Facebook can make or break your case

Facebook and other social networking sites are continuing to produce evidence, so it would be wise to be ahead of the curve on this front, as an attorney or business leader. Eric B. Meyer at The Legal Intelligencer Blog put together one of the most informative articles I've seen on this topic.  You'll find several links worth bookmarking, including a list of internet service provider mailing addresses for service of subpoenas and a link to a recent case in which a federal court permitted an employer to obtain discovery of an employee's social networking activity that, through privacy settings, the employee had made "private" and not available to the general public.
Article Link: How Facebook Can Make or Break Your Case

Supreme Court rejects appeal in child pornography case.

Earlier this year, The Christian Science Monitor reported on the The Supreme Court's rejection of an appeal to overturn a conviction for producing child pornography. The defendant argued that the images – of children's faces morphed on adults – did not involve sexual activity by minors and so were protected by the First Amendment. The prevalence of child pornography cases should continue to send more cases to the Supreme Court, and The Court will continue to clarify the technicalities that arise.

Article Link: Supreme Court rejects appeal in child pornography case

Dr. Bob DeYoung, my partner at Forensic Recovery, authored a paper that discusses "virtual" vs. "reality" with regard to child pornography. While the article is focused on the technical and forensic aspects of virtual or altered images, Dr. DeYoung stresses the need for the courts to define what is virtual and what is real. The article cited above from The Christian Monitor is one of such cases.

Article Link: Virtual - Reality: A Preliminary Forensic Assessment Relating to Child Pornography in the Prosecutorial/Defense Effort

The most recent story involving child pornography will be closely followed. The Boston Globe reported yesterday on a recent federal investigation which identified several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors who allegedly purchased and downloaded child pornography. Many of the accused maintained high-level security clearances.


Article Link: Pentagon workers tied to child porn.

Internet luring case in Canada finds 19-year-old man guilty

CBC News reported the guilty verdict of a 19-year-old man in Canada convicted of Internet luring involving a teenager.  This case went to the Supreme Court of Canada on the matter of whether the accused has to intend to meet the victim in order to be found guilty; the Court decided that the accused only has to make a meeting possible.

Article Link:  New Brunswick man guilty of internet luring

The Vancouver Sun reported on the Supreme Court's decision in May 2010, prior to the final ruling on the case.  This article looks a little closer at the considerations of the Court and the law that was the crux of consideration.

Article Link:  P.E.I. cyber-sex case to test Internet luring law (Vancouver Sun)

What Can Happen When Lawyers Delegate Their e-Discovery Duties to a Client

The e-Discovery Team blog discusses a recent bankruptcy case in which the e-discovery duties are over-delegated to their client, bringing up issues of spoliation and sanctions. 

Article Link: What Can Happen When Lawyers Delegate Their e-Discovery Duties to a Client

The Attorney/Forensic Examiner Language Barrier

I have spent much of my life explaining technical issues to less tech-savvy people, so I know first-hand how important it is.  As with most specializations, the mentality and language is simply different than how most people think and speak.  I know when I put on my general ledger thinking cap, the word debit has a different meaning than it does to most debit-card using consumers.  This article at the ExForensics blog explains and helps clarify some of the verbiage that is often misunderstood when a computer forensics type communicates with a member of the attorney or e-discovery party.  I highly recommend this article for both attorneys and computer forensics people.  At the very least, you need to know that some words (i.e. "copy") need clarification.

Article Link: Attorneys are from Mars, Computer Forensics People are from Pluto

Ethics Regarding Lawyers Gathering Evidence From Social Networking Sites

This article at the Ride The Lightning blog presents some considerations regarding the methods and issues relating to attorneys gathering evidence from social networking sites, specifically Facebook.  Sharon comments from the Divorce/Family Law perspective about the ethical predicament lawyers could be faced with if their retrieval methods walk the line.

Article Link: No, No, You Can't Do That: Lawyers Surreptitiously Friending on Facebook

E-discovery Implications of Social Networking

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., of the Ride The Lightning blog, discusses the risk management issues and smoking guns that can be associated with social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Foursquare.  The article points out that many employees are shifting their social media interactions to personal cellphones in order to circumvent restrictions found on company-provided equipment and networks.

Article Link: Facebook More Popular Than Google: E-discovery Implications

Three Keys to e-Discovery

Ralph Losey is a lawyer, writer and educator based in Central Florida.  He is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Florida.  This article describes his three keys to successful e-discovery, each of which involve fundamental changes to the way most lawyers practice. 

Article Link: One Minute Summary of My Three Keys to e-Discovery

Documenting both child and porn can delay cases

Gordon Dritschilo wrote an article that touches on some of the main issues law enforcement faces when investigating child pornography, including age determination, unintended downloads, file verification and backlogs.  The article was later discussed on the Cyberspeak podcast on April 4th, 2010.

Article Link: Documenting both child and porn can delay cases

What is the meaning of this?

With only 24 hours in a day and plenty of responsibilities, most new projects have a reason for being started; nd this blog is no exception.

I find myself engulfed in a ever-increasing catalog of fantastic blogs, podcasts, listservs and discussion forums serving up content about digital forensics, e-discovery, law, computer security, and incident response.  Much of it is incredibly technical (some even over my head), and other material would be considered common knowledge amongst my peers.  But, every so often I read an article that falls right down the middle.

This recurring thought has transpired into this blog.  Its primary purpose is to act as a liaison to the digital forensics world I live in, filtering content that fit the perspectives of clients, friends, colleagues and others who might be just outside the scope of it all.  I anticipate that audience to be attorneys, CTOs, security analysts, computer science and law students, technology enthusiasts, and anyone else curious.

I also hope to provide a launchpad for those helplessly becoming as entranced as I am with the issues and personalities on the forefront of these fields.  If this you, help yourself to the Blog List.  But beware -- there is no turning back.

Thanks for stopping by.
Aaron