As with other social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, organizations often need to archive their official Instagram accounts. In the public sector, this is usually to satisfy FOIA and Open Records recordkeeping requirements, while in the private sector, it is generally in preparation for a regulatory audit or legal matter. One recent example of a lawsuit related to a company’s use of Instagram is that of Teami, which was accused by the FTC of misrepresenting the health benefits of its tea.
As both government organizations and private-sector companies deal with the realities of a global pandemic—specifically the need to get crucial work done with a distributed, remote workforce—team collaboration tools are proving to be incredibly valuable.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced many organizations—both large and small—to quickly change the way they operate. As formal lockdowns and social distancing guidelines were published by governments all over the globe, companies were left to figure out how they can get the job done with a remote workforce.
There are many reasons why organizations need to keep accurate records of online data like website content, official social media accounts, corporate chat tools, and mobile text messages. For instance, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state-level Open Records laws demand that public-sector organizations keep accurate records of this information in order to respond to Open Records requests.
Every November, Oxford Dictionaries announces its Word of the Year (WOTY). And back in 2015, Oxford Dictionaries announced a WOTY winner that had many linguists throwing up their hands and proclaiming the end of human civilization. The Word of the Year was revealed as 😂. To be clear, the WOTY was not the word “emoji”; it was the actual Crying From Laughter Emoji.
With so many people active on social media these days, it’s hardly surprising that posts and comments on platforms like Facebook and Twitter often feature prominently during legal matters. This means that legal professionals have an obligation to protect relevant social media data from spoliation, but the challenges that come with these modern information sources extend far beyond willful destruction of evidence.
No case better illustrates the risks of social media spoliation than Lester v. Allied Concrete Company. The plaintiff had lost his wife in a tragic vehicle accident and was suing for wrongful death. Unfortunately, some Facebook photos came to light that his lawyer was afraid would prejudice the case, and he consequently told his client to delete them. “We do not want blow ups of other pics at trial,” an email from the law firm read, “so please, please clean up your Facebook and MySpace!”
If you deal with digital information at all, you’ve undoubtedly heard of metadata. But do you know exactly what it is? And do you understand the importance of it as it relates to litigation? To help unpack this often confusing term, we’ve put together the following metadata explanation for your review.
There are many reasons why an organization might require a website archive solution. For example, it might be a public sector or financial services entity that’s legally obligated to keep accurate records of all website data. Or the organization could be aiming to better protect itself against false claims and intellectual property theft of website content. Or perhaps a completely new website is being launched and the old one has to be archived to ensure the long-term preservation of what amounts to an important historical document for the organization.
If you’re even tangentially involved in the eDiscovery process, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM). But what exactly is it?
