This Week in Online Evidence – August 12th 2011
From the Cernam blog
This week we posted a technical podcast discussing a recent project to spec and build a portable workstation tuned for high-volume digital forensics - take a listen!
Online Evidence in Litigation
Eric Goldman at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog reports on a California case involving identification of financial message board participants: ”Defamation Claim Over Stock Board Discussion Easily Dismissed--Desai v. Clark”
Social Media Evidence
Michael Lackey of Mayer Brown in Washington DC discusses the increasingly central role of social media in litigation: “Michael Lackey Jr. on E-Discovery and the Rise of Social Media” (video)
Mara Zazzali-Hogan of Gibbons in Newark highlights a new example of plaintiff’s Facebook content undermining their case: “How a “Stink Bomb” E-Mail and Its Proof That Facebook Pictures Were Deleted Might Have Blown Up a $10.6 Million Verdict”
Ira Pilchen of the ABA summarizes a panel discussion at the ABA’s Toronto conference regarding the impact of social media on the courts: “Social Media Has Benefits and Pitfalls for Courts, Panelists Say” Read more
This Week in Online Evidence – August 5th 2011
Social Media Evidence
Christopher Boehning and Daniel Toal of Paul Weiss in New York outline legal ethics issues around the use of online evidence: ”Ethical Bounds of Using Evidence From Social Networks”
Social Media & Employment Law
Daniel Ornstein of Proskauer in London discusses social networking misuse with Metropolitican Corporate Counsel: ”Employee Misuse Of Social Networking Found At 43 Percent Of Businesses, According To Proskauer International Labor & Employment Group Survey”
Patrick Collins of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus in New Jersey is interviewed on social media employment law issues: ”Social Media In The Workplace: The New Frontier”
Philip Gordon of Littler Mendelson in Denver discusses recent developments in Facebook terminations: ”When Can Employers Lawfully Fire an Employee for an Offensive Facebook Post? Ask the NLRB” Read more
This Week in Online Evidence – July 29th 2011
Online Evidence in Litigation
Michelle Sherman of Sheppard Mullin in Los Angeles outlines the legal and practical issues in unmasking anonymous online authors: “Anonymous Bloggers And The First Amendment: When And How Your Company Can Identify Its John Doe Defendants”
Wendy Akbar of Quarles & Brady in Phoenix continues her series on the ethical issues for attorneys attempting to obtain online evidence: “Dr. Seuss, Cheese and Social Media, Part II: Ethical Pitfalls, Pretexting and Duties of Candor”
Social Media Evidence
An article from William Mitchelle College of Law in Saint Paul discusses the importance of online evidence in combating insurance fraud: “Social media and insurance fraud—Professor Gregory Duhl and attorney Jaclyn Millner explain”
Social Networking & Juror Misconduct
Mark Hughes in the Telegraph reports comments from the UK attorney general regarding online jury integrity issues: “Facebook could threaten jury trials in UK, attorney general warns” Read more
This Week in Online Evidence – July 22nd 2011
Online Evidence in Litigation
M.E. Kabay and Gordon Merrill at Network World discuss potential difficulties posed by cloud computing in e-discovery: “Can you comply with court orders for data from the cloud?”
Social Media Evidence
Gibson Dunn’s summary of e-discovery developments in 2011 highlights the use of social media content as evidence: “2011 Mid-Year E-Discovery Update” Read more
This Week in Online evidence – July 15th 2011
From the Cernam Blog
This week we published our first podcast which features three of our team discussing Google+ as a source of digital evidence. You can listen to the podcast on our blog (“Podcast: Introduction to Google+ as a source of online evidence”) or download it via Soundcloud.
Online Evidence in Litigation
Alan Aucoin of Blakes in Toronto outlines how dispute resolution has been affected by social media: “Use of Social Media in Dispute Proceedings”
Scott Etish of Gibbons in Philadelphia discusses the identification of anonymous Internet users: “Caution to Anonymous Internet Posters - Your Cover Might Be Blown” Read more
This Week in Online Evidence – July 8th 2011
Highlight - Procter & Gamble sign up 18,000 employees for Box.net
Our highlight for this week is the news that Box (formerly Box.net, the online collaboration service) have signed Procter & Gamble as a client. Per Robin Wauters at Techcrunch (Box Scores A Big Enterprise Deal), Box will be providing content sharing and collaboration services for 18,000 P&G employees around the world. The scale of this deal reinforces the maturity of online productivity services and the increasing enterprise adoption of what would once have been seen as consumer services. Congratulations to Box on a fantastic win and a significant milestone for online collaboration services. Read more
This Week in Online Evidence – July 1st 2011
Highlight: Google launches Google+, a new social networking site
Our highlight this week is the introduction of Google+, the new social network from Google. The social networking tool is currently in beta, or as Google is terming it “a field testing phase”, but there are already a large number of active users and the service is generating significant interest online. Although this is not Google’s first attempt to enter the social networking market the high demand for invites to the beta is a promising start and suggests that Google may recover from recent lacklustre products such as Google Buzz and Google Wave.
Google already have a loyal user base including those who use Google search, Gmail, Docs, Picasa, Maps etc. Although it will be difficult for Google to compete with established networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn there are some novel features in Google+ which will attract users. Here at Cernam we will be tracking Google+ closely since it has the potential to become a very important source of online evidence, potentially mirroring the importance of Facebook data in litigation and corporate investigations.
This Week in Online Evidence – June 24th 2011
Highlight: Forget everything you thought you knew about domain names
Our highlight for this week is a change which will have an enormous impact for years to come: the decision by ICANN to introduce a new regime for top-level domain names. ICANN is the top-level governance body for Internet names and numbers, primarily meaning the domain name system which is the foundation of web browsing, email and other Internet services.
In recent years ICANN has approved the creation of additional top-level domains (or “TLD’s”)such as “.aero”, “.museum” and “.asia”, however real-world of these new TLD’s has been limited and for most Internet users the web still revolves around “.com”, with perhaps limited usage of other long-standing TLD’s such as “.org” or “.edu”. This week’s announcement means that arbitrary names can now be used for TLD’s for the first time, irrespective of objective need or overlap with existing TLD’s.
This Week in Online Evidence – June 17th 2011
Highlight: UK joins the club on online juror misconduct
For several months we have tracked developments in online juror misconduct as part of these weekly summaries. In the United States this is a serious problem which has led to numerous mistrials as jurors use social networking sites to discuss deliberations or make inappropriate contact with parties in a case.
This week saw the culmination of the first UK trial for juror misconduct, when Joanne Frail received an eight month sentence. The UK’s Telegraph has a good summary of the case: “Facebook contempt case: juror jailed for eight months” while the story was also widely covered in technology (TheRegister) and legal circles (WSJ law blog). Although the facts of this case mirror many US cases which we have covered previously, it was interesting to note that Frail had both carried out independent research in the form of web searches and, more seriously, engaged in lengthy online discussions with the defendant in a criminal case.
This Week in Online Evidence – June 10th 2011
Highlight: Apple’s “iCloud” Announcement
Looking back at developments in online evidence this week there is a clear lead story: the announcement of iCloud, Apple’s integrated suite of cloud services for iPhone and iPad users. Rather than re-hash the reams of comment and reporting on this subject we will point to our own post looking at iCloud from a digital evidence perspective, where we also look at some of the external comment. It is also worth noting Forrester’s new research on the market for “personal cloud” services, estimated to be worth $12 billion by 2016. We are delighted to see both Apple and Forrester vindicate the importance of what we have called online productivity services, an importance which will drive the growth of online evidence in the near future. Read more
