Richi Jennings of Computerworld includes a post by Omar Ha-Redeye on the risks of file sharing in his review of IT Blogwatch:
Omar Ha-Redeye has the IT angle:

If Marine One can be hacked, ABC LLP is probably not that much more secure. Network administrators should probably monitor for peer-to-peer programs that may expose vulnerabilities to confidential client information.

The whole world’s attention was focused on the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama.

The Volokh Conspiracy provided an interesting and amusing piece on how Condoleeza Rice was actually the first black president for 1 min. between 12:00 and 12:01, from George W. Bush to Joe Biden.

Obama’s inaugural speech, the speculation of many prior to today, was highly praised.  But there was ample room for criticism as well, considering the global community has probably never paid such close attention to an American president.

Jordan Furlong picked this sentence as his favorite,

[To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that] we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Furlong rightly noted that an important first step would be not propping “various dictators up.”

Canadians generally might have taken issue with these words:

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

Let it be told to the future world … that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive … that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it).”

Those patriots were known as traitors in what is now Canada.  And that enemy, and the common danger…  well, that’s us.  These positions, which are probably to be expected of any American leader, are much more difficult to reconcile with his statements in the same speech calling for leadership and unity.  It does make it easy to relate to blanket characterizations of contemporary threats, because at one time we too were the threat..

Other Canadians have referred to the speech as a “cliched dud.”

But in a refreshing opening move, Obama announced as one of his first acts in office that prosecutions at Guantanamo Bay would be suspended for 120 days.  The world will be watching when the rest of his promises come through.

Change IS Here

Jean-Michel Picher (LLB/MBA ’06) spoke at UWO Law on “Working for Change on the Obama Campaign: An inside view on the election that made history.”

Picher worked on Barack Obama’s recent presidential campaign in the U.S. As an American citizen, he has a long history of political campaigning, including John Kerry’s Presidential campaign, working for former prime minister Paul Martin, and Ken Dryden’s Liberal Leadership in February 2007.

Before joining the Obama team, Picher completed his articles at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto in June 2008.

Omar wrote Confessions of an Obamaniac in Canada on Law is Cool, with an excerpt posted on Slaw.

The post has proved a popular piece, attracting considerable readership within hours of posting.