Law Times

Law Times • February 11, 2013 NEWS Page 5 Will BB10 rekindle lawyers' love for BlackBerry? Despite positive reviews, profession no longer unanimous on device of choice BY YAMRI TADDESE Law Times W hen it comes to lawyers' gadget preferences, the days of unanimous endorsements are long gone. For a long time, lawyers had their BlackBerrys securely lodged in their pockets or briefcases. But recent years have seen many lawyers exchange their BlackBerrys for Apple or Android products. Even so, as the new BlackBerry Z10 hit the stores on Feb. 5, lawyers loyal to the Canadian product are making a case for the brand. The trusty BlackBerry is still in their pockets, they say, and they've already made calls about getting the new one. The Z10, a black-and-white touchscreen device, features a 4.2-inch display, a built-in photo editor, more than 70,000 applications, and a high-definition video camera. "Lawyers never get excited because that would be a feeling," says technology lawyer Don Johnston about the prospect of getting his hands on the latest BlackBerry device. "But it's as close as a lawyer can get to being excited. I still feel that the BlackBerry is the best. And just this morning, I was on the phone with Rogers to inquire about how I could get the BlackBerry 10 and what the prices might look like." Johnston, a partner at Aird & Berlis LLP, owns the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the PlayBook. He calls himself "a nonapologetic Blackberry user." He flips out his Playbook to look up materials in the middle of meetings with clients and is a fan of BlackBerry's ProInsights technology, a tool that makes it easier to find experts via the professional networking web site LinkedIn. But the security aspects of BlackBerry are still what distinguish it, says Johnston. "To me, it just seemed like a poor "The best security is in BlackBercopy of the iPad," he says. ry and the reason for that is the way "The applications you could that the system is designed from download for the third-party apend to end to give you encryption plication didn't compare in any way and a good level of safety," he adds. with the types you could find with Even as law firms are adopting the iPad." bring-your-own-device policies, Johnston, too, weighed the diftechnology experts continually ferent gadgets but arrived at a differprefer the BlackBerry, according to ent verdict. When he tried the iPad, Johnston. he was disappointed at how much "The IT departments of a lot of he couldn't access online. law firms are only very reluctantly "I didn't like the fact that there's no supporting Android and the Apple Flash on it, so you miss a whole bunch devices," he says. "They really feel of web site functionality," he says. very comfortable with the BlackFor many people, functionalBerry Enterprise." ity also includes typing speed on a McCarthy Tétrault LLP senior phone. partner and federal Liberal lead"Maybe my thumbs are too big, ership candidate George Takach but I really like the keyboard on agrees. One of the features McCarthe BlackBerry handheld device," thys likes about the BlackBerry is says Johnston. "I can type way fastthe security, he says. "It has industrial strength, corpo- Roger Love remains loyal to BlackBerry products despite some er than the average person on an lawyers' migration to other smartphones in recent years. iPhone. I find the iPad that I used rate strength, security," says Takach. Photo: Laura Pedersen way too big." Takach, also a BlackBerry user, Touchscreen critics can embrace says he's "totally pumped" about getning to Apple in recent years. a different version of the new BlackBerting the new model. It may be the an"The problem is things like the iPad swer to people walking around with two are easy to use and once you purchase an ry, the Q10, that will feature the iconic phones in their pockets, he says. Apple product, it works well with other keyboard. That version will be available "One of the things it does is it has Apple products," says criminal lawyer soon. Nevertheless, some lawyers don't feel sort of a split-screen capability to show Daniel Brown, owner of an iPhone and your personal apps on one side and your iPad as well as an Apple laptop and desk- the need to line up for any gadget as they're happy with what they have. work apps on the other," says Takach. top computer. "The BlackBerry I'm using right now, "And I think that's very, very power"And I think that's where Blackful. When you pick up the BB10 and Berry's going to have their difficulties to be honest, hasn't given me any issues. give it a whirl, you're going to find that a is that all they are is one product and So until it does, I'm probably not going to very compelling feature." they don't have that seamless transition switch," says Roger Love, a lawyer at the African Canadian Legal Clinic. "There's The new BlackBerry 10 has 70,000 among platforms." applications, adds Takach. While that's Brown was a BlackBerry user for really no reason for me to switch." "A good amount of lawyers" still use surely less than the hundreds of thou- several years before he made the switch. sands available for Apple products, "all As his office becomes paperless and re- the BlackBerry for both the functionalthe basics are available," he notes. lies more on scanned and downloaded ity and the price, says Love. Pricing for the BlackBerry Z10 will "Personally, I'm going to get one as materials, a reliable device for accessvary by carrier, but the phone is genersoon as I can and I'm going to be stick- ing documents becomes even more ally on sale for about $150 on a threeing to it." important, he says. LT But the lack of applications isn't the Although he has tried the PlayBook, year contract. only thing that sent some lawyers run- Brown says it didn't impress him. Plethora of phones signals need for bring-your-own-device policies BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times A s Dan Michaluk sees it, duly diligent employers should be asking themselves whether they're having a problem with losing or compromising data through their employees' personal devices. "The advent of the iPad has accentuated the issue because it's opened up wide access to applications for the creation of business content outside an employer's secure network," says Michaluk, a partner at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. "So nowadays, everyone's effectively carrying around a word processor and employers should be asking themselves what their employees are creating on these devices and where it resides." It's not as if the problem is likely to go away. "Every time interesting applications make their way to the consumer domain, they will attract employees who are, after all, consumers like everyone else," says Michaluk. Daniel Strigberger of Miller Thomson LLP's Waterloo, Ont., office says law firms should be especially careful. "Hackers are targeting law firms because they know that lawyers store valuable client information in their networks," he says. The difficulty for employers is in deciding whether to prohibit employees from using their own devices for work purposes or whether to control the problem by adopting a proper policy to address the issue. "Bans on the use of personal devices are an important element of IT security because all security efforts can be rendered useless if an employee puts business information outside of a secure system," says Michaluk. "That's why personal devices have traditionally been banned outright." Outright bans, however, are coming under attack. The growing choice of attractive consumer features available on smartphones, for example, have strengthened consumers' attachment to their personal devices and made employees resistant to carrying two phones. The upshot is that it may be difficult to enforce a ban. The alternative is a bringyour-own-device policy. "BYOD involves the use of employercontrolled technology and employer-made directives to enable and govern the use of personal devices for work," says Michaluk. According to Michaluk, the techno- logical element is important because it can give employers some degree of control over personal devices by gathering data from them about software use; controlling security settings; monitoring data between devices to deal with threats; ensuring storage of business information on a company network; and remotely deleting data if a device is lost or stolen. The difficulty here is that this type of technology can be intrusive — or employees may regard it as such. "Employers should therefore help employees understand the nature of the technology to be employed on their personal devices and how it will be used," says Michaluk. "Especially important is explaining the employer's discretion to delete data in the event of loss or theft." In any event, technology is just one aspect of the bring-your-own device solution. "Employers also need to create BYOD directives," says Michaluk. Common directives relate to security settings, updating operating systems, using only approved applications for work purposes, and lending personal devices to others. Employers must also address instances where business data will reside solely on an www.lawtimesnews.com employee's personal device. "Obviously, employers have an interest in accessing such data," says Michaluk. "They have to know what kind of data is stored in this way, for what purposes access may be required, the risks and consequences of failing to obtain that access, and the process that will be used to access it." Ultimately, the directives that are appropriate will vary based on the risks technology doesn't address. "In general, employers who adopt BYOD sacrifice the strong technical control associated with owning employee devices and rely more heavily on directives and employee trust," says Michaluk. Still, any bring-your-own-device policy will create risks that are greater than would be the case if the company imposed an outright ban. So by no means should companies summarily dismiss consideration of an outright ban. What's key, however, is for employers to give the issue some thought. So far, doing so appears to be something of a recent phenomenon. "There are signs, including a recent Deloitte survey, that suggest people are waking up to the need to create policies," says Michaluk. LT

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