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In memoriam of our friend and colleague, Josh Hamilton

Josiah Quincy “Josh” Hamilton

August 1, 1968 – February 3, 2020 (age 51)

Former Chair, App Developer, Council Member, Musician, Friend

It is with immense sadness that we share that Josh Hamilton, former Chair, passed away from glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor. Josh was as amazing a friend as anyone could have known. He was kind beyond words or actions, transcending this quality to an art that is so rarely seen that it appears to perhaps be endangered. In essence, he was quite literally the ‘nicest guy you might  ever want to meet.’ He was smart beyond knowledge, wise beyond years and gracious beyond anyone’s ability to ask. 

Josh was an integral part of the team creating the Computer & Technology Section app for its members, figuring out how to authenticate a user’s identity with the State Bar of Texas and writing the code to accomplish this that was adopted by the company that made the app. 

In 2011, he received The State Bar of Texas Presidents/Directors Certificate of Merit, State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, and Computer & Technology Section Award of Merit for his work on the App and his contribution to the State Bar. 

Josh was a true husband and partner to his wife, Jane, devoted and loving father to his children, Bethany, Josiah, and Sophia and many other family and friends. How his children grew up, and how they are now is a testimonial of Josh as a father.  How his wife loved him is a testimonial of Josh as a husband. How he treated his fellow attorneys is a testimonial of Josh as a friend.

Those who knew him admired his ability as a first-class hacker.  He was easily the best Perl hacker that the State Bar could call their own.  He built his own home security system (from cobbled-together parts). He created spamgourmet.com (a great website that provided disposable email addresses that helped thousands of people avoid unwanted spam/corporate messages).  That’s what Josh did best. He used his considerable hacking skills to devise creative solutions for the common good — all on a shoestring budget. Practical as well as pragmatic. He was level-headed, and did not possess any of the idiosyncrasies common to geeks.  

We, the Council and section members, lawyers and friends, will miss him more than we have words. Thank you Josh, for what you were and what you have done to make us better. 

Memorial Service and reception: 

Friday, February 14, 2020 at 11:00 AM
Christ Church Cathedral
1117 Texas Avenue
Houston, Texas 77002

Tribute to Josiah “Josh” Hamilton.

2018 Strata Data Conference

Google saw fit to bestow a free ticket to a member of the Council to attend the Strata Conference (https://conferences.oreilly.com/strata) in New York City.  The Strata Conference is all about Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science, as well as some attendant topics.  Size-wise, this conference is on a par with LegalTech and the International Legal Technology Association (“ILTA”) Conference .  However that is about where the similarity ends.  As far as I could tell, I was the only attorney in attendance.  They were curious to know why I was there, but when I described e-discovery, data breach situations and the like — they got it.  A very welcoming lot.  Here are some observations:

1. As with the legal conventions, AI was all the rage.  Not surprising, however, because the Strata conference is all about data, so Data Science (aka “Big Data”) plays an more important role.  AI is used to analyze Big Data.  There is just so much data that only a machine could cope with it.

2. Open source software applications dominate the field.  In fact, there was one presentation entitled “Commercial Software in an Increasingly Open Source Ecosystem.”  Large companies now insist on open source applications (for a variety of reasons).  So much so that when they go looking for solutions, they turn to the open source versions first.  Even Microsoft was touting how well you could run Linux and other open source applications on Azure.  Microsoft knows that it has a credibility problem in this area, but they are truly making an effort to make amends with the open source community (and by extension, corporate America).

3. AI and Data Science are quickly being institutionalized in corporate America.  Corporate networks are being modified to capture company data for use in AI-based applications (which have an insatiable thirst for data).

4. The pace of AI development is exponential, and that pace won’t slow down anytime soon.  Indeed, the pace of infrastructure modifications to take advantage of AI development will ensure that that exponential rate of GPU (graphic processor units) growth continues for the near term.

5. Moore’s law is officially dead — kind of.  The current rate of growth of *CPU* capability is 1.1:1, rather than the 1.5:1 during the heyday of Moore’s law.  Don’t despair.  The growth rate for *GPU’s* (favored by AI applications) is currently 1.5:1.  Moore’s law isn’t quite dead yet, but it has shifted a bit.

6. AI is getting easier to develop and use.  Software is being developed to abstract the process of creating AI.  This abstraction process is intended to insulate normal people from the nitty-gritty of developing AI.  I saw one Microsoft engineer build an AI-based chat bot in less than 5 minutes (he timed himself, right in front of us).  The point is, AI is getting easier to develop and use all the time.  Soon, even a lawyer will be able to do it.  What this portends is hard to fathom, but people would be wise to monitor the developments.  Even better, AI has now hit the “hobby” level, in that the tools to start developing AI are free (from a software royalty standpoint) and the hardware costs to do it (beyond a snail’s pace) are modest.

Federal Trade Commission’s Suggestions to Secure Data

In the most release of Circuits, Pierre Grosdidier and Cassidy Daniels share a thorough article on the Federal Trade Commissions guidelines. Their research and reference to supporting materials sheds light on the FTC guidelines. Just a small sampling of suggestions the FTC’s guidelines offer:

  •  Do not collect unneeded information.
  •  Restrict access to data.
  •  Require secure passwords. “Qwerty” and “121212” are no better than having no password at all.
  • Suspend or disable users after a certain number of unsuccessful login attempts.
  • Store and transmit sensitive information securely. Train personnel and use accepted encryption methods—no need to reinvent the wheel.
  • Segment networks and monitor who is trying to get in and out.
  • Secure remote network access.

Read the article by Pierre and Cassidy in its entirety here.

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