A Google Trend report shows that “Florida Medical Marijuana” has generated massive attention since 2013.   I attended a recent Florida Cannabis Coalition meeting and, while the speakers were good, the attendees seemed uneducated (case in point, people literally got up and left when they heard about the $150,000 application …

With the revelation that Facebook is tracking users across the web, even if you log off, I have deleted my Facebook account.   Yes, deleted.  Not just deactivated. You can “deactivate” your Facebook account and it disappears from sight but it is still there in the Facebook vault, ready for …

The hot bitcoin-related story involves the settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and bitcoin-advocate, Erik T. Voorhees. This case involves bitcoin but is not about bitcoin.  Stated differently, this case is not an attack on bitcoin.  It simply involves charges of a crime unrelated to the virtual currency …

A strange title to an article, I know.  But it will make sense at the end: Governments around the world are struggling to define, and therefore regulate or ban, virtual currency such as bitcoin.  Here in the U.S., various federal agencies have differing conclusions.  So do various states. Meanwhile, in …

A boring probate opinion may shed light on the problem of errors with pre-printed legal forms. The unfortunate lesson: “there’s an app for that” is not a replacement for hiring a lawyer. You have certainly seen these kind of pre-made forms — pushed on tv ads, the internet, and by …

An app called “If This, Then That” or IFTTT exists to bring together your smartphones alarms, notices, social media, and other internet tools so that you can, as their tag line says, “take control of the internet.” This article, “If This Then That (IFTTT” For Lawyers” explains how to combine …

Special thanks to the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce for hosting “NSA Mass Surveillance – How Secure Are Your Calls and Emails?“ If you would like to download a PDF of the presentation, it is here (also under “Materials, along the right column of this page).

  The Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce is presenting “NSA Surveillance – How Secure Are Your Calls and Emails?” on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. This presentation will explain NSA mass surveillance of email and phone communications and will discuss the security of your personal and business communications. It will provide …

In the wake of the Snowden disclosures, lawyers and their clients are looking for ways to communicate, research, and generally use the internet without mass surveillance. This article from the April 2014 edition of the Palm Beach Bar Bulletin explains (a) Tor and its practical applications to use the internet …

If you use a coupon from the internet, “like” a company on Facebook, enter contests, or otherwise connect with a company like General Mills, any dispute that arises may be forced into arbitration — waiving your right to bring a lawsuit in state or federal court. Per a report from …

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors’ (CSBS) Emerging Payments Task Force is holding a public hearing on Friday, May 16, 2014 in Chicago in order to seek information involved in legacy payment systems, retain payment innovations, and virtual currencies (namely bitcoin). If you’re unfamiliar with CSBS, it is a nationwide …

A reliable resource for all discovery issues, the 2013 edition of the Florida Discovery handbook includes a chapter on e-retention, e-discovery, ESI, and Florida’s new Rules of Civil Procedure. The Handbook is here.

One year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the case of Amnesty International v. Clapper and… few people cared. After all, “Clapper I,” as it became known, held that political activists had no standing to even discover if the government was spying on them. But four months later, the floodgates …

Last year, after the Boston Marathon Bombing, I wrote about my experience reading Twitter and listening to Ustream to get news on the manhunt which was coming in 10-30 minutes faster than it reached CNN.  A year later, the article is still solid and gives some good resources to say …

Revenge porn may or may not be prosecuted in your state, depending upon how they were obtained, whether copyrights exist, and if a video voyeurism statute applies. The site WomenAgainstRevengePorn.com has some step-by-step hints to remove photos. If you have a copy of the nude picture, you can use Google’s …