I recently challenged eDiscovery providers with cloud collection and review solutions to start tracking the CDC and OSHA websites giving the official safety guidelines for business reopening. Since then, news outlets have clear evidence that those CDC guidelines have been changed in response to political pressure. While keeping eDJ discussions apolitical, I feel the need to raise the red flag in regard to the [...]
The Wayback machine has taken 2,073 snapshots of the CDC’s COVID-19 Business Guidance webpage since it was launched March 6, 2020. Why would it make >11 snapshots per day (74 on August 17th)? This CDC page is the primary national level guidance for businesses that want to reopen safely. The nifty Changes tool (beta screenshot below) shows that page could have changed 2-3 times [...]
This week Microsoft added an automated transcription feature to their online Word. It is easy to use and renders a surprisingly accurate transcript that differentiates between speakers and keeps the times of the conversation segments. This is great from a user perspective. Why bother to keep meeting notes when you have a free transcript of everything said? It does present some challenges to your [...]
Globanet has been expanding their connectors and their repository integrations like Relativity and Veritas eDP (Clearwell) with every new release. I have not yet run into Facebook’s Workplace ($0-$8/month) in the field, but the pressure of adapting to remote working is bound to get some departments playing with it. As with Yammer, Jabber, Slack and others social collaboration platforms, Workplace does not appear to [...]
Excel tool for corporate legal departments considering adding an on-premise or cloud based eDiscovery platform that covers legal holds through review and production. This tool is derived from the eDiscovery Matrix and is a fairly narrowly focused version of broader RFP tools used for eDJ Group clients over the last decade. eDiscovery Journal members are welcome to use and modify this tool with attribution [...]
The Covid-19 pandemic has made remote work and home offices the new normal. Many corporations have already consolidated large corporate headquarter leases to the minimum footprint. The migration of large corporate data centers to Amazon S3 or Azure cloud servers has been going on for the last decade. So where does your critical ESI under hold live now? The reality is that your custodian’s [...]
An old client gave me a good karma call (otherwise known as free consulting). She wanted my thoughts on how they could minimize the potential litigation and discovery cost of the inevitable workers comp and personal injury claims after employees contracted Covid-19 after returning to in person work. The best safety, sanitation and social distancing work practices will only minimize how rapidly or widely [...]
I was reading a well researched news story in the aftermath of the Fort Lauderdale protests that turned into a violent confrontation between police and protesters. Several items caught my attention that could have impact on events that result in litigation/discovery during this time of discord. Body Worn Cameras (BWC) and video surveillance are more commonplace now than ever. Many of my industrial clients require that certain employees wear BWCs or have vehicle/facility cameras that operate on similar technologies. I intend to stay away from politics on essays in the eDiscovery Journal. As a former police criminalist I am very interested in evolving technologies to record and reconstruct incidents. In this and many other recent confrontations, police departments state that BWC footage is not available because the cameras were not turned on. Let’s discuss what data is available to an investigator or requesting party.