This and That in Court Technology - November, 2014

Bananas Foster French Toast at E-Courts

Time again for news from the wide, wide world of technology for courts.

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E-Courts Conference 2014

There is still time to sign up for the E-Courts conference (being held December 8-10)  through December 3, 2014.  The room block has been sold out so please see the Hotel Info web page for more information.  You can also follow the latest news on the conference Facebook account as well.

Virtual Judge

We heard via the UK Law Society Gazette about a judge hearing a jury verdict via Skype.

“HH Judge John Tanzer appeared via Skype at Croydon Crown Court on Tuesday, when a teacher was acquitted of sexual offences. 

Doughty Street Chambers’ Liam Walker, who represented the teacher and was instructed by Robert Dynowski, partner and head of the criminal department at Steel and Shamash, said: ‘The judge gave advance notice of possibly using technology to take a verdict remotely, and invited us to take instructions.’ 

The jury returned a not guilty verdict on one of the counts, for which the judge was present. ‘The judge rose and stated that he would ensure he was contactable via Skype through secure Wi-Fi,’ Walker said."

To read the full article click here.

Tips on Fighting Digital Eye Strain

As we all know, sitting in front of a computer screen during the workday can create eye strain.  This “TechRepublic” article notes that one cause might be “blue light”.  To read more, click here.
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/digital-eye-strain-understanding-the-condition-and-how-to-fight-it/?tag=nl.e101&s_cid=e101&ttag=e101&ftag=TRE684d531
http://www.techrepublic.com/

Judge David Harvey on “Technology for Better Fact Finding”

Our prolific friend, New Zealand Judge David Harvey has produced another excellent paper.  This time he posits that…

“new information technologies should be employed more widely in the Court system to enhance fact finding by juries and judges. It suggests that what are traditional means of evidence presentation, whilst still relevant, may be enhanced by technology use. In particular the paper questions whether the “confrontation right” requires physical presence and suggests that technology can allow virtual presence. It also points to new developments in 3D rendering and 3D printing which may enhance evidential integrity and improve presentation and consideration of evidence.”

The full paper, and a recommended read, is available on Judge Harvey’s blog.

San Bernardino, California Superior Court offers E-filing for Family Court cases

Via press release from Intresys “TurboCourt”, November 17, 2014

"Currently the San Bernardino Superior Court offers constituents e-filing for Small Claims, Civil Collections and Unlawful Detainer (Evictions) cases using TurboCourt,"  Alan Crouse, Deputy Court Executive and CIO said. "Now, with the addition of Family Law, we are excited to have our court push even farther forward in offering more public services and creating a more efficient and economical paperless eCourt system. We're enthusiastic to continue our collaboration with Intresys, our business partner e-filing provider."

San Francisco Superior Court Mandates Civil E-filing

Via press release from File & ServeXpress, November 10, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. (Nov. 10, 2014) – The San Francisco Superior Court has announced that it will mandate e-Filing for most court cases through the Court’s e-Filing portal, managed by File & ServeXpress beginning December 8, 2014. File & ServeXpress, the national leader in e-Filing and e-Service will provide filers into the San Francisco Superior Court with an all-in-one solution that supports the lifespan of a case, covering more than just the e-Filed document transaction. The all-in-one solution provides a central command center for the law firm with built-in tools to manage the life of an electronic case.

File & ServeXpress has also posted a nice “white paper” titled “4 Affordable E-Filing Cost Recovery Models” that you can download from their website.

Apple iOS “Masque Attack” Warned

If you have an “iDevice” from Apple you might want to read the following warnings regarding the Masque Attack and WireLurker malware threats.

Regarding Masque Attack from "Tomshardware" website.

Unlike WireLurker, though, Masque Attack doesn’t even need to infect the user's PC and then have the user connect to the iOS devices through USB. Instead, it can just infect iPhones or iPads when the user visits a certain infected web page online; then, it prompts the user to install a new app. Once the user clicks to install it, the device is infected.

Regarding avoiding “WireLurker”, this article recommends the following:

• Do not download Mac apps from third-party stores
• Do not jailbreak iOS devices
• Do not connect their iOS devices to untrusted computers and accessories, either to copy information or charge the machines
• Do not accept requests for a new "enterprise provisioning profile" unless it comes from an authorized party, for example the employer's IT department.

NIEM SSGT Training Video

Our good friend Tom Carlson wrote that “thanks to the NCSC, I finally got a chance to make that long-promised NIEM SSGT tutorial video.” It is available online at: http://vimeo.com/109940669

For those of you who might not know what the NIEM Subset Generation Tool is, Wikipedia explains:

"The Schema Subset Generation Tool (SSGT) enables users to search through the NIEM data model and build a NIEM subset. The NIEM data model covers several domains and typically not all of the data model is usable in an exchange. It is useful to make a schema subset of NIEM components to use in an exchange. It helps to limit the scope of developing an IEPD and can be built to the specific requirements of an exchange. With this tool users can:

• Search the data model from the Search Page.
• Navigate through the data model.
• Download already generated subsets from each domain.
• Build a schema subset containing the components required by their exchange.
• Save a list of components required for a subset.
• Upload a list of requested components to continue to edit it.
• Download a schema subset based on a list of required components.
• Create IEPD with current subset.
• Change the NIEM release used for building a schema subset."