Geekalegal

Greetings,

I'm new to the blog list, so a brief introduction- I'm an attorney with a business/corporate law background of about 28 years. I'm presently pursuing a specialization in Intellectual Property and Information Law, prompted by the amazing and fast speed changes in our world of writing, copyright, e-publishing. Things are changing daily and I have to tell you, it is simply the best time to be an IP lawyer. The Courts  are trying to keep up with technology... as if that's possible.  We've seen our own world morph into a digital landscape that was unknown when I first started as a librarian long before I ever thought of becoming Perry Masonette.  Oh yes, and I'm a writer and author with a mystery short story, a children's book and a YA WIP.  

When I blog here,  I want to talk about things that are important to you as an author from this legal-geek viewpoint, hence the geekalegal. There are so me interesting lawsuits happening in the publishing and software world, and initially I thought I'd talk about these giant battles first. But I keep getting questions lately about security, so I decided maybe the New Year should begin with everyone locking down their creative works.

You've probably read about copyright, that isn't what I'm going to address. If you want, we can discuss it here, but the law is fairly simple. Once you write something down (however it is fixed to a tangible medium- typed, computer, crayoned) it is copyrighted. There are advantages to having the work sent to the U.S. Copyright office and their web page is a great resource for further information.

What is meant here is the security for the documents you have stored on all those nifty devices you carry with you...the smart phones, the tablets, laptops, and even your personal computers. What about the Cloud services that are luring you to store your documents on them so you can access them any time, any place? What happens if these are stolen, or you get hacked by that bored guy in some remote country that no one has ever heard of but suddenly manages to find your hard drive and take everything?

The key theme you should learn from this blog today is encryption. I'm not talking super spy codex, although that could be fun if you are into that sort of thing. Knowing authors, some of you will be putting that into a short story or book won't you? But this is about simply making sure that you transmit and store your documents in a safe manner so that should you lose them, no one can easily access them without the encryption code. While this may not be necessary for every document, (and I wouldn't recommend you do this when querying obviously! EGADS!) it may be important for you if you've a series, working on edits, or have security concerns for any reason. One client had a fan that stole her laptop in an effort to get a peak at the next book. Fortunately she had it locked down (as should we all) with a computer password, and a software password, but still, the extra step of encrypting the stored documents would have saved some extremely nervous moments. (luckily the hotel security managed to retrieve it before any harm was done).

You can find free encryption software. My husband (a true Geek) likes anything from Linux which also happens to be free, but recommends you find what works for your system. You can find apps that work as well for smart phones and tablets that will help keep your documents safe. Remember, these are not just phones anymore, although many people forget this. These phones access your email, and often can get to sensitive documents. Treat them with the same security measures you would any of your computers, because that is exactly what they are these days.

The Cloud is the big newest thing. Although many of us think it is really a new twist on an old concept of having everything in one 'server' with the server being lots of PCs in what I think of as a farm. Sort of a PC farm where they all happily work together to provide what the client needs. You can use a Cloud service to use programs instead of buying them, paying on a 'as you go' basis, or use it for storage, or many other types of applications that the companies are dreaming up as I write. However, security in the Cloud is a still a huge issue and one of the big topics of debate. Already there have been breaches in some of the Cloud services, and you should be very careful when you use them. What is the secret word? You guessed it- encryption. If you store documents on the Cloud, and you want to make sure they are safe, encrypt them.

Check the Cloud service you use carefully, examine what they offer in terms of security provisions, and what will happen if they get hacked. But the cool thing about the Cloud is that you could avoid taking a laptop anywhere, all you would need theoretically is a keyboard, terminal and an internet connection. Many savvy folks these days already take thumb drives with them, with their docs (encrypted of course) and use a computer spot, hotel or business center rather than risk losing pricey laptops or pads. Try to think in terms of security for your work when you travel, so that you can minimize your risks, both in terms of software and hardware.

Moving away from digital for a moment. I imagine everyone has heard a horror story about someone's story or book that was leaked, or somehow got to the wrong hands, perhaps even stolen. Sadly sometimes even a trusted reader can be tempted to share. I know that we all hate to think that a friend or someone we trust would do anything like this, and yet it happens. To this end, my advice is that you blame your lawyer and tell folks that on advice of counsel you need to have anyone who reads your work sign a Confidentiality Agreement or a Do Not Release Information Agreement. It can be something very simple, but should have some sort of remedy for what happens should they break that agreement, so that you have some recourse. You know that here is where I'm going to say consult with a lawyer, who will help you put something together in writing with both your signatures, reflecting your intentions as you can so you can prove up your agreement. An email is not sufficient usually since it is hard to prove the person received it, agreed to it (even if you get a responding email, they can always say the dog responded). It takes a little extra work but that ounce of prevention....you know the rest. For those of you with employees it is important this be included in your employment agreement with them. You do have a written employment agreement right? This includes even those hourly and temporary type employees that help you work on your manuscript.

As for your own security, it is important to realize that use of the internet and software as well can link you into being tracked for data on you as an individual. While it may not get into as much as your name and specifics the tracking will find out what you like, where else you go on the internet and begin to provide a history linked to your ISP. That ISP is linked to you, and at some point that information can be obtained. Identity theft is an issue outside this blog article, but I wanted to mention it so that every writer is aware that while you surf, research and move around in the cyber world, there are interested parties watching. You'll know this by the ads you get. I get a lot of dog and cat food advertisements on my google searches much to the delight of my furr kids. The word privacy has a completely different meaning than it did even ten years ago.

As usual I've gotten a wee bit off track. I've got so much more to tell you all about what is going on in the digital legal world. I thought I'd start off with a short blurb on security- which is, as we now know, all about encryption- and keeping a tight hold on our works of authorship before distributing them around. Be careful with the Cloud. It is nifty, but it has some interesting security issues that haven't been tweaked yet.

Next time I am going to talk about the recent lawsuits going on in our publishing world, but if you've something you'd rather hear about, let me know at ionamcavoy@gmail.com . I'm always reading and talking about the geekalegal world, and would love to hear your questions.

Until next time,

Iona McAvoy

Attorney & Author

Oh and remember, I'm not your lawyer.  Any advice on particular issues or questions should be directed to an attorney in your state for the best advice on how to proceed. (Yes I have to say all this.)