Traditionally, proving the authenticity of a piece of digital evidence could be tricky, especially if opposing counsel was determined to keep it out of evidence. Legal teams would have no other option than to spend significant time and resources on providing a sponsoring witness who could testify to the authenticity. 

We’ve mentioned before how important information governance is. However, with the sudden shift to remote work caused by COVID-19, having thorough systems and processes in place to manage information has proven more important than ever. 

As with other social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, compliance and legal professionals often need to archive a Twitter account for official use. 

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.

I’m extremely proud to announce that Pagefreezer is now SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 compliant. We have always made use of compliant data centers to store information, but over the last year our organization itself has now gone through the rigorous SOC 2 auditing process to achieve compliance. 

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. 

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.