Think About Digital Forensics When You Conduct E-Discovery - Excerpt

Last month I wrote an article for Today's General Counsel magazine entitled, "Think About Digital Forensics When You Conduct E-Discovery." In the article, I discuss how society's dependence on digital platforms and networks has changed today's legal system. As electronic discovery takes a more prominent role in court cases, litigants need to seriously consider the need for digital forensics.

DIGITAL FORENSICS IN E-DISCOVERY

The Sedona Conference defines e-discovery as the process of identifying, locating, preserving, collecting, preparing, reviewing and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in the context of the legal process. Successful e-discovery relies heavily on digital forensics tools and expertise.

Similar to e-discovery, computer forensics is the use of analytical and investigative techniques to identify, collect, examine and preserve information that is magnetically stored or encoded. Recently, because computer forensics has expanded to include more than just computers, the term “digital forensics” has become the term of choice for forensic examiners.

In civil litigation, when a party receives a request for discovery (even without a specific request for ESI), the responding party must identify, preserve, collect and examine information for production. The type of analytical or investigative technique that the responding party uses will differ depending on the circumstances. But, make no mistake, if the requested information is at rest on a digital device, then digital forensics, by definition, is involved in the e-discovery process.

To read the complete article, click here.

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~ Florida Cyber Lawyer, Robert Stines, Esq., CIPP