IE Browser Security Vulnerability

There is important news that has recently surfaced regarding attacks on the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser versions 5.01, 6, and 7. An article I received reports a huge increase in computer attacks exploiting this vulnerability. Unfortunately, there is not a corrective patch available yet from Microsoft. So you might consider using an alternative browser for general surfing for the near future and yes for you Mac folks you are safe. Please also make sure that your Windows Update either set for automatic update or enable the update notice. Generally at this time I would suggest only using IE for sites that have your full confidence such as your bank and well-known store websites. In other words, be careful out there.

Here is the link to the ComputerWorld magazine article: http://tinyurl.com/6nercd

CTC 2009 Call for Ideas

The Court Technology Conference 2009 has posted the "Call for Ideas and Participation" document (PDF) for download.  The conference is looking for presentations in all manner of court related technology, policy, and management subject areas.  The CTC 2009 conference will be held in Denver, Colorado from September 22-24, 2009.

NIEM News - November, 2008

The National Information Exchange Model(NIEM) project has posted the Production Release 2.0 document on their website.  In addition, the NIEM Naming and Design Rules (NDR) 1.3 document has been posted. The document is open for a 30-day public review period.

US Courts Celebrates 20 Years for PACER System

PACER Coming Into Its Own at 20, an article in the November, 2008 edition of The Third Branch newsletter, celebrates the pioneering electronic public access system. The article notes that PACER began life as a dial-up bulletin board system that later migrated to Internet technology. Uptake grew "from a dozen participating courts, PACER has grown to include all bankruptcy, district, and appellate courts. From 9,000 registered user accounts in 1994, PACER grew to 900,000 registered accounts by 2008. This fiscal year alone, PACER added 134,000 new users." It is a true success story.

E-Discovery Casebook Published

On November 10, 2008, West announced the publication of "Electronic Discovery and Digital Evidence: Cases and Materials".  The book was co-authored by the Hon. Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York, US Federal Court and Professor Dan Capra of Fordham University Law School.  The press release notes:

"This casebook is the first in its field on electronic discovery and digital evidence. Judge Scheindlin, the author of the landmark Zubulake opinions, is a leading author on electronic discovery issues in the federal judiciary. Professor Capra is the Reporter to the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules, a co-author of a five-volume treatise on evidence, and the principal author of Rule 502. Members of The Sedona Conference® Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production, which published The Sedona Principles and is cited by courts and litigators on a daily basis, contributed commentary and practical guidance."

For information on ordering the book, go to:
http://www.westacademic.com/Professors/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=147221&tab=1

PC Magazine Solutions Articles

Since we share our subscription to PC Magazine here at the NCSC, I recently received an issue that contains the article "Eight Handy Tools in Excel You Probably Don't Know About".  Following that I looked at their Solutions website and found some additional excellent articles that are listed below:

Microsoft Outlook: 9 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do
Customizing Comments and Revisions Tracking in Microsoft Word
Troubleshooting Word Macros
Deal with the Outlook E-Mail Deluge in 4 Steps

And for you Mac users:
Office 2008 for the Mac: 8 Things You Didn't Know

NCSC Partners with NIEM for Online Course

The November 3, 2008 edition of the NIEM Newsletter contains an article titled: E-Learning Update: NIEM Practical Implementer’s Course Being Rolled Out as Online Course by Eileen Rixmann, Training Manager, IJIS Institute. The article states:

"The NIEM Practical Implementer’s (PI) course is scheduled to be introduced in an online version later this year.  The National Center for State Courts (NCSC), the IJIS Institute, and SEARCH have been working for the past year to make this project a reality.  The NCSC has extensive experience in online training and currently offers an array of justice- and court-related classes and certification programs.  The IJIS Institute was instrumental in developing the NIEM classroom material." "The online version of the NIEM PI course is a self-paced course powered by WebCT, an online virtual learning environment.  Because it is not presented in real time, it allows the flexibility required by many developers, implementers, and business analysts."

 Contact training@ijis.org with any questions that you may have about the class.

Federal Courts Opens Decision Support System

The October 2008 edition of the US Federal Courts - The Third Branch - newsletter contains an article titled: DSS Opens Data Warehouse.  It notes that " the DSS project consolidates the information from the Probation/Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System (PACTS), used by all 94 districts, into the National PACTS Reporting Database." The article notes "Matt Rowland, who heads up DSS development at the AO. “It was a challenge to consolidate and report that data in a way that was useful to decision makers. With DSS, we bring in every single record from PACTS. That means we have millions of additional data elements and with new reporting technologies, we can slice and dice the data very easily." Further the article states:  "(l)ogging into Version I of DSS, users can view dashboards on clinical services, post-conviction supervision, pre-sentence reports, pretrial services, and workload. Dashboard is a term used for the Web-based display of data. Like a car’s dashboard, it shows how the machine is performing. For example, a probation officer may want to see the average Risk Prediction Index (RPI) score for offenders over a period of time, or the average cost of treatment per offender."

E-Courts Agenda Updated

The NCSC is pleased to announce new program sessions at the E-Courts 2008 conference.  The judge's session will share the experience, benefits, and barriers that have been faced by the Hon. Richard Nielsen, general jurisdiction Circuit Court Judge from Tampa, Florida and the Hon. Mark Singer, limited jurisdiction Court Court Judge from Bradenton, Florida.  The LegalXML Electronic Filing committee will be making a presentation on the new ECF 3.0 standard and how it will benefit the courts.  And two disguished architects, Mr. Larry Smith of Durrant Architects and Mr. Robert Boyle of Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects  will share their experience on the impact of technology in designing and renovating court facilities to take advantage of automation.  To view the new agenda as well as additional information about the conference go to: http://www.e-courts.org/

South Dakota Courts Use Video Conferencing

The October 2, 2008 edition of the Sioux Falls South Dakota newspaper, The Argus Leader contains an interesting story titled "Video a key player in S.D. courtrooms" on the use of videoconferencing technology by the courts.  The story notes: " The technology is saving money and time and has helped some suspects bond out of jail faster. But some worry that turning defendants into faces on a TV screen is hurting the justice system."

NASCIO releases "Innovative Funding for State IT" publication

In a press release issued on September 17, 2008 NASCIO released it newest publication “Innovative Funding for State IT: Models, Trends & Perspectives.” A product of NASCIO's Innovative Funding for State IT Working Group, the report’s findings are based on a national survey of state CIOs that examines states' use of innovative or alternative funding models for information technology projects."

"Also intended to update NASCIO’s 2003 publication, “Innovative Funding for Innovative State IT: New Trends and Approaches for State IT Funding,” this report provides state CIOs with information and tools for the facilitation of innovative funding initiatives in their own states that enable delivery of savings, and improved IT services to citizens.

The report is available at www.nascio.org/publications".

Draft NIEM Conformance Document Posted

In a press release issued on September 18, 2008, the US Department Justice states that the NIEM Conformance document has been posted to the NIEM web site on the "Downloads" page in the "Technical Documents" section. This document is open for a public review and comment period which ends October 15, 2008. All comments should be sent to the NISS Help Desk

The NIEM Conformance document "provides a normative definition for the meaning of NIEM conformance, what it applies to, and what it does not apply to. It also outlines the benefits of conformance, and suggests sources of information, tools, and help for learning about NIEM conformance and its application."

SubTech 2008 Conference Sessions Available Online

The SubTech 2008 Conference sessions are now available online. The conference was hosted by The Center for Legal and Court Technology and the William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia from July 24-26, 2008.

The SubTech conference series is dedicated to substantive applications of information technology in law, as they are used or studied in legal education.

The historical application categories covered in the conferences include:

• Computer-aided instruction, broadly conceived
• Artificial intelligence & knowledge management
• Practice technologies like document automation
• Legal research, databases

September 2008 NIEM Newsletter Released

The National Information Exchange Model program (NIEM) has released their September, 2008 newsletter.  Articles include:

Tech Focus: Representing Idiosyncratic Data for NIEM IEPDs

• Statement for the  the Record of Charles E. Allen: Information Sharing at the Federal, State, and Local Levels, July 23, 2008
• NIEM Case Study Ideas Needed!
• NIEM Adoption and Use: New York State- Devleopment of NIEM 2.0 Conformant IEPD for the New York Intrastate Criminal History Report (Rap Sheet)
• Featured FAQ: What are NIEM Universal and Common Core components?
• NIEM Clearinghouse Update
• Upcoming NIEM Trainings
  

More Utah Justice Court Records Available Online

A press release from the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts issued on September 3, 2008 announces:
The Administrative Office of the Courts has announced the addition of 40 justice courts to the state court’s XChange service. XChange is a database of court case information that is available publicly for a monthly fee. 
The XChange service provides case information—referred to as the court docket—and includes information such as when and what documents have been filed in the case, when and what hearings have been held or are scheduled in the case, when and what judgments have been entered in the case, and the outcome of completed cases. Justice courts hear primarily class B and C misdemeanors, infractions, and small claims cases.

“With the addition of justice courts to the XChange service, court users have access to case information in one central location,” said Utah State Court Administrator Dan Becker. Prior to the database expansion, accessing Justice Court case information required court users to contact each individual Justice Court.

The XChange database is used daily by government agencies, law enforcement, title companies, law firms, media outlets, and others to track the status of court cases. District Court case information has been available through the XChange service for more than 10 years. During the 2008 Legislative Session, a law was enacted that requires all justice courts to use a common case management system by the year 2011. As each Justice Court converts to the court’s common case management system, the XChange service will automatically add that court’s case information."

For more information, go to www.utcourts.gov.

Request for Comment on Proposed CourTools Standard

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) solicits review of, and comments on proposed standards for CourTools Information Exchanges
CourTools Information Exchanges

CourTools is a set of ten trial court performance measures developed by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to provide court managers a balanced perspective on court operations.  The NCSC subsequently developed Global Information Exchange Package Documentation sets (IEPD’s) representing standards for uploading data relating to specific CourTools measures.  IEPD’s have been developed for four of the ten CourTools measures.  For each CourTools measure, two separate IEPD’s were developed to share data between local courts and a state authority (Stage 1) and between the state authority and a national authority (Stage 2).  The CourTools IEPD’s may be downloaded from the NCSC website at:

http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CourTools/tcmp_courttools.htm

Direct download links for each IEPD (no longer valid - 12/2/10):

• Measure 2 – Clearance Rates, Stage 1
• Measure 2 – Clearance Rates, Stage 2
• Measure 3 – Time to Disposition, Stage 1
• Measure 3 – Time to Disposition, Stage 2
• Measure 4 – Age of Active Pending Caseload, Stage 1
• Measure 4 – Age of Active Pending Caseload, Stage 2
• Measure 5 – Trial Date Certainty, Stage 1
• Measure 5 – Trial Date Certainty, Stage 2
  

Please direct any comments regarding the proposed standard(s) to NCSC via electronic mail to Paul Embley (pembley@ncsc.org).

The review period for the above proposed standard(s) will end October 31, 2008.  Comments regarding a “proposed standard” must be received by the end of the review period to assure consideration in advance of JTC’s decision on approval as a “recommended standard”.

Access to Justice Training Set

Rachel Medina at the Center for Access to Justice and Technology has announce they will be holding online training.

*New User Training intended for new users and those that would like a refresher on the basics is scheduled for September 11th.

*Advanced Training is scheduled for September 18th.

For more information see the A2J Author Blog or contact:

Rachel R Medina
Manager
Center for Access to Justice & Technology
Chicago-Kent College of Law

NIEM Posts Documents for Review

NIEM User Guide and High-Level Version Architecture (HLVA) Posted for Public Comment
The NIEM User Guide and High-Level Version Architecture (HLVA) document have been posted to the NIEM web site on the "Downloads" page under the "Technical Documents" section. Each document is open for a public review period which ends September 15, 2008.

NIEM User Guide

NIEM High-Level Version Architecture

NIEM is the National Information Exchange Model, is a partnership of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. It is designed to develop, disseminate and support enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes that can enable jurisdictions to effectively share critical information in emergency situations, as well as support the day-to-day operations of agencies throughout the nation.

Court Generated Documents

Now that everyone uses either word processing software or has the case management system create standard documents electronically, why are most courts only storing the data on paper in the paper file? In my experience there is continually an issue in court case management systems as to new data fields that must be added to either track new things for statistical information or to clarify information such as judgments, sentencing, or orders. So since electronic storage is so very cheap today, why aren't all court electronic generated documents being automatically saved in the court's system?

Is there an issue as to whether the electronic copy is the original or true copy? If so, then the documents should be printed to PDF.

Is there an issue that either a conforming or judge's signature is not affixed to the document? Then a digital signature and file stamp (or watermark) can be used.

Is there an issue regarding control? If so then digital rights management and encryption should be examined as a possible solution.

The point of this is that I believe a case management system should be focused on what its name says, managing cases. Documents can then be appropriately used, searched, and hopefully tagged to supplement the case management process and in the near future be applied for judicial research and use.

Next time, I'll write about self-docketing documents.

Testing Virtual Machines

Recently I received a new laptop computer.  The new laptop is very nice with a wide-format screen, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and a big 160 gigabyte hard drive.  And since my old laptop was still doing fine I decided it was time to experiment with Virtual Machine (VM) software.  For those who might not have kept up on VM technology, simply said it is software that lets one emulate various computer operating systems such as Microsoft Vista or XP, Linux, UNIX, or even MS-DOS on a host computer.  In other words, one creates a “virtual” computer using software within a host system.  For a much more complete explanation of VM software see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine

I’ve been testing Sun’s virtual machine software called VirtualBox.  But of course there are many other options to explore such as industry leader VMware as well as Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2007 software.  Apple Mac users have Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion to choose from.  An excellent list of different VM software is posted on Wikipedia at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_virtual_machines

I have posted a picture here to show you that I was able to load MSDOS, OpenSUSE Linux, and Vista on top of the installed Windows XP on my laptop.  Now to be realistic, I would need more RAM (chip) memory in my machine if I were to run all of these are the same time.  But it does seem to do the job quite nicely, and has the advantage of being free to use.  I thought you might enjoy the picture.

Now why are VM’s useful?  I can think of three reasons off the top of my head.  First, the obvious one is if there is a particular piece of software that only available on a particular operating system (OS), one can install that OS (legally licensed of course just like my Vista software) and then install the application.

Second, the ability to run older software programs to retrieve data could be particularly useful.  One might notice in the picture, my old CMS from the 80’s in Arizona is running in the MS-DOS window.  Therefore, if I had a court’s data from that system, I could run search and run reports without needing to convert the data.  It is interesting to note that there is as project is building VMs for older minicomputer systems of the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIMH



A third reason is to be able to test software on different applications in “clean” OS environments.  One can also emulate client / server networks or browser / server networks within a single machine.  Many VM’s have the ability to create “snapshots” of a system that allows a baseline configuration from which new software or configurations can be tested.  And if the approach doesn’t work; no problem, delete it and try again.  In the near future I am going to build a Linux client working with a Microsoft server to learn the best way to configure such a system.

Using VM?  Let us know and we’ll post your story.

Court Technology Bulletin Archive Online

Last week we received welcome news that our NCSC Knowledge and Information Services team had imaged all of the printed issues of the Court Technology Bulletin in PDF files. The Bulletin was issued in printed format from 1989 to 2003. It is interesting to see how technology has changed and improved over that time span. You can also see how good or bad I was at making technology trend predictions in my articles about the huge COMDEX computer expositions . The index to the CTB issues is located at: http://www.ncsconline.org/d_tech/archive/Bulletin/bulletinarchive.htm

US Federal Court Test Online Digital Audio Recordings

The June, 2008 edition of The Third Branch newsletter from the US Federal Courts contains an article titled: Pilot Project Update: Digital Audio Recordings Online. The article explains: quotIn a pilot project that began last August, five federal courts are docketing some digital audio recordings to Case Management/Electronic Case Files CM/ECF systems to make the audio files available in the same way written files have long been available on the Internet. The three other courtsnbsp are the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maine, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama.quot The article also notes: quotA major concern is assuring that personal information including Social Security and financial account numbers, dates of birth, and names of minor childrennot be available on any online digital audio recording. The Judiciary39s privacy policy restricts publication of such information. Each of the pilot courts warns lawyers and litigants in a variety of ways that they can, and should, request that recorded proceedings that include information covered by the privacy policy, or other sensitive matters, not be posted.

US Virgin Islands Court Issues RFP

The Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands has issued a Request for Proposal RFP that seeks an Appellate Case Management solution that incorporates Efiling and Document Management capabilities. The RFP is posted at the following web page: http://www.visupremecourt.org/Administrative_Services/RFPs

The Intent to Bid letter is due at 4:00 p.m., Atlantic Standard Time on July 24, 2008 and Proposals are due by 4:00 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time on August 18, 2008.

Texas Judicial Commission Adopts Functional Model

In a press release: On June 27, 2008, The Supreme Court of Texas Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families formally adopted a functional requirements reference model to address the special case management needs of courts handling child protection dependency cases. The reference model consists of a number of web pages presented in an interactive format, providing overviews of the court process, timelines, a feature to allow deep drilldown into the particulars of each subprocess, and detailed descriptions of the data requirements.

Culminating nearly two years of work, the functional requirements reference model was developed to provide developers of court case management software an authoritative set of requirements for the creation of specialized modules of court software systems. The Office of Court Administration, headed by Carl Reynolds, undertook the project in 2005 after receiving Court Improvement Program grant funding, which was given to the Supreme Court of Texas by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.

In Texas and most other states, child protection cases must follow tightly controlled timelines. The cases may have multiple participants, with the judge acting in a problemsolving role. The reference model may be the most comprehensive description ever created to address the special needs of courts handling child abuse and neglect cases. Judges, clerks, attorneys, and other stakeholders from around Texas worked closely with technologists to identify almost all aspects of child protection case management. This is not a system, but a set of blueprints that will enable any software developer to understand the unique court process utilized in this type of case to write the software, said Reynolds.

The Supreme Court Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families is chaired by Justice Harriet OrsquoNeill of the Supreme Court of Texas. Judge Darlene Byrne of Travis County chaired the Technology Committee, which oversaw the development of the functional requirements reference model. It is available on the Commission website, at:  http://www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/texdeck/frd/TexDECK%20Functional%20Requirements.htm .

Court Tech Bulletin Hit with SQL Injection Attack and Other Items

On approximately June 21, 2008, the Court Technology Bulletin website was taken down with an SQL virus code injection attack. We apologize for all for any inconvenience that this caused. This site has been repaired and further security measures instituted. As a result, we also lost all of the articles that we posted for the month of June 1. A summary of some of these articles are posted below.

Illinois Courts Announce E-Business Initiative 6/10/08
In a press release, Chief Justice Robert R. Thomas of the Illinois Supreme Court announced on May 23, 2008 a wide ranging plan to build a technological infrastructure that would link electronically all the courts in the state's 23 judicial circuits and 102 counties.quot For more information, an E-Business in the Illinois Judiciary website has been posted at: http://www.state.il.us/court/ebusiness/default.asp

Vermont Courts Announce Case Management System RFP 6/13/08
The State of Vermont Judiciary announced the posting of a Request for Proposal RFP for a new, consolidated, statewide courts case management, document management, and Efiling solution VCase. The RFP and Attachment files are posted on the Vermont BusinessToBusiness website at: http://www.vermontbusinessregistry.com/BidPreview.aspx?BidID=5627

Nebraska Starts Civil E-Filing 6/20/08
In a press release, quotthe Nebraska Administrative Office of the Courts AOC, in collaboration with http://www.Nebraska.gov, has launched a new online system for attorneys to file new civil cases and to make subsequent filings on open cases. Attorneys who subscribe to http://www.Nebraska.gov are eligible to use the Efiling system. There are no addditional fees to file a case online. The normal court fees for filing cases are transferred electronically from the attorney's account, to the court of filing. The Nebraska Lawyer Magazine's Bar Bytes column for May, 2008 by William E. Olson contains additional information on the new system.