Nerds On Site – a Canadian based IT services firm providing services in several countries – has been testing a new Intelligent Secure Automatic Controller (ISAC) just released to the market by Symbium Corp.

The card alerts administrators to network problems and repairs them. The idea is to reduce downtime, and make it easier for technicians to diagnose and repair problems.

Read an ITBusiness.ca article
Go to Nerds On Site website
Go to Symbium Corp’s website

Techdirt has a post referring to studies about companies employing email monitoring tools to monitor employee emails. Many businesses actually employ people to monitor them.

I agree with the assertion that it is an unproductive waste of time to actively monitor. Having the ability to monitor and track emails is good, but it is best used for evidentiary purposes to see if there is an actual problem after suspicions are raised.

Read the techdirt post

What does this have to do with a law and technology blog written by a Canadian lawyer you ask?

Nothing frankly, except that my son and I were two of the thousands of people who stood in line in the cold for hours in Indianapolis very early last Saturday morning to see George Lucas in person.

Here’s a bit of trivia. Apparently John Knoll, the Visual Effects Supervisor, (we attended a session where he demonstrated some of the computer graphics from the upcoming movie) had a part in designing Photoshop.

Read a summary on the Star Wars website
Read an article on Yahoo! Movies

Slashdot points to an article in The Register that refers to PWC and KPMG reports on this issue. The article suggests that it could cost corporate America losses in excess of $10 billion annually.

If your business uses spreadsheets for critical or material information, they should be looked at carefully both from the perspective of accuracy, and access control.

Read the Slashdot post
Read The Register article
Read an earlier post I made on the topic

DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – April 23, 2005

Read this on Canoe

London’s Info-Tech Research Group recently released its 2005 IT Priorities report to its paid membership of more than 25,000 worldwide.

The report identifies and analyses critical issues facing today’s information technology decision-makers in mid-sized enterprises.

This report can provide insight into your business such as whether your IT department’s performance measures up to those of other mid-sized enterprises or what your IT department should be focusing on in terms of technology investment.

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The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal hears arguments yesterday and today to determine if the Canadian music industry is able to obtain music uploader identities from ISP’s. Last year the Federal court said they could not.

Issues include privacy, and the fundamental issue of whether it is or is not legal for Canadians to upload music in light of Copyright Act provisions on private copying and media tariffs. In the wings are proposed copyright reforms that might make uploading illegal in any event.

Read a CNews article about the appeal
Look at the CanFlI site for more detailed info

Groklaw points to a video on a site of the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure that explains why software patents are a bad thing. I tend to agree.

It was created in response to the EU’s current efforts to allow software patents. (Hence the “long a” “patent” in the video.)

Software patents are allowed in the US, but are very controversial. They are often granted for things that many feel are not original or worthy of patent protection. And many feel they result in code chill and stiffle innovation, rather than encourage innovation.

Look at the video
Read the Groklaw comment
Go to the FFII site

Professor Geist reports in his Toronto Star column that SOCAN recently filed with the Copyright Board of Canada requests for new tariffs on the downloading of music from legitimate paid sites, audio webcast sites, and gaming sites that include music.

Professor Geist describes the size of the proposed tariffs – as much as 25% – as “astonishing”. The hearings to consider these proposals will no doubt generate much opposition.

This is just another in a series of tactics the music industry has used to obtain revenue from new types of digital music distribution. While artists deserve to be compensated, the industry does not gain any sympathy when it makes these unreasonable proposals.

Read Prof. Geist’s Toronto Star article
Read the Toronto Star article on Prof. Geists’ site
Go to the Copyright Board’s web site

The Federal Privacy Commissioner just released her report a few minutes ago. This was where bank branches sent faxes containing customer information in error for years to a junkyard.

I can’t say it any better than the Privacy Commissioner did in her press release, including:

“Canadians expect much more from the institutions they entrust with their personal information. As Privacy Commissioner, I was disappointed that an apparently well-organized institution such as CIBC failed to recognize that the misdirected faxes were a privacy issue. That the bank’s privacy policies and practices were not functioning on a practical level should serve as a wake-up call to all organizations in Canada,”

“Simply publishing a privacy policy does not make a business privacy compliant. Organizations must ensure that all employees are aware of and adhere to privacy policies. When there are breaches, these must be brought to the immediate attention of the organization’s privacy officials,”

For more detailed information on the incident and the Privacy Commissioner’s findings see:

Privacy Commissioner incident report

David Fraser’s Privacy blog

DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – April 16, 2005

Read this on Canoe

After the controversies involving Enron and WorldCom came to light, the United States government took steps to ensure companies would be held accountable for their actions, particularly for their accounting practices.

The Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted to make companies’ accounting procedures more transparent to investors and regulators.

Some may think since it is an American initiative, Canadians are not affected by SOX.

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