Blog
4th Amendment

Conflicting Court Opinions on NSA Surveillance

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 …

Read More
iOS

iPhone Apps for Mardi Gras — Or for Fastest Breaking News

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 …

Read More
Defamation

Are You a Victim of Revenge Porn?

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 …

Read More
4th Amendment

Government GPS Tracking Since U.S. v. Jones

The Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in U.S. v. Jones involving GPS tracking is trending towards being a landmark decision in how the Court interprets the Fourth Amendment in technology cases.   But what has happened to GPS tracking since the Jones decision? This February 2014 article from the Palm Beach …

Read More
iOS

Using an iPad in Deposition

We see lawyers using iPads during depositions quite often… except they are not the ones asking questions since they are using the iPad to pass the time. This article, from the January 2014 Palm Beach County Bar Association Bulletin, will explain how to question a witness using your iPad and …

Read More
Social Media

Florida Judge Disqualified After Facebook-Friending a Litigant

A Florida judge has been directed to recuse herself by an appellate court after the judge sent a Facebook-friend request to a party during divorce proceedings. Specifically, Judge Linda D. Schoonover was presiding over a divorce and, prior to entry of a final judgment, sent a Facebook-friend request to the …

Read More
SCOTUS

Supreme Court: If You Possess Any Child Pornography, Do You Owe the Victim Restitution?

The case of Paroline v. United States will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today.  This is one of those cases where emotions are appropriately high but ultimately court observers may find that the Court may dryly rule upon statutory construction issues… meaning grammar.  But this case highlights a …

Read More
Privacy

Webinar: Electronic Spying and Tracking Spouses in Divorce Cases: What’s Legal in the Digital World?

Come join us via the internet in a 1.5 hour webinar about spying, surveillance, GPS monitoring, keylogging, and other privacy invasions which occur in the context of divorce cases. While this is discussed in the context of divorces, these tips and techniques arise in our personal and professional lives, regardless …

Read More
SCOTUS

US Supreme Court Denies Cert in Osama Bin Laden Burial Photos

On January 13, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in the case of Judicial Watch v. Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency (scroll down to page 5).  This case arose from a FOIA request for photos and/or video of Osama Bin Laden corpse and burial at sea.  The Obama …

Read More
E-discovery

What is a “Trade Secret” in Florida Discovery? (the existence of free cable tv, apparently)

What’s a “trade secret” for discovery objections and what are the steps for trial court review? In Bright House Networks, LLC v. Albert C. Cassidy et al. (Florida Second District, Jan. 10, 2014), we learn that at least one cable TV provider apparently provides free service to “a significant number …

Read More
4th Amendment

No Social Media Privacy for Alleged Colorado Theater Shooter

Defendant James Eagan Holmes, the alleged Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooter, sought to suppress records obtained from two “dating” sites, Adultfriendfinder.com and Match.com (to be clear, the former is for “sex and swinger personals”). TMZ.com apparently broke the story that Holmes, using the alias “classicjimbo,” had a picture of himself …

Read More
iOS

Lawyer’s Guide to iOS7 (part 2)

Enjoying a little free time around the holidays or did you just get an new Apple device? This is the second in a series on the new Apple iOS7 operating system for iPhone and iPad. Since Apple doesn’t provide you with instructions, these two single-page articles will get you working …

Read More
E-discovery

Spying Spouses: Social Media & Divorce / Family Law

  Thanks to the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Family Law CLE Committee for inviting me to speak at the “Spying Spouses” seminar today. The materials for my section on “Family Law Discovery: Social Media and E-Discovery” is here. We discussed: * mistakes that lawyers make in e-discovery and social …

Read More
iOS

2013 Apps for Florida Lawyers (DBR Law Tech Miami)

Special thanks to the Daily Business Review and ALM.com for inviting me to speak at Law Tech Miami. You can view my 50 (or so) best apps for Florida lawyers here.

Read More
iOS

Lawyer’s Guide to iOS 7 (part 1)

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you are likely running the new iOS 7.  But do you really know what you are doing? Apple infamously omits a lengthy instruction book with its iDevices…  but don’t buy a book. The Palm Beach Bar published the concise Lawyer’s Guide to iOS …

Read More