Child pornography charges were dropped against a Massachusetts state employee after computer forensics experts determined the images in question were placed on his laptop by a third party. After a month long analysis, experts concluded his computer was compromissed by hackers putting pornographic images on his drive that were not visible to the naked eye.
The defendant in this case was fired and subsequently charged with possession of child pornography. The charges have since been dismissed.
Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?&articleid=1101074
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/147213/a_misconfigured_laptop_a_wrecked_life.html
Here is an interesting article by Craig Ball on Microsoft’s Robocopy and the subtleties of metadata. Apparently, it isn’t as easy as it sounds…
http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202421750040
A gentlemen in London was mistakenly arrested after his credit card number was used for purchasing child pornography. He was later cleared after it was determined that his card numbers had been stolen online. Before the dust eventually settled, he lost his high paying job and his children stopped speaking to him.
For the full story, go here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346577,00.html
An interesting article in Storage Technology News describes the challenges faced by firms in dealing with the FRCP changes that became effective in December, 2006.
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid5_gci1286772,00.html?track=NL-52&ad=617911USCA&asrc=EM_NLN_2777809&uid=5989393
Here is an interesting story from Jacksonville, Florida. A disgruntled employee at an architectural firm purposefully deleted seven years worth of files, estimated to be worth $2.5 million, when she mistakenly thought she was about to be fired. She was arrested and charged with causing greater than $1000 damage to computer files, which is a felony in Florida. The business owner did eventually recover the files but only at a great expense.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325285,00.html
A U.S. Magistrate Judge handed down severe sanctions relating to “monumental” discovery violations in Qualcomm v. Broadcom.After trial, the court discovered that Qualcom’s attorney’s failed to turn over “tens of thousands of e-mails.” In her 42 page opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major said the attorney’s “assisted Qualcomm in committing this incredible discovery violation by intentionally hiding or recklessly ignoring relevant documents, ignoring or rejecting numerous warning signs that Qualcomm’s document search was inadequate, and blindly accepting Qualcomm’s unsupported assurances that its document search was adequate,”
Sanctions include:
Without question, this ruling underscores the importance of conducting a complete and thorough search for responsive documents. Just what constitutes a good faith effort? How much is “good enough”?
Read more…
http://www.abanet.org/lpm/ltt/articles/vol1/is7/firewire/The-Qualcomm-EDD-Sanctions.shtml
Read the order…
http://www.abanet.org/lpm/ltt/articles/vol1/is7/docs/Qualcomm-v-Broadcom-Order-on-Remedy.pdf
A federal judge has ordered the White House to reveal if millions of missing emails might be stored on backup tapes. I found the following to be an interesting passage in the article:
“Facciola noted the importance of acting quickly since e-mails that might be retrievable from individual computer workstations in the White House “are increasingly likely to be deleted or overwritten with the passage of time.”"
Judge Facciola understands the volatility of digital evidence and the criticality of getting to the data quickly before it’s lost.
View the article - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22560674/
There is a very interesting article in the Washington Post this morning involving encrypted data and our rights against self-incrimination. Federal prosecutors in Vermont are asking the courts to compel a defendant (suspected of possessing child pornography) to divulge the password that would decrypt data on his hard drive. The defendant has refused to do so, saying that doing so would amount to self-incrimination. So far, the Judge in the case is agreeing with the defendant.
Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier (using an analogy) said that the government can force someone to hand over a key to a safe but not the combination. The difference being that one is a physical object and the other is the “contents of one’s mind.” Obviously, this can have some very serious consequences if this ruling is allowed to stand. Technology as it is today doesn’t really provide an alternative course the government. The short answer is breaking the encryption is nearly impossible and could take years. The obvious effect of this ruling would be to create a safe haven for child pornographers, criminals and terrorists. Imagine the potential consequences if this were a terrorist with plans for upcoming attacks on his laptop. What then?
Check out the story… http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9834495-38.html
Read the ruling……. http://www.volokh.com/files/Boucher.pdf
Welcome to the Second Creek eDiscovery blog. The world of electronic discovery and computer forensics is constantly evolving. Our staff will use this forum to inform, educate and even entertain you with news, updates, opinions, tips, and war stories from the front lines of eDiscovery. Stay tuned. It figures to be a most interesting ride. JES