Only July 31, 2009 the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) signed a contract with NIC to manage TexasOnline 2.0 for 7 years. As outside counsel to DIR this contract this was a rewarding conclusion to a 17 month process to succeed the current TexasOnline contract which was signed in
ERP Implementations- Predictable Disasters!
By Peter Vogel on
A recent review of a vendor’s proposed contracts for a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Program) system reminded me why so many implementations fail and lead to litigation – vendors generally underestimate the scope of the systems (on purpose to keep the price tag low, or just don’t know what they…
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1984 or 2009? – Seems Like George Orwell Just Missed the Year
By Peter Vogel on
When Amazon remotely deleted George Orwell’s 1984 from the Kindle reading devices last week I’m sure that George Orwell rolled over in his grave. Orwell’s novel written in 1949 predicted that Big Brother’s censors would erase anything that the government found objectionable by sending down a “memory hole.” I’m happy…
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Cyber Security Is Critical – But No One Wants to be Cyber Czar!
By Peter Vogel on
In May when President Obama released a 40 page “Cyberspace Policy Review” it seemed pretty clear that the appointment of a Cyber Czar was imminent, however recent reports are that no one wants the job! In spite of three-year study report from the National Academy of Sciences that stated that…
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The Stunning Impact of E-Discovery on IT
By Peter Vogel on
Since more than 95 percent of all information is electronic and it’s estimated that upwards of 97 billion emails are sent each day, it is no wonder that every lawsuit has electronic evidence. All IT shops protect themselves from disaster with the knowledge that every computer will fail, but computer…
Internet Tracking of US Livestock- What’s up with this?
By Peter Vogel on
Plans by the US Government to require farmers and ranchers to put ID tags in livestock may sound good within the Beltway, but as a reality can we really afford the cost and are these ID tags worth the effort? No doubt that the original plan to protect the country…
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No Surprise MySpace Suicide Conviction Reversed by Trial Judge
By Peter Vogel on
The tragic suicide death of a 13 year old girl is still part of this terrible story, but the trial judge finally did the right thing to say that the conviction was wrong. Even in these circumstances violating terms of service should not be a crime which was at…
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Google – Competing with Microsoft Apps and Using Wikipedia as a News Service
By Peter Vogel on
Google is always making news, but the report that the Google Apps have new features to compete with Microsoft Office is interesting as more users rely on free Google Apps. It’s hard to fathom that Wikipedia could be used as a news source, but Google is trying that out…
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Second Trial Jury Verdict of $1.92M Against Single Mom For Copyright Infringement of 24 Songs
By Peter Vogel on
A Minneapolis jury awarded a number of recording companies damages for willful infringement of 24 songs in the only trial for file-sharing by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) of the estimated 30,000 lawsuits they filed before ceasing litigation last year. The RIAA settled most lawsuits for about $3,500…
Privacy – More Congressional Questions
By Peter Vogel on
The US Congress is asking more questions about consumer privacy and email collection/surveillance at a time when President Obama is highlighting cybersecurity. So when asked about consumer’s opt-out from personal data collection, Yahoo! privacy chief’s admitted that fewer than 1% opted-out and Google’s deputy general counsel didn’t even…