Friday, December 30, 2011

Social Media Discovery: It's Not So Different After All



http://ow.ly/8dXBB

An article by Cris Whitman on the LeClair Ryan website on the eDiscovery 4-1-1 Newsletter.

This article discusses social media networks, and the task of handling eDiscovery preservation and production requests for social media evidence.

The article states, "Although it is not explicitly stated in the amendments, one can reasonably infer that "electronic documents and data" include social media content. Regardless of form, the guiding principle for discoverability is the same -- documents and data are discoverable if relevant to a claim or defense. As such, successful strategies for obtaining social media content should first and foremost be focused on the relevant content."

The article discusses public content as well as private content.  Thea article warns, "...the investigation should never include using deceptive tactics to access social network content, such as impersonating a "friend" to gain access to a user's private profile information."

The article further states, "Courts have found the information on social media pages to be within the control of the content owners and that there is an obligation to produce relevant social media content. In party discovery, an objection to a request for social media content on "privacy" grounds is unlikely to be successful. The rules of evidence define the scope of discovery, in which relevance is the controlling factor. Relevant information -- regardless of whether it comes from a locked filing drawer, a personal email account or a "private" social media page -- is discoverable."  The article provides footnotes throughout the writing, providing additional source materials on this topic.

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