HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERALA

WHY AND WHO CALLED KERALA

GODS OWN COUNTRY

 Kerala came into being on this day in 1956, since when, this day has been celebrated as Kerala Piravi, which is Malayalam for "Birth of Kerala".Many happy returns of the day to the paradise on Earth.

The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, the government agency that oversees the tourism prospects of the state, has been using the brand Gods Own Country for its campaigns to promote tourism beautiful landscape and scenic beauty can be called Gods own country.

Kerala, situated on the lush and tropical Malabar Coast, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India.

Named as one of the "ten paradises of the world" and "50 places of a lifetime" by the National Geographic Traveler magazine, Kerala is especially known for its ecotourism initiatives.

Its unique culture and traditions, coupled with its varied demographics, has made Kerala one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Growing at a rate of 13.31%, the state's tourism industry is a major contributor to the state's economy.

Until the early 1980s, Kerala was a relatively u nknown destination; most tourist circuits focused on North India.

Aggressive marketing campaigns launched by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, the gorm the state into one of the niche holiday destinations in India.

The tagline Kerala- God's Own Country, originally coined by Vipin Gopal or Mendis from Mudra arts trivandrum , has been widely used in Kerala's tourism promotions and soon became synonymous with the state.

In 2006, Kerala attracted 8.5 million tourist arrivals, an increase of 23.68% over the previous year, making the state one of the fastest-growing destinations in the world.

Popular attractions in the state include the beaches at Kovalam, Cherai and Varkala; the hill stations of Munnar,Nelliyampathi, Ponmudi and Wayanad; and national parks and wildlife  sanctuaries at Periyar and Eravikulam National Park.

The "backwaters" region, which comprises an extensive network of interlocking rivers, lakes, and canals that centre on Alleppey, Kumarakom, and Punnamada (where the annual Nehru Trophy Boat Race is held in August), also see heavy tourist traffic.

Heritage sites, such as the Padmanabhapuram Palace and the Mattancherry Palace, are also visited. Cities such as Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram are popular centres for their shopping and traditional theatrical performances.

During early summer, the Thrissur Pooram is conducted, attracting foreign tourists who are largely drawn by the festival's elephants and celebrants.

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Who is this Great Man ?

Identify the Statue of this Great man?.

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National Eligibility Test December, 2011

Home Important Dates Notification for NET e-Certificate Verification Results About NET Contact Us UGC Help Age Checklist Eligibility Enclosures Fee General Instructions How to Apply Scheme of Test Structure of Paper III Subjects Test Centres Syllabus N E T Subjects Question Papers of NET December 2009 Question Papers of NET June 2010 Question Papers of NET Dec 2010 National Eligibility Test December, 2011 for Junior Research Fellowship and Eligibility for Lectureship Attention: Date for fee submission and date for online application submission is extended upto Oct 31, 2011. Last date for submitting the hard copies of application to the chosen center is extended upto Nov 08, 2011. The result of UGC NET, held on June 26, 2011 will be declared in the first week of December 2011. Candidates are requested to apply for UGC NET – Dec. 2011 immediately to avoid last minute rush

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ESI Data Processing: Why Should Attorneys Care?

http://ow.ly/7eUfG

An article by Daryl Shetterly posted on the LeClair Ryan website the eDiscovery Myth.

This article discusses data processing and states that attorneys should undertand the how it effects the legal profession.

The author states, "regardless of which data processing tool you choose to use, there are a few concepts you should understand prior to giving your vendor or outside law firm the go-ahead to begin processing your data."


The article addresses several topics that pertain to data processing, such as: hidden text and content; embedded objects;  exception reports; de-duplication; z-print; and the parent-child relationship of emails and attached documents.

The author further states, "...data processing is a legal issue and not solely a technical one. As an attorney, if you blindly delegate these data processing decisions to your technical staff or vendor you may later wish you had done your homework first."

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New York State Bar Association Releases Practitioner’s Guide to E-Discovery

http://ow.ly/7eDTV

A blog post by the Global EDD Group on the webpage www.legaltechtoday.com.

The article provides information regarding a best practices guideline issued by the New York State Bar Association for eDiscovery in New York State and Federal courts.

The blog post provides a link to download the best practices guideline free of charge.  This is certainly a useful resource to anyone that is interested in the topic of eDiscovery.

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Disruptive Tech Changes IT's Database Choices

http://ow.ly/7eufY

This is an article by Doug Henschen posted on informationweek.com.

This article discusses changes in database technology due to developments within I.T., and the ever-increasing volume of data that must be accounted for.

The author states, "Database vendors shouldn't rest because their customers are under constant pressure.IT organizations are being pressed to do more with less, so they want incumbent databases to require less keep-the-lights-on administration. Beyond these basics, IT groups are also facing new challenges, such as the need to cope with huge data growth and new types of data flowing from digital marketing initiatives, social and mobile interactions, sensors, Web log files, and more."

This article provides a recent history of database service providers, and discusses some of the changes that have taken place in the marketplace in recent years.

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E-Discovery Technical Standard at Crossroads

http://ow.ly/7e5t8

An article by Evan Koblentz on law.com on the LTN webpage.

This article discusses the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) and that organizations work at creating standards for eDiscovery load file formats.

The author writes, "Three years and six months later, vendor adoption of the specification, now in version 1.2, is notable on a surface level but less so in real-world use. There are 24 companies listed on the project website as having at least one compliant product, but none actively call for their customers to use EDRM-XML as the primary method of moving data. Most remain content using Concordance and Summation load files. Another 14 companies are listed as participants, although officials acknowledge that participating has the minimum requirement of simply being on a conference call."

The article quotes eDiscovery expert George Socha, co-founder of the EDRM, ""It has not been as widely used as we would like to see. But I think that's not really that different from what we were anticipating would be the case," EDRM co-founder and legal technology expert George Socha said, citing industry indifference as the standard's biggest obstacle. "One barrier to adoption is inertia," he said, from St. Paul, Minn."

The article further mentions EDRM's continued discussions regarding developing version 2.0 of Legal XML.  The article states, "The committee may also consider working with OASIS -- Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards -- which is a prominent technology standards-sanctioning organization formed in 1993. OASIS has an existing law and government section, with subcommittees for court filing, electronic voting, and government transactions."

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Manage ESI Dangers With Targeted Collections

http://ow.ly/7dmt6

An article by Dave Walton posted on The Legal Intelligencer website.

The article discusses targeted collections, and states that they will be the answer to keeping eDiscovery costs in check.

The author states, "The future is targeted collections. Preservation is cheap; collection and review is incredibly expensive. Smart clients and lawyers will learn how to use targeted collections as the key to bringing sanity back to their litigation practices."

The article further states, "Moreover, the average gigabyte of data contains about 75,000 pages. Assuming the average review time for an attorney is 200 pages per hour, the review of one GB (i.e., 75,000 pages) can take over 300 hours. Assuming an associate bills at $250 per hour, this means it costs over $78,000 to review one GB of information. This is virtually untenable for clients."

The author additionally states, "...the court "must" limit the frequency or extent of discovery if it determines one of three things:

• The discovery source is unreasonably cumulative or duplicative, or can be obtained from some more convenient, less burdensome or less expensive source.

• The party seeking discovery has already had ample opportunity to obtain the information by conducting other types of discovery.

• The expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit."

The author writes that targeted collections help reduce the expense and burden associated with eDiscovery and attorney review during the discovery phase of litigation. The article provides some tactical insight on how, when and why to use targeted collections.

The article further states, "E-discovery is not going to end the world as we know it. The key is going to be the ability to get those cases to trial without going bankrupt due to ESI costs."

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Social Malice: One In 60 Facebook Posts Are Malicious

http://ow.ly/7dkYF

An article by Kelly Jackson Higgins, Dark Reading, appearing also on the informationweek.com website.

This article discusses the nature of social media networks, and the fact that many posts are malicious and possibly contain forms of computer virus, or are attempts to hack user's accounts.

The article states, "Here's what social networking looks like on the dark side: one in 100 tweets today are malicious, and one in 60 Facebook posts are as well.

Facebook users are the least confident in social network security, with 40% confessing they feel unsafe on Facebook, while 28% feel that way about Twitter, and 14% on LinkedIn."

The article further states, "According to new Barracuda survey data of social media users, LinkedIn is the least-blocked social network by enterprises, with only 20% of organizations preventing their employees from using LinkedIn from work. That's in contrast to Twitter (25%); Google+ (24%); and Facebook (31%)."

 

In addition, the another interesting note on the article is, "...most users say the important factors to consider when joining a social network are security (92%), that their friends use it (91%), privacy (90%), and ease of use (87%). More than 90% have received spam over a social network, and more than half have experienced phishing attacks. More than 20% have received malware, 16.6% have had their account used for spamming, and about 13% have had their account hijacked or their password stolen. More than half are unhappy with Facebook's privacy controls.

Meanwhile, Barracuda counted 43% of Twitter accounts as "true users" with real followers and regular tweets, and 57% as "not true users"--either spam bots or inactive accounts"

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First College in Kerala

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Baal

Baal

Baal is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord"  that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant and Asia Minor, cognate to Akkadian Bēlu. A Baalist or Baalite means a worshipper of Baal.

"Baʿal" can refer to any god and even to human officials; in some texts it is used as a substitute for Hadad, a god of the rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture, and the lord of Heaven.

Since only priests were allowed to utter his divine name, Hadad, Ba‛al was commonly used.

Nevertheless, few if any Biblical uses of "Baʿal" refer to Hadad, the lord over the assembly of gods on the holy mount of Heaven, but rather refer to any number of local spirit-deities worshipped as cult images, each called baʿal and regarded in the Hebrew Bible in that context as a false god.

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Indian Council of Historical Research

Indian Council of Historical Research

The Indian Council of Historical Research(ICHR) is a Society ( registration number 5339).

The ICHR is registered under Societies registration Act 1860 with the Department of Industries of Delhi Government, Delhi.

ICHR is a fund disbursing agency that supports the academic and empirical research of scholars out of the funds received from the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

ICHR does not carry out any historical research of its own. None of the academic staff manning the ICHR conducts any historical Research for or on behalf of the ICHR.

ICHR is fully funded by way of Grants-in- Aid by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

All the rules as applicable in the Central Government of India are applicable in ICHR.

ICHR also receives funds from the various State Governments of India , from other Ministries like Ministry of Culture, and from the private individuals as well.

ICHR received substantial amounts from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, from the State of Karnataka, Tamilnadu and other states of India. But there is no effective means of checking or monitoring the expenses or funds' disbursement.

ICHR received crores of rupees for Research on Emperor Akbar of medieval Indian History), on research on Guru Gobind Singh ( the revered Tenth Guru of the Sikh Community in India), and more than Five crores of Indian rupees for the research during the celebration of the 150 years of the India deemed First War of Indian Independence of 1857.

The Government has done over with the Project but the ICHR continues to celebrate.

The objectives of the Indian Council of Historical Research (hereafter referred to as the 'Council') as laid down in the Memorandum of Association are as follows:

- "to bring historians together and provide a forum for exchange of views between them; 
- to give a national direction to an objective and scientific writing of history and to have rational presentation and interpretation of history; 
- to promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history with special emphasis on areas which have not received adequate attention so far; 
- to promote and coordinated a balanced distribution of research effort over different areas; 
- to elicit support and recognition for historical research from all concerned and ensure the necessary dissemination and use of results."

CHAIRMAN

R.S. Sharma, 1972 - 1977

A.R. Kulkarni, 1978 - 1981

Niharranjan Ray, 1981 - 1981

Lokesh Chandra, 1982 - 1985

Irfan Habib, 1986 - 1993

Ravinder Kumar, 1993 - 1996

S. Settar, 1996 - 1999

K.S. Sarma (acting), 1999 - 1999

B.R. Grover, 1999 - 2001

K.S. Lal, 2001 - 2001

M.G.S. Narayanan, 2001 - 2003

Kumud Bansal (acting), 2003 - 2004

D.N. Tripathi, 2004 - 2007

K.M. Acharya (acting), 2007 - 2007

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 04 March 2007 - 03 March 2010

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya ("Acting") 04 April 2010 -20 May 2011

Basudeve Chatterjee 20 May 2011---

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eDiscovery Compliance Just Got Harder – Are You Ready?

http://ow.ly/7d10k

An article posted on the B&L Blog on bandl.typepad.com (No author credit listed).

The article states that the results of a recent survey taken by Symantec (a link to the survey is provided in the article) eDiscovery will now be more complicated than it was in the past, since email is now longer the most common form of electronically stored information produced during eDiscovery.  The article states, "For a while now, companies have viewed eDiscovery as primarily an e-mail management game. Now, as the Symantec survey indicates, it’s not quite that simple anymore. Today’s eDiscovery challenge, as these results highlight: how to produce requested information from across a broader range of disparate data sources—but to do so just as quickly as ever to avoid sanctions, fines and compromising your legal position and driving up costs by providing too much information."

The article provides the following advice for dealing with eDiscovery:

• Implement an active, consistently enforced retention policy that covers all potential data sources, not just e-mail. The policy needs to specify not just what to keep and for how long, but how to systematically destroy data at the appropriate time.
• Cast a wider ESI (electronically stored information) net. Determine how you will capture, manage, store, backup and archive data from each and every potentially discoverable source.
• Deploy the right eDiscovery tools to defensibly collect and process data for review from these disparate sources.

The blog post states, "Having the right eDiscovery strategy and tools can help you locate the right data (and only the right data) in a matter of minutes, rather than in days, weeks or not at all."

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Leveraging In-house eDiscovery Technology for Protecting Data Privacy, Enabling IP Protection, and Controlling Sensitive Data

 http://ow.ly/7cLDG

This is a white paper, published by StoredIQ in conjunction with Contoural.

As the white paper states, "This paper provides an overview of the problems and risks associated with increasing amounts of data and the inability to quickly and efficiently identify sensitive data for business and legal reasons and the impact of data privacy requirements. It also provides an overview of challenges associated with Intellectual Property and how an organization can utilize eDiscovery solutions to address these growing data management risks, including how the same framework and tools that are used for eDiscovery processes can be leveraged for protecting data privacy,enabling IP protection, and controlling sensitive data across an enterprise."

The paper further states, "One of the primary challenges for any business is understanding what data resides where. If data is stored in non-compliant, unknown, or unsecured storage areas, the risk of not being able to find data or worse, a data leak, is drastically increased."

This paper outlines how StoredIQ's technology can be utilized in a corporate infrastructure, and how it can effectively save costs, while at the same time reduce liability risk. 

P.S. SRM Legal is a StoredIQ partner, and should you have any questions regarding the various functions that Stored IQ provides to assist corporations and law firms, please contact SRM Legal to discuss this issue further.

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When a Party Requests Native Files….

http://ow.ly/7cLgx

A blog post by Joshua Gilliland, Esq. on his blog Bow Tie Law Blog.

This article discusses the request to produce native files during the discovery phase of litigation.

The blog post discusses the following case, "A Defendant/Producing Party resisted production of email in native file after making general objections to the production format. Linnebur v. United Tel. Ass’n, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124473, 20-21 (D. Kan. Oct. 27, 2011)."

The article references that the the court opinion mentioned, "A party resisting a production in native format in an opposition to a motion to compel has the burden to show the “information is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost.”"

The article goes on to state, "The giant problem with that viewpoint is a producing party must demonstrate under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 26(b)(2)(B) why the ESI is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost. A lawyer simply proclaiming the collection or production of native files is “unduly burdensome” does not comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 26(b)(2)(B)."

The author goes on further to describe an example of how to show undue burden, "Judge’s Facciola’s opinion United States ex rel. McBride v. Halliburton Co., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6412, 1-2 (D.D.C. Jan. 24, 2011) illustrates the above very effectively, especially his description of the testimony outlining the collecting methodology: “In excruciating, but highly educational and useful, detail.” That statement should set the framework for showing undue burden."  Links to the referenced case law opinions are provided in the article.

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NIST: Information Security Continuous Monitoring (ISCM) for Federal Information Systems and Organization

http://ow.ly/7cKYl

This is a publication issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and lists the following authors: Kelley Dempsey; Nirali Shah Chawla; Arnold Johnson; Ronald Johnston; Alicia Clay Jones; Angela Orebaugh; Matthew Scholl; and Kevin Stine.

This publication provides standards regarding security of IT systems for Federal agencies.

The NIST document states, "

The Risk Management Framework (RMF) developed by NIST, describes a disciplined and
structured process that integrates information security and risk management activities into the
system development life cycle. Ongoing monitoring is a critical part of that risk management
process. In addition, an organization’s overall security architecture and accompanying security
program are monitored to ensure that organization-wide operations remain within an acceptable
level of risk, despite any changes that occur."

The points set fort that an ISCM management strategy should entail are said to be:

• Is grounded in a clear understanding of organizational risk tolerance and helps officials set priorities and manage risk consistently throughout the organization; 
• Includes metrics that provide meaningful indications of security status at all organizational tiers;
• Ensures continued effectiveness of all security controls;
• Verifies compliance with information security requirements derived from organizational missions/business functions, federal legislation, directives, regulations, policies, and standards/guidelines;
• Is informed by all organizational IT assets and helps to maintain visibility into the security of the assets;
• Ensures knowledge and control of changes to organizational systems and environments of operation; and
• Maintains awareness of threats and vulnerabilities.

The document further states: "Organizations take the following steps to establish, implement, and maintain ISCM:

• Define an ISCM strategy;
• Establish an ISCM program;
• Implement an ISCM program;
• Analyze data and Report findings;
• Respond to findings; and
• Review and Update the ISCM strategy and program.

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Responding to Data Loss in Healthcare

 http://ow.ly/7cKT7

An article appearing on the proofpoint.com website (No author credit listed)

This article discusses data breaches for healthcare providers.

The article states, "While strong privacy protection practices and data loss prevention software can reduce the risk of data breach, some cyber criminals are savvy enough to infiltrate even the most secure systems. Government Health IT recently published an article explaining some of the best practices for responding to a data breach."

In addition, the article further points out, "The website recommends focusing on a comprehensive incident response plan, especially one that follows HIPAA compliance statutes, as preparation is key in recovering from a data breach. Communication, especially through the multiple facets of a given healthcare organization, is pivotal in ensuring a secure and effective incident response procedure.

Healthcare providers have been among the hardest hit by data breach in recent years. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the healthcare sector has experienced 65 breaches, leading to more than 3.5 million compromised personal health records, since January 1."

The article further mentions that the AMA states that HIPAA violations can lead to fines ranging from $100 to $50,000 per incident, and possibly up to $1.5 million annually.

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This man received a 3-year jail sentence for encouraging riots via Facebook

http://ow.ly/7czKK

An article by Sherilynn "Cheri" Macale posted on thenextweb.com website.

This article discusses a criminal sentence handed out in the UK for remarks posted on Facebook.

The article states, "...22 year old British man, Philip Scott Burgess, was jailed after a hearing at Manchester Crown Court. The three year sentence comes after Burgess pleaded guilty to three counts of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred while encouraging or assisting the commission of a riot." Burgess was involved in the UK riots, and had posted comments encouraging others to riot on Facebook.

The article states, "Police Chief of the Bolton West Neighborhood Policing Team, John Hepke, had this to say on the matter.

“I hope today’s sentence sends a powerful message to those who choose to follow Burgess’ example and use social networking sites irresponsibly and criminally that they will be dealt with harshly by the courts.”"

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Just what is the total spend by legal departments, in the United States or globally?

http://ow.ly/7cewZ

An article by Rees Morrison, Esq. on his blog Law Department Management.

This article discusses projections about corporate legal spending, and is a follow up to an earlier post by the author.  The author states, "No sooner than I published about two impossible-to-reconcile figures on corporate legal spending, and the disappointing lack of support for either figure, I read another (See my post of Oct. 25, 3011 #2: $60 billion global and $200 billion U.S. litigation figures.). In Corp. Counsel, Oct. 2011 at 55, Mark Harris, the CEO of Axiom, starts his article with a reference to the “half-a-trillion dollar global legal services industry.”"

The that is attributed to Mark Harris apparently includes in-house legal costs, and also estimates that the U.S. represents 20% of the global legal expenses incurred annually.  It is also apparently stated in Mr. Harris' article that 80% of the corporate legal expenses are controlled by 200 General Counsel.

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NHS patient data ends up on Facebook. But how serious is the latest data debacle?

http://ow.ly/7bYSg

An article by Paul Sawers appearing on thenextweb.com website.

This article deals with alleged privacy violations by the NHS, the UK's publicly funded healthcare system.

The article states, "Big Brother Watch, a UK-based civil liberties organization, placed a freedom of information request and it has reported that there were more than 800 confidentiality breaches in the past three years, across more than 150 NHS trusts. One such incident, at the Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, resulted in a member of staff being dismissed after posting a picture of a patient on Facebook.

The data request identified 23 incidents where NHS staff had posted confidential medical data on social networking sites, either mentioning a patient’s name, commenting on them or sharing details from their records.

Furthermore, there were more than 90 incidents where NHS staff had accessed or used private medical information of their colleagues, whilst there were more than 30 incidents where they looked up relatives on their internal databases. Their actions led to a total of 102 NHS staff being sacked."  Links to referenced materials are provided in the article, including a link to the full Big Brother Watch report.

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Facebook acknowledges messaging vulnerability that allows sending of malicious files

http://ow.ly/7bXXW

An article by Matt Brian posted on thenextweb.com website.

This article discusses a security researchers article that states that Facebook's site can be exploited, and allow third-party users to send malicious messages to Facebook users.  A link to the referenced article is provided.

The article states, "The exploit, which focuses on how Facebook interprets file uploads within messages, was submitted to Facebook September 30 by penetration tester Nathan Power and was recognised by the company on Wednesday.

By default, Facebook blocks malicious file uploads, preventing users from attaching executable or batch files that would be able to infect a computer if downloaded and run. Facebook would typically issue the response: ”Error Uploading: You cannot attach files of that type.”

However, Power was able to analyse the responses that the Facebook website returned when his browser made a POST request to its webserver, finding a variable that would tell the system that a filename had been attached and determine whether it would be approved for sharing via the service.."

The article further states, "Yesterday, we reported that Facebook’s cyber-security system processes and checks 650,000 actions every second to keep its users safe from spam and cyber-attacks on the social network. The Facebook Immunity System (FIS), as it’s known, is said to highly efficient also, with just 1% of users reporting issues as spam."

The article provides an update from Facebook’s Security Manager Ryan McGeehan whom provides information as to additional security measures that Facebook has in place which would protect users from the type of exploit that was referenced in the article.

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'Privacy 101' at ACC's Annual Meeting of In-House Counsel

http://ow.ly/7bQPX

An article by Catherine Dunn posted on law.com on the Corporate Counsel webpage.

This article discusses the recent Association of Corporate Counsel annual meeting, and provides a link regarding more information about the Association.

The article discusses a panel presentation provided at the meeting regarding privacy, entitled "Privacy 101".  The article states, "Among the topics they addressed were the U.S. approach to privacy at the federal and state levels, the challenges of complying with privacy laws in multiple jurisdictions, and changes to which in-house lawyers should be looking ahead."  According to the author the panel members consisted of the following, "The panel discussion was led by Kerry Childe, senior privacy and regulatory counsel at Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation; Andrea Charters, associate general counsel at Rosetta Stone, Inc.; and Aaron Mendelsohn, program manager for data privacy compliance at Eaton Corporation."

The article states, "A defining characteristic of U.S. privacy law is its "sectoral" approach, Childe explained. In contrast to a comprehensive framework in places such as the European Union, there are a significant number of laws that apply only to particular industries, such as health care and financial services. And "not all of those laws apply to every business," she said."

In addition, it is clear from the article that there are differing privacy laws, and there are major variations from state to state when it comes to privacy rights.  The article does discuss how the FTC enforces companies that have their own stated standards, "...if companies have a defined privacy policy, the Federal Trade Commission, operating under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, has been very active in enforcing compliance with the stated terms. That means, said Childe, that the FTC makes sure that companies are telling people what they will do with their information; that they don't do something with that information other than what they said; and that they don't misuse the information in any way."

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SEC accuses FINRA of altering internal documents

http://ow.ly/7bQdi

An article on the Reuters website at reuters.com written by Sarah N. Lynch and Suzanne Barlyn

This article discusses an incident in which the SEC claims that FINRA altered documents prior to turning them over to the SEC.

The article states, "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scolded the self-policing brokerage industry group FINRA on Thursday for allegedly doctoring internal documents before handing them over to examiners.

The SEC said a regional office of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2008 altered staff meeting documents just hours before handing them over to SEC inspection staff."

According to the article this is the 3rd incident in 8 years where the SEC has alleged that FINRA altered records.  The article states that fines against FINRA and suspension of personnel are likely.

According to the article, "The embarrassing incident comes as FINRA, which has been criticized for having opaque governance, is trying to convince the SEC and Congress to expand its oversight authority to include investment advisers."

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E-discovery and the law firm: Great expectations, poor accountability

http://ow.ly/7bpem

An article by Katey Wood posted on the website enterprisestrategygroup.com.

This article discusses the results of the recently reported ESG survey from 2011.  The author states, "How important is e-discovery in selecting a law firm?

In theory, it’s crucial. Of corporate counsel responding to ESG’s 2011 survey, 86% said managing eDiscovery was an important selection criteria for Outside Counsel to some degree – only 12% said it wasn’t. But in practice, this may be based more on trust than real accountability for efficiency or accuracy."

The article further states, "Most companies surveyed didn’t track eDiscovery spending at all. 60% of respondents didn’t track eDiscovery spending in 2010, compared to 100% of respondents who could report their outside counsel budget. Moreover, 67% of respondents didn’t track the accuracy or efficiency of document review – once again, the most expensive step of e-discovery."

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