From Simon Briskman, a partner in the Technology Law Group at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP: www.ffw.com US corporations will lobby Europe to simplify privacy laws, allowing smarter Web advertising. We will also see new Web 2.0 entrants causing valuation jitters for current platform owners. Joost and other peer-to-peer solutions will spread, whilst applications such as…
The recent events at HMRC have thrown the issue of data security into sharp focus. This article will examine some of the key technological and social drivers, which are underpinning the increasing focus of the media and the legislators on the issue of data security. I will also examine the ICO’s current guidance on the…
Read More… from Not me Gov! Data Security in the 21st Century
SCO Group, Inc. (SCO) is a US corporation primarily known for the development and distribution of products based on the UNIX System V (UNIX SVRx) operating systems. By 2003 the open source operating system Linux had become a serious competitor to UNIX and, in an apparent attempt to derive revenue from Linux users and, ultimately,…
Read More… from The SCO Open Source Litigation Saga – the Community Fights Back
There are times when many of us feel that our computers are human – certainly for inanimate objects they have the ability to drive us mad. A recent case has confirmed that it is possible to lie to a machine and the person so lying can be guilty of deceit. Renault operated an affinity scheme…
From Alex Dunstan-Lee, a Legal Specialist in KPMG’s Forensic Technology Services group: www.KPMG.co.uk Thinking in data: Lawyers will start to understand the power of thinking in data, not in paper. They will start to realise that word documents, e-mails etc are not pieces of paper inserted into a computer screen. They are large bodies of…
‘Virtualisation’ has been growing in popularity, particularly since the end of 2006, as a form of infrastructure technology that can be used to consolidate the hardware resources of a business. But what exactly is it? Put simply, ‘virtualisation’ means either ‘partitioning’ a single physical resource (such as a server, operating system or application) to make…
Read More… from Virtually Unlicensed: The Problem with Virtualisation
These days software supply options abound, but by far the most common choice remains an ‘off-the-shelf’ package with its take-it-or-leave-it licence. But before you accept those standard terms and conditions, have you ever stopped to wonder what the small print might actually mean? Defining terms First we need to be clear about what we mean…
From Anna Cook, Partner, Wedlake Bell: www.wedlakebell.com I think that the suppliers of outsourced services are gaining confidence and they are being less flexible in the provision of services. Also, services are becoming more commoditised. In turn, this is giving rise to simpler contracts. Customers are also seeking to negotiate shorter term contracts and more…
I don’t like the taste of straight vodka, however expensive. This can be a social obstacle while working in Russia, I’ve found. But apart from one’s particular taste in alcohol, I’ve found that there’s much to recommend outsourcing one’s software development there. The country is loaded with brainy, entrepreneurially-minded engineers who yearn for bigger and…
Read More… from Russian Software Development: A Personal View
From Roger Bickerstaff, Partner at Bird & Bird and SCL Trustee: www.twobirds.com 1. I predict an increasing focus on open source software in the business applications environment for major corporate users – not for cost or ideological reasons – but more for vendor independence reasons. Open source gives major corporate users an opportunity to develop…