Week in Review

With a tough economy, efficiency and productivity are often paramount for keeping a business afloat. While technology has certainly aided that cause, it has also provided workers with many time-consuming distractions. The productivity-stealing culprits this week: fantasy football, flirty emails, and co-worker impersonation. Check out the links below to learn more about the cost and benefits of allowing fantasy football teams in the workplace and the potentially unexpected effects of using emoticons in office emails (hint: you may find yourself a new admirer).

Another interesting developments in the world of technology: hacker group Anonymous claims to have obtained and published millions of Apple users' IDs and personal information, but both the FBI and Apple deny that such an a attack occurred or even that such an FBI database of that information ever existed. In other Apple news, questions arose this week as to who "owns" your iTunes library and whether you can bequeath it to your heirs. Read your iTunes Terms and Conditions. You might be surprised at what you find.

Technology and the Workplace
32 Million in U.S.Play Fantasy Football, Much of it Costing Employers Millions (Sports Talk Employment Law) (9 News) (USA Today)
Survey Finds That Office Romances Often Sparked by Emoticon-Laced Emails (Huffington Post)
Kingsport Officer Arrested for Fake Email (Knoxville News Sentinel)
Ethics Charge for 2 Lawyers Over Facebook Friending a Litigant (Employer Handbook)
Workers Put Company and Personal Information on Device, Raising Risk (Sun Sentinel)

Technology and the Law
Hackers Claim to Have 12 Million Apple Device Records, FBI and Apple Deny it (NY Times) (CNN) (CBS)
Can Bruce Willis Leave His iTunes to His Kids? (CNN)
Can You Tag Your Doctor a "Tool" Online? (Without Getting Sued) (Star Tribune) (ABA Journal)
Judge Rules Police Seizure of Text Messages Violates the 4th Amendment (ARS Technica)
Feds Say Mobile-Phone Location Data Not "Constitutionally Protected" (Wired)

There's an App for That
Your App Kit for the NFL Season (Wired)
Elmo Recruited for App That Helps Potty Train Kids (NBC)
Want to Grill Like a Zillionaire? There's an App for That (NPR)
Dems Release Voter Registration Apps, Including Open Source Version (Wired)