How to Collect Online Evidence of Intellectual Property (IP) Theft

In a previous article, we discussed the importance of protecting your website content from intellectual property (IP) theft. By keeping a complete archive of your website—including all edits and deletions—it becomes much easier to prove that original content from your site has been stolen by another party.

Social media offers investigators incredible opportunities to collect evidence. There are plenty of examples on the Internet of supposedly injured individuals posting runs and rides on Strava and incriminating car crash footage making its way onto YouTube. In fact, social media intelligence (SOCMINT or SMI) has become a standard part of many investigations—including insurance fraud, IP theft, online defamation, and even criminal cases. 

Ways to Protect Yourself Online from "Crooked Sweethearts" Catphishing (or “Catfishing”) is a “romance scam” and form of fraud, highly popularised by the use of social media networks, online chat forums and documentary-turned television series by the same name. The term “catfish” was defined in the Oxford dictionary in 2014 (“to lure someone into a relationship by adopting a fictional online persona”), but is also a form of Phishing for information and so many legal and tech professionals refer to this as “Catphishing”.

Not long ago, deepfake videos – videos that portray something in a very convincing way but are actually entirely false - were something that largely existed in Hollywood – the product of special effects studios and experts trained to make the fictional seem realistic. Those familiar with the ever-evolving, rapidly changing pace of technology, however, will likely be unsurprised to find that this is no longer the case. In fact, deepfake videos are increasingly popping up online and across various media outlets all over the world in troubling numbers.

In an age of many social media networks, Facebook is, by far, the biggest by almost every measure. With 2.41 billion active users, it is the world’s third most-visited website, surpassed only by Google and YouTube. It is used by 71% of American adults, and 74% of those users login daily[1]. Those users spend an average of 38 minutes per day on Facebook, during which time they’re taking in all sorts of information – updates from family and friends, shopping,advertisements, and news. In fact, statistics show that 52% of American adults get their news from Facebook, and it is estimated that 87.1% of U.S. marketers will use Facebook for marketing purposes in 2020.

Those who practice law understand and appreciate the power of precedent. As technology evolves, and as our digital world continually expands, the law is evolving with it. Courts across the country are continuing to examine social media as evidence the standards that must be met for it to be admitted and authenticated. Attorneys who want to provide the most effective representation for their clients need to stay ahead of the social media curve. This means not only remaining informed as to how social media is being used as evidence, but also staying abreast of what standards must be met to properly authenticate it.

Staying Ahead of the Social Media Curve It is undeniable that our world is becoming increasingly digital, and increasingly social-media oriented. In fact, it is currently estimated that Facebook has 1.5 billion daily users, and 2.3 monthly users. At any given minute throughout the day, there are an estimated 347,222 people scrolling through Instagram. Twitter has approximately 326 million monthly active users – a number which is steadily growing[1]. In fact, all of these numbers are steadily growing. According to a recent New York Times articles, studies estimate that people between the ages of 35 and 49 spend about three hours per day on social networking sites, while those between 18 and 34 spend more than 3.5 hours per day using social media platforms[2]. It goes without saying then, that in that time, amongst all of those users, a significant amount of content is created each and every day.

We live in a world that is more connected today than ever before. A large part of that connectivity is thanks to social media. It is currently estimated that Facebook has 1.5 billion daily users, and 2.3 monthly users. In any given minute, there are an estimated 347,222 people scrolling through Instagram, and Twitter has approximately 326 million monthly active users.

If you’ve recently spent time investigating the various technical approaches to capturing, preserving, and organizing online content, you’ve likely heard of tools that use application programming interfaces (APIs, for short) to archive social media feeds and other websites. While you may have heard a good deal about APIs and their use, it’s understandable that you may remain unclear on some of the finer points of what APIs are, and how exactly they function to collect data.

Making Savvy Social Media Choices A fact about litigation is this – one of the most important parts of any trial begins before the trial itself. Jury selection is a critical component of the outcome of any trial, and if you are an attorney who regularly litigates, it is likely that you already know this simple truth.