Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
The 6th Paraben Computer Forensic Conference was held in Snowbird, Utah November 13-15, 2013. I love PFIC because it is a content driven show. Amber Schroader, CEO of Paraben Corporation, kicked off the lecture track of the conference by addressing computer forensics in mobile devices and BYOD. The next generation[…]
Read moreDoes the Stored Communication Act protect all text messages and data stored on a personal cell phone accessed without the owner’s permission? Not if you are arguing the cell phone is a “facility” under the Stored Communications Act. Garcia v. City of Laredo, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 25370 (5th Cir.[…]
Read more2012 eDiscovery Case Law included everything from Tweets to Computer-Assisted Review. However, there was also a very basic theme that is hard to ignore: Cases should be about the merits. And for cases to be decided on the merits, attorneys need to educate themselves on electronic discovery so they know[…]
Read moreSurviving family members of a Facebook user in Great Britain filed an ex parte application for access to the deceased’s Facebook account to show the deceased’ state of mind for the Coroner’s investigation in Manchester, England. In re Facebook, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134977, at *1-2 (N.D. Cal. Sept.[…]
Read moreThere is no psychic privilege. However, the legal tealeaves foretell a discovery dispute between online psychic advice and the Stored Communication Act. Judge Frank Maas had to interpret the legal Tarot Cards in an employment dispute involving a Plaintiff who sought online psychic advice. The Defendants sought discovery from the[…]
Read moreIn a case involving alienation of affection, the Plaintiff sought early discovery on third party electronic communication service providers. Dockery v. Horvath, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124997, 2-3 (S.D. Miss. Oct. 27, 2011). The case was in procedural limbo, because the Defendants were in New York state, had not filed[…]
Read moreA Plaintiff sued her former employer alleging violations of the Federal Wiretap Act, the Indiana Wiretap Act and the Stored Communication Act. The facts at issue involved the Plaintiff’s email and banking passwords being recorded by keylogger software on a company computer, allowing the Defendants to access the Plaintiffs email[…]
Read moreA Plaintiff successfully excluded the Defendant’s testifying expert whose opinion was that “no one, including Plaintiffs, has a reasonable expectation of privacy in Internet communications.” Clements-Jeffrey v. City of Springfield, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81898, 2-3; 10 (S.D. Ohio July 27, 2011). The case involved the theft of a laptop. […]
Read moreThe Plaintiffs filed a suit alleging copyright infringement against the online proprietors of Korean pop music website where the Defendants “post, organize, search for, identify, collect and index links to infringing material that is available on third-party websites,” which the Plaintiff claimed was a “a one-stop shop for infringing material.”[…]
Read moreA self-identified “Plaintiff” filed subpoenas in the Northern District of California directed to Google, MSN Hotnail, CableVision, AOL, Charter Communications, Verizon, Performanceix, and Yahoo!. Mission Trading Co. v. Doe, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52681, 1-2 (N.D. Cal. May 16, 2011). The subpoena to Yahoo! sought the identity, IP addresses and[…]
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