a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which in layman’s terms basically means, that the lawyer agrees to take the clients case on, work for free for the duration of the claim, irrespective of the length of the case, before ultimately getting paid their costs on a fixed fee regime, with the possibility of achieving a success fee, if indeed the claim succeeded (therefore the fees are paid conditional upon success in the case!).

Quite were this system of accessing legal services and obtaining compensation came from is a bit of a mystery now in 2010, although I’m sure that at the time it made some sense. In any event the system was introduced and has been utilised for 9 years until now, albeit utilised in what can only be described as a battlefield, as claimant lawyers and insurance lawyers have knocked lumps out of each other arguing as to the rights and wrongs of the system.

This battle has raged for 9 years and has now led to a further change in the legal framework surrounding these claims, from Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA’s) to Contingency Fee Agreements (COFA’s).

In the newly proposed regime, the claimant will now have to commit to giving his lawyer a percentage of his recovered compensation to contribute towards the lawyers costs in the event of a successful claim.

So if £2000 is recovered on a 20% COFA, the lawyer will deduct £200 from the compensation award to contribute towards their costs of acting for the client. This process is widely used throughout the United States and has been for very many years.

via Evolution Legal.

Lawyer: Laptops took thousands of images | Philadelphia Inquirer

The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district.

More than once, the motion asserts, the camera on Robbins’ school-issued laptop took photos of Robbins as he slept in his bed. Each time, it fired the images off to network servers at the school district.

Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into “a little LMSD soap opera,” a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program.

“I know, I love it,” she is quoted as having replied.

Those details, disclosed in the motion filed late Thursday in federal court by Robbins’ attorney, offer a wider glimpse into the now-disabled program that spawned Robbins’ lawsuit and has shined an international spotlight on the district.

In the filing, the Penn Valley family claims the district’s records show that the controversial tracking system captured more than 400 photos and screen images from 15-year-old Blake Robbins' school-issued laptop during two weeks last fall, and that “thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes.”

Robbins, a sophomore at Harriton High School, and his parents, Michael and Holly Robbins, contend e-mails turned over to them by the district suggest Cafiero “may be a voyeur” who might have viewed some of the photos on her home computer.

The motion says Cafiero, who has been placed on paid leave, has failed to turn that computer over to the plaintiffs despite a court order to do so, and asks a judge to sanction her.

via Lawyer: Laptops took thousands of images | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/15/2010.