June 2004

Increasing Document Security PIPEDA

Many of us have heard the various media reports detailing instances of identity theft or of personal information being misappropriated in some fashion. While we may focus in on the after effects of information theft, we often don’t give much thought to the sequence of events that allowed it to occur in the first place; most often, a culture of complacency surrounding traditional paper or electronic media handling.

Reviewing PIPEDA, the federal government’s new Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, one becomes aware of how much this law will change the way many practices manage personal information in their care. Among a host of other requirements, safeguards must be in place to protect personal data against loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification, regardless of the format in which it is held. If you need to find an alternative to insecure bulky paper files or a method of controlling access to and sharing electronic documents, A&L’s document management application, Document Console, might be something to take a closer look at.

In many traditional filing systems, paper is the medium used for information storage, and as noted above, considerable time is spent accessing this material in order to retrieve relevant information. With electronic based systems, the medium is typically a legacy type computer system consisting of a display monitor, floor-standing CPU, mouse and keyboard. This is ideal for environments where users have a static location from which to access Document Console, but it is not efficient or practical for those who require a high degree of mobility in their day-to-day routine.

Notebook computers, while capable of providing limited mobility, are still somewhat unwieldy, especially when compared to the portability of the new generation of Tablet PC’s. These devices have now matured well past the point of being an expensive novelty and are quite capable of withstanding the rigours of day-to-day use while providing the computing power and storage capabilities required by today’s applications. Perhaps most importantly, they are folio sized, pen-based systems, allowing users to interact with them in a manner as familiar as … well … paper and pen. Combining a Tablet PC, Wi-Fi or wireless technology and Document Console can allow immediate, yet secure access to all of your files from wherever you happen to be in your office.

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