Electronic Discovery and Evidence

AT&T Spys on American's Internet Usage

EFF and Feds Battle Over Dormant Spy Lawsuit as Immunity Battle Awaits. The Bush Administration and civil liberties groups are fighting over the fate of a frozen appeals court decision in the warrantless wiretapping legal battle, even as the government has yet to use its new powers to have cases dismissed with a mere letter to the judge from the Attorney General. The government is asking a federal appeals court to put a long hold on deciding the fate of a case charging AT&T with helping the government spy on Americans' internet usage, in order to give it time to try to dismiss the case in lower court with powers newly granted to it by Congress. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been leading a suit against AT&T that has gotten further than most expected, wants the appeals court to throw out the case. . . . (emphasis added).

Business and the Duty to Manage Electronic Records

E-Discovery: The Long Arm Of The Law. "Businesses that invest in procedures to manage and discover their electronic data will find themselves better prepared legally and financially if faced with litigation. That's the message from a pair of attorneys who on Tuesday discussed the importance of electronic discovery, or e-discovery, at Nth Generation Computing's annual Summer Technical Symposium. . . . E-discovery is the preservation and production of electronically stored information typically during the discovery phase of litigation, said Liane Komagome, principal and director of electronic discovery and legal business consulting at CRA International, a Boston-based legal and financial consulting company. . . .Most large businesses will face litigation sooner or later, said Daniel Garrie, attorney and partner at CRA International. He cited studies done by research firm Gartner, which found that nearly 90 percent of U.S. companies with revenue exceeding $1 billion are facing an average of 147 lawsuits at any given time, and that the average cost to defend a corporate lawsuit exceeds $1.5 million per case. . . ."

How to carjack a top Google exec -- according to Google

How to carjack a top Google exec -- according to Google. "August 4, 2008 (Computerworld Australia) The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has turned the tables on Google Inc. by using the company's controversial Street View technology along with Google Earth to compile and make public a detailed dossier on a 'top Google executive.'

The dossier (download PDF) includes a photo of what appears to be the front gate and parking lot of the exec's opulent California manor, including the license plates of several luxury cars outside the home, the executive's landscaping company car and a photo showing the name of the neighbor's home-security company. . . . "

Electronic Evidence Wins Family of Hazing Victim $4.2 M News

Evidence Wins Family of Hazing Victim $4.2 M News. "The morning after Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath died from alcohol poisoning his fraternity brothers had a meeting. They agreed to destroy all the pictures and video taken the night before at a hazing party where Phoummarath and six others had been ordered to consume dangerous amounts of alcohol as part of an initiation ceremony. However, as attorney Randall Sorrels discovered, it is difficult for people to hide their tracks in the digital world. . . . "