Electronic Discovery and Evidence

75% of Top Law Firms Not Qualified to Handle EDD Matters

E-Discovery Execs Name Top EDD Law Firms; 75% of AmLaw 200 Not Qualified to Handle Complex EDD Matters. "However, when asked, "What percentage of AmLaw 200 firms has the requisite knowledge and experience to professionally handle a complex EDD matter?" there was broad consensus that the answer was not more than 25%. The research also provided benchmarks for prosecutorial and judicial EDD expertise. . . . "

Legal Implications - Self-Destructing E-Mail

The legal implications of self-destructing e-mail. "According to an article by Laurie Varendorff, an Australian records management expert, Microsoft and IBM have developed software that enables creators of e-mail messages to have tremendous control over their messages, even after they have been sent.
Mr. Varendorff states that the relatively recent release of Microsoft Office 2003, with its Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Information Rights Management (IRM) features, permits the creator of an e-mail message to control the printing, forwarding and copying of the message. Moreover, and importantly, the feature supposedly empowers the creator to set a date and time for the expiration of the e-mail, as well as the expiration of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents at the volition of the creator, rather than at the will of the recipient. . . "

E-mail Supports Ethics Charges

(9-20-04). Palin explains her actions in Ruedrich case. . "Ruedrich's computer contained 24 e-mail exchanges between him and Evergreen officials and lobbyists. One is well-known because it was the basis for one of the charges in the ethics complaint: Ruedrich leaked a confidential AOGCC legal memorandum to lobbyist-lawyer Kyle Parker that had been written by the assistant attorney general assigned to the agency, Rob Mintz. But the range of electronic conversation is much more extensive. In March, Ruedrich had frequent contact with Parker and others in his law firm as they worked behind the scenes on legislation that weakened local control over coal bed methane development. Sometimes the messages were just pleasantries, such as Parker's reminder to Ruedrich on Sept. 29, 2003, that they would see each other at a town hall meeting on coal bed methane in Sutton the next evening and have dinner together the day after that. In at least eight instances, Ruedrich forwarded messages to Parker that he received or sent to state officials and Valley residents. Because they were blind copies or copies made after the original message was sent, the other parties had no way of knowing that the lobbyist was receiving them. In his private messages to Parker, Ruedrich didn't try to hide his disdain for Sen. Scott Ogan, a fellow Republican from the Palmer area, who has taken credit for the legislation establishing the coal bed methane industry in Alaska and who, for a time, was on Evergreen's payroll as a $40,000-a-year consultant. Ogan quit the consultant job Sept. 30, 2003, under pressure and quit the Legislature last month in the face of a recall election. On Aug. 27, 2003, Ruedrich forwarded to Parker from his work computer an e-mail he had earlier sent from home to Jim Clark and Dennis Fradley, Murkowski's communications director at the time. In his message, Ruedrich runs through a series of "myths" about coal bed methane, such as the risk to water contamination, and dismisses most as wrong. . . ."

Proposed Federal Rules - Commentary

(9-16-04). The Proposed Federal E-Discovery Rules: While Trying to Add Clarity, the Rules Still Leave Uncertainty. "In recent lawsuits, the proverbial smoking gun may not be an interoffice memorandum found in a locked file cabinet. Instead, it may be an e-mail message stored and forgotten on someone's hard drive. This reality has significantly altered discovery - the process by which parties to a litigation request documents from each other; produce documents to each other; and serve and answer each other's interrogatories and requests for admission. Accordingly, on August 15, the federal judiciary disseminated a proposed set of rules to govern "e-discovery" - that is, the exchange of electronic information in litigation proceedings. . . ."

GPS Evidence - Scott Peterson Trial

(9-15-04);. Satellite technology and courtroom diplomacy were on the agenda Monday in the Scott Peterson murder case. "During the weeks after Laci Peterson's disappearance in December of 2002, the Modesto Police Department secretly outfitted may of the cars Scott Peterson drove with global positioning devices that tracked his whereabouts. Prosecutors say those devices as well as witnesses and cell phone records confirm Peterson traveled to the Berkeley Marina in January of 2003. . ."

Trying to Undelete E-mail

(8-28-04). Experts try to resurrect SAIF files. A Gresham computer firm is selected to seek deleted e-mails. "Experts in computer forensics often can resurrect computer files that seemed to disappear, but the deleted e-mail of former SAIF Corp. President Katherine Keene might remain a mystery. Earlier this week, Marion County Judge Paul Lipscomb found SAIF in contempt of court for failing to hand over public records and recommended sanctions that could result in more than $1 million in fines against SAIF. He also ordered an examination of computers used by Keene, her successor Cecil Tibbetts, and their assistants to see if deleted files could be recovered. . . "

Category: Electronic Discovery and Electronic Evidence

Horse Microchip ID

(9-8-04) Microchip Your Horse for Foolproof Identification. It's painless, invisible, permanent, inexpensive and tamper-resistant: electronic microchip identification for your horse. "A microchip--an electronic device the size of a rice grain--implanted invisibly in your horse's neck can provide him permanent identification. Etched with a unique number and encapsulated in glass, the chip (shown here enlarged) is inserted with a syringe. It can be activated by a hand-held radio-frequency scanner, which then reads the number. And it functions for 25 years or longer. "It's like a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) for horses," says veterinarian Kevin Owen, whose Electronic ID Inc., in Cleburne, Texas, distributes microchips manufactured for horses by Destron/Fearing. . . "

Category: electronic discovery and electronic evidence.

Online Fingerprint Readers

(9-7-04). Ministry to use electronic fingerprint readers for online test. "KLANG: The Transport Ministry is planning to use electronic fingerprint readers to verify the identities of learner drivers sitting for the Highway Code online test at privatised centres. This follows the discovery of cheating at some of the centres. . . "

Category: Electronic Discovery and Electronic Evidence

Caller ID Spoofing Software

Caller-ID Spoofing: 'Appallingly Bad Idea' . "A new software system that allows users to fool telephone caller-ID into displaying false numbers opens the door to a variety of abuses. "What an appallingly bad idea," says Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos. A startup company has developed a software system that allows users to spoof a caller-ID number in order to trick the telephone-call recipient into answering the phone. . . "

Comment: Caller ID evidence has been used in a number of cases - another reason why authentication will become increasingly important.