The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/163881
FILE-SHARING TOOLS name����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Erik Schmidt company �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������OpenText website �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������opentext.com/legalsolutions File-sharing tools have brought the most influential changes to communication this past year. Consumer services like Box and Google Drive have reset the bar on the ease with which lawyers can share documents. They also have broadened the variety of devices from which this content can be accessed, edited and further shared. These tools offer an intuitive training-free experience. Lawyers are able to self-provision and selfeducate with tools that empower them to better serve their clients. This could be problematic in a number of ways. Many attorneys click on End User License Agreements (EULAs) without reading them, and these can state that all uploaded content becomes property which can be indexed for search and advertising! Think about how this impacts client confidentiality obligations. Another concern is the creation of unmanaged and ungoverned silos outside the firm's control. In addition to the risks of exposing client data, legitimate concerns exist about the uncontrolled proliferation of sensitive data to unmanaged mobile devices. In addition, with increased hacking activities, law firms need to guarantee encryption of sensitive documents as they are shared via the Internet. It's too late to just block firewall ports and hope file-sharing and synchronization tools will go away. Managed file-transfer solutions (MFTs) for legal — unlike consumer-based file-sharing tools — are built upon secure ECM principles to include access controls, auditing, information governance services and encryption. They also offer similar ease of use and self-provisioning. With industrial-strength MFT, a firm can improve how lawyers communicate and share information while meeting the need to protect itself, its content and its clients. In the next Peer to Peer: What's the Buzz? Hot Topics in 2013 What technology has created the most buzz in 2013? THE INTERNET Send your answers to editor@iltanet.org name������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Dave Evans company �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Cisco website �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� cisco.com We are entering an era where the Internet has the potential to improve dramatically the lives of everyone on our planet — from accelerating the discovery of cures for diseases to enhancing the way companies do business and making every day more enjoyable. Already, the Internet has benefited many individuals, businesses and countries by improving education through the democratization of information, allowing for economic growth through electronic commerce and accelerating business innovation by enabling greater collaboration. What will the next decade of the Internet bring? From the Internet of Things (IoT), where we are today, we are just beginning to enter a new realm: the Internet of Everything (IoE), where things will gain contextual awareness, increased processing power and greater sensing abilities. Add people and information into the mix and you get a network of networks where billions or even trillions of connections create unprecedented opportunities and give things that were once silent a voice. As more things, people and data become connected, the power of the Internet grows exponentially. This thinking (aka Metcalfe's Law) comes from Robert Metcalfe, well-known technologist and founder of 3Com, who stated that the value of a network increases proportionately to the square number of users. In essence, the power of the network is greater than the sum of its parts, making the Internet of Everything incredibly powerful. Peer to Peer 23