Utah District Court
CMECF Updates
PDF Issues
The court sees strange PDF files occasionally, most often letter size pages scanned to legal size format, making a long blank space at the foot of the page. Sometimes pages are scanned upside down, or sideways. A recent filing had an issue never seen before. This was a "text" PDF file. All pages were present, but only the upper left quarter of each page was showing. The document "properties" showed the size as 3.94 x 5.83 inches! Here is the "properties" box and a sample page.
(click on an image to enlarge)
Keylogging Update
The threat of
keylogging continues and CM/ECF users are not immune. According to a recent internal memo, over 100 PACER and several dozen CM/ECF filer accounts have been compromised by keyloggers this year nationwide. The keylogging is due to hidden software on the computer of the PACER or CM/ECF filer. The federal government monitors apparent keylogging on private accounts which access government computers, and notifies PACER users or CM/ECF filers of the infection on the users' machines, and the fact that their names and passwords (and quite likely their banking and client communications accounts) have been compromised. The Clerk of the Court is also notifed when a CM/ECF filing account has been compromised. It is more than likely that CM/ECF and PACER access are not the goal of these keyloggers -- but that they are pursuing more financially rewarding information.
Computer Malfunctions
Recent documents filed in court reveal the unfortunate consequences of our reliance on computers.
One filing detailed the loss of a document in process which necessitated the extension of a filing deadline. The filer fortunately had a recent backup so the problem was not as severe as it might have been.
(click to enlarge)Another filer described futile efforts to recover data, and the narrative also revealed that there was no recent backup. Worse yet, the computer hard drive had all the attorney's time and billing records and email and there was no back up for a three year period. Fortunately, the issue of "excusable neglect" did not have to be decided by the court.
(click to enlarge)