How EDiscoveryMap’s Monique Altheim Kept a Global Audience Informed in 2012 on Privacy, Ediscovery and Social Media

A short recap of EDiscoveryMap’s Monique Altheim‘s activities in 2012 to help keep her global readers informed and up to date in the areas of Privacy, Ediscovery and Social Media:

•  She spoke on or moderated 11 panels at conferences, from Washington D.C. and  L.A. to Brussels, Belgium, Prague, Czech Republic and Punta del Este, Uruguay.
• She attended another half a dozen conferences related to Privacy, Ediscovery, Social Media, Cloud and Big Data.
• She posted daily updates on her LinkedIn, Google+ Page and Facebook Page. The Facebook Page reached readers from the U.S., Canada, Belgium, Brazil, United Kingdom, Mexico, Iran, Italy, New Zealand, Malaysia, Sweden, South Korea, Germany, Spain, Israel, Argentina, Congo, Jamaica and Netherlands. The Linkedin posts reached readers from the U.S., Canada, Belgium, Spain, France, U.K., Italy, Netherlands,Ireland,Austria,Bulgaria, Sweden, Hungary, Poland,Russia, Estonia,Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Portugal,Norway, Switzwerland, Luxemburg,Finland, Ukraine, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, China, Japan,Malaysia, Nepal,Singapore, Taiwan and Kenia.
• She tweeted thousands of Privacy, Ediscovery and Social Media tweets via her three Twitter handles @moniquealtheim, @EDiscoveryMap and @EUdiscovery
• She posted more than 80 blog posts on her blog EDiscoveryMap. The blog has a global readership from the U.S and Canada to Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. EDiscoveryMap reaches on average, viewers from about 55 countries worldwide.
• She created and posted half a dozen power point presentations on her SlideShare site. The slides averaged, to date, about 7,000 views world wide.
• She continued her daily publication of the EDiscovery and Data Protection Daily.
• She created 10 privacy/ediscovey/social media related videos, which she uploaded on her EDiscoveryMap YouTube Channel.  Her privacy, ediscovery & social media videos were watched from the U.S, Canada, Israel, Morocco, Poland, Ireland, Ukraine, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherands, Czech Republic, Uruguay, South Korea, Hong Kong and India.
• She co-authored the E-book “E-Discovery Legal Issues Guidebook”,  published by PenTest Magazine.
• She updated her information sharing mobile app for iPhone/iPad and Android devices a few times, working on constantly perfecting it and also added a privacy policy to it. The app has been uploaded from the U.S. & Canada ,Europe, China, Japan, Taiwan, India, the Middle East and South America.
• And finally, in a search for continuous improvement of her knowledge of privacy and data protection, she earned the additional certification of CIPP/E (Certfied Information Privacy Professional/Europe).

Wishing all a Happy 2013, and looking forward to continue to share information this coming year via old and new channels and platforms.

U.S. Ediscovery and Cross-Border Ediscovery 101 for Civil Law Practitioners

In a speech given at the 3rd Annual European Data Protection and Privacy Conference, in Brussels on 12/4/12, Viviane Reding addressed the reasons for the global interest in the European Commission’s proposed reforms to the EU Data Protection Regime:

“Why is there so much interest in our data protection reform?

…, because data protection is a global challenge. In a world where borders are increasingly blurred, and where data moves at the speed of light, the Union’s rules matter beyond its borders. Our debate is a precursor of future debates in other parts of the world. Many countries have a new generation of data protection laws in the making, in Asia, in Latin America, in Africa. In the U.S., the voices of reform are growing louder. All across the world, people are realising that good data protection rules are good for growth. This is at the heart of our own proposals here in Europe.”

But, while the EU may be leading the global data protection reform movement, there is no doubt in my mind that the US remains the leader in global data collection technologies.

The U.S. Ediscovery industry originated from the very broad Common Law requirement of “Disclosure” or “Discovery” in civil litigation. As digital data became the overwhelming source of data in most companies and organisations, “discovery” became “e-discovery”, the “e” standing for “electronic”. This obligation to disclose is practically non-existant in Civil Law systems.

According to a recent report published by Transparency Market Research, the global e-discovery market was worth USD 3.6 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach USD 9.9 billion in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 15.4% from 2010 to 2017. In the overall global market, the U.S. is expected to maintain its lead position in terms of revenue with 73% of global e-discovery market share in 2017. Another report, published by Research and Markets,  forecasts the Global eDiscovery market to grow at a CAGR of 15.56 % over the period 2011-2015.

The globalization of trade and data flows have lead to an increase in international litigation, with, in Common Law based jurisdictions, the accompanying need for global data collections to satisfy the Common Law “Duty to Disclose” in civil litigation.

Just as the EU Data Protection reform has caused undeniable ripple effects worldwide, the U.S. Edsicovery boom has had an impact on the global practice of law.

For example, at the recent LawTech Europe Congress 2012  held in Prague, CZ, on 11/12/12, I was impressed by the overwhelming interest expressed in U.S. based Ediscovery technologies for application in local internal and Government investigations in bribery, corruption and fraud allegations within EU companies, and, to a lesser extent, for application in cross-border ediscovery procedures.

It is in the particular case of cross-border ediscovery, conducted in the context of U.S. civil litigation, that the clashes between local, EU-style data protection regimes and the need for transfer of data to the U.S., are the most acute and problematic.

In order to solve this very complex problem, I believe, in line with the Sedona Conference‘s philosophy, that dialogue is of the utmost importance. In the case of U.S. cross-border ediscovery in the EU, this dialogue takes on the additional dimension of a dialogue between two vasltly different legal systems: the Common Law system of the U.S. and the Civil Law system of the majority of EU member states. These different legal systems are cause for many misunderstandings between EU and US legal practitioners. On the one hand, U.S. attorneys and judges need to become more familiar with the EU Data Protection regime, and on the other hand, the EU member states’ attorneys, in-house counsel and Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) need to become more familiar with U.S. ediscovery obligations.

In the past, I have explained basic EU Data Protection concepts to U.S. legal practitioners.

At the  LawTech Europe Congress 2012, I attempted to explain U.S. Ediscovery principles to an audience, consisting mainly of Civil Law practitoners.

The presentation can be heard here:

 The Sedona Conference Working Group 6, of which I am an active member, has worked relentlessly to achieve a dialogue between the EU Data Protection Authorities and US attorneys, in-house counsel and Federal Judges. It has published The Sedona Conference International Principles on Discovery, Disclosure and Data Protection in December 2011, which is now open for public comment. The Principles were very well received by the Article 29 Working Party, the EU Data Protection Authorities’ Advisory Body, presided over by Jacob Kohnstamm.

It is the hope of The Sedona Conference that its International Principles will become accepted as best practices, as a code of conduct by U.S. litigants and Judges, as well as by EU member states’ DPAs.

To paraphrase Viviane Reding: ..because litigation is a global challenge. In a world where borders are increasingly blurred, and where data moves at the speed of light, U.S. ediscovery rules matter beyond their borders.

Digital Forensics and Privacy and Technology in Balance at the 34th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners

The 34th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Professionals was held this year in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on October 22-26.

Uruguay enacted a comprehensive Data Protection Law, the Ley no. 183331, in 2008, and was recently declared a “third country with an adequate level of data protection” by the European Union.Uruguay was one of the first Latin American countries (after Argentina) to adopt an omnibus privacy law, after which Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Nicaragua followed suit. Brazil, Chile and Ecuador might be next. We are definitely witnessing a trend in Latin America towards enacting data protection laws, modeled after the European Union data protection framework.

Part of a 1977 Punta del Este Mural by Carlos Paez Vilaro – Picture by Monique Altheim

The theme of the conference was: Privacy and Technology in Balance. As Jose Clastornik of the Unidad Reguladora y de Control de Datos Personales (URCDP), the DPA of Uruguay, declared: since technology is part of the problem, it should also be part of the solution.

The iconic symbol of Punta del Este is the “La Mano” sculpure on Brava Beach. It expresses the action of humans in nature. As such, it was also an appropriate symbol for this conference: How to balance the technological advances created by humans with what most data protection authorities around the globe consider human beings’ natural right to privacy and data protection.

“La Mano” sculpure in Punta del Este by Mario Irarrázabal – Picture by Monique Altheim

Uruguay’s President, Jose Mujica, expressed serious worries about the lack of privacy created by technological developments. He said, jokingly: “Sinners, you’re doomed!” At the same time, he expressed the need for knowledge to move forward and the hope that a proper balance between advancing technology and privacy protection will be achieved.

In Uruguay, technology and knowledge is indeed moving forward at a rapid pace, thanks to the remarkable CEIBAL project. About four years ago, the Uruguyan Government started distributing free laptops to all elementary school students and teachers, and provides no-cost internet connection to all.

From left to right: Diego Caneda, Jose Mujica Cordano (President of Uruguay), Felipe Rotondo (President of URCDP), Jose Clastornik (Member of Executive Council URCDP)

In sync with the theme of the conference, I was asked to moderate a panel on digital forensics, titled: “Forensic Tools: What Our Devices Tell About Us”.

Unfortunately, I don’t know much Spanish. That led to an amusing misunderstanding. A Latin American colleague tried to converse with me in English, and asked whether I had seen the hen yet. I said no, what is the hen? He explained that it was a very famous sculpture on the beach of Punta del Este. I spent whatever free time I had in Punta looking for a hen, but couldn’t find any. It was only when an American colleague pointed to a sculpture on the beach and said: this is the “hand”, that I finally understood.

We all speak different languages, and the misunderstandings this creates can lead to some problems of miscommunication, but they have usually limited consequences. All you need, after all, is a translator, dictionary or Google app to set things straight.

We all speak one language though that is identical: today, we all speak digital. We communicate through email, text messages, videoconferencing and social media. Those data are stored on databases in private companies and government agencies, on our laptops, mobile phones and, increasingly, on servers in the “cloud”. According to a recent IBM report, there are currently 2.7 zetabytes of digital data in the universe. That equals one trillion truckloads full of documents. In the case of a security breach, private civil litigation or internal audit, government civil or criminal investigation, the goal is always to find relevant evidence. How does one find relevant evidence among such monstrous numbers? How do we ensure the authenticity and accuracy of digital evidence? And how do we make sure that data protection and privacy rights of individuals are not trampled upon during the search for evidence?

This is the domain of ediscovery and digital forensics, and my panel of experts examined every aspect of this fascinating issue.

My panel consisted of, from left to right,  Oscar Puccinelli, an attorney and professor of Constitutional Law at the National University of Rosario in Argentina, Jeimy Cano, CIS at Ecopetrol and professor at the Univesidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, Gustavo Betarte, CTO at Tilsor and researcher and professor at the Engineering School of the Univesidad de la Republica in Montevideo, Uruguay.

And, from left to right, Yoram Hacohen, head of the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA), and William C. Barker, associate director and chief cyber security advisor at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

William C. Barker started by giving us a digital forensics 101 overview, which you can follow in this powerpoint presentation. He explained the different phases of digital forensics, concepts such as digital signatures and hashing, the policies companies and organizations should adopt regarding forensic investigations, and the standards that NIST has developed so far, such as the Computer Forensic Tool Testing (CFTT).

Digital Forensics by William C. Barker (NIST)

Following this excellent presentation, Gustavo Betarte delved into the privacy issues arising out of forensic analysis of deleted data. He explained how amazingly difficult it is to truly delete data from computer systems and how very oftern forensic investigators find troves of sensitive data thought to be deleted.  For example, in the notorious Enron case, many of the incriminating emails were reconstructed from a “deleted data” folder.

After listening to Gustavo  for a while, I started thinking that maybe the whole “right to be forgotten” controversy is just wishful thinking of policymakers with no knowledge of computer forensics.

For more details on Gustavo’s presentation, check out his slides:

Threats to Privacy in the Management of Data Stored in Computer Systems by Gustavo Betarte

Yoram Hacohen gave us a couple of interesting practical case studies conducted by his office involving forensic examinations and privacy.

He explained how his department, with the help of its forensics lab, cracked the biggest privacy breach case that ever occurred in Israel, involving the theft of Israel’s entire Population Registry. See here a previous entry about this notorious case.

Yoram put it very succintly when he said: the suspect remained silent, but his computer spoke volumes!

Watch this fascinating briefing to find out how the investigation led to the unmasking and arrest of six suspects and how one fatal “mistake” by the hacker who published the registry online led to his discovery.

As more and more companies and organizations move their IT operations to the “cloud”, it was essential to address the forensics issues arising in this ecosystem.

Jeimy  Cano gave a comprehensive powerpoint presentation on digital forensics in the cloud environment.

This slide gives one an idea of the complexity of conducting digital forensics analysis in a cloud architecture. One of the particularities of cloud forensics is the ability to conduct remote probing into distant systems. There are even applications one can install in order to allow for future remote forensic investigations, should the need arise.

And finally,  cloud computing creates a unique challenge in criminal investigations. Whereas in a physical home search, the police must show a warrant before proceeding, in a remote search of computers or servers in the cloud, the data subject or data controllers/processors are not in a position to ask for a warrant before letting investigators in, since remote digital forensics can be executed without the knowledge of the data subject or the data controller/processor. The same is true when cybercrime investigators install remote trojans to monitor suspect computer systems.

Oscar Puccinelli tackled this thorny issue. He sighed at the fact that the law is always seriously trailing behind the technology, and stressed that currently there is a lack of balance between technology and the law. Technology develops at lightning speed, while the law develops at a snails’ pace. This is especially true concerning the cloud environment. He stressed the importance of international cooperation, and praised the EU and US for their cooperation efforts in this field.

Important efforts harmonizing substantive and procedural criminal law come from the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, the leading public international law in this field, which came into force on July 2004 with some 47 signatures, including non-European states such as the United States.

Oscar deplored the lack of a regional agreement in Latin America.

He also mentioned that the cloud is a new space that is strongly monitored under national security laws by most government agencies around the globe.

The “Patriot Act” is not alone.

For example, the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) may, in investigations involving terrorism or national security, use a “Federal Trojan” (a government-issued computer virus) to search a Cloud provider’s servers, monitor ongoing communications, or collect communication traffic data without the knowledge of the target. In addition, the G10 Act provides German intelligence services with the authority to monitor and record telecommunications without a court order in investigations of a serious crime or a threat against national security, such as terrorism.

Oscar ‘s conclusion: Clouds in the cloud.

In order not to end with such a gloomy “weather forecast”, I included a short recording of the lavish party that the Uruguayan organizers had prepared for the conference’s attendees. Besides being served a sumptuous banquet, the delegates were treated to a show of “Candombe” an Afro-Uruguayan traditional dance. Enjoy!

Ediscovery, Privacy, Data Protection and Social Media Weekly Updates

• PCI Security Standards Council Issues Best Practices for Mobile Payment Acceptance Security http://t.co/ysSqm0Zp #
• Blue Cross Blue Shield discloses employee data breach http://t.co/CAf0fASH #
• NLRB Invalidates Costco’s Social Media Policy – As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog, on S… http://t.co/nro6fMZ2 #
• Facing Fines for Contempt, Twitter Produces Defendant’s Tweets http://t.co/fVPy4wwx #
• 2 charged with stealing credit card info at Helena eatery http://t.co/pBQs7SDl #
• NLRB Finds Costco Social Media Policy Unlawful – A three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) f… http://t.co/OHZoEnDf #
• An Alert System for Security Breaches http://t.co/9Kb5P7ED #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP ▸ Top stories today via @SymantecHellas #
• Fourteen Defendants Charged In $65 Million Stolen Identity Income Tax Refund Fraud Scheme http://t.co/R5zPzn8R #
• Hackers steal info on 200,000 Navy personnel http://t.co/g9FwbMCD #
• HHS Announces $1.5 Million HIPAA Settlement with Massachusetts Facilities http://t.co/tYDtmE67 #
• NY: Women’s claim holds City of Newburgh liable for data breach http://t.co/IoYPDDXX #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP ▸ Top stories today via @paulhoworth #
• Court Finds Broad Requests for Social Media Content Fail to Uphold Rule 34(b)(1)(A)’s “Reasonable Particularity” Req… http://t.co/96ilcmJ7 #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP ▸ Top stories today via @eDiscoveryNZ @dominicjaar @phinessence #
• eDiscovery Review Strategies – Tips on reviewing electronic discovery, including issue tagging for causes of action … http://t.co/klq2MLNs #
• Article 29 Working Party Issues Favorable Opinion on the Level of Protection of Personal Data in the Principality of… http://t.co/BFxESLBg #
• ID Theft Service Tied to Payday Loan Sites http://t.co/6jcLRpWG #
• Mobile Device Tracking Bill Introduced – A new bill introduced by Rep. Ed Markey, titled the Mobile Device Privacy A… http://t.co/fuMRfS7p #
• UK: Investigation as foster worker’s laptop containing children’s details is stolen http://t.co/xmrChQdy #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP ▸ Top stories today via @OrangeLT #
• Analysis of the Official Report on the 2011 TREC Legal Track – Part Two http://t.co/7f8Lysbd #
• Stolen laptop contained data from Health Care for All and Boston Teacher’s Union http://t.co/gkYDSQSv #
• The rise of LinkedIn’s news feed (And how Twitter made a big dumb mistake) http://t.co/7udU0gSO via @zite #
• Social Media Discovery Roundup http://t.co/kJEhG7EJ via @zite #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP #
• UFC Hackers Busted; Dana White Says, ‘We’ll See How Tough They Really Are!’ http://t.co/WXJduJmv #
• Duchess of Cambridge, French Privacy Law and Media Cynicism http://t.co/wW2KdyDZ via @zite #
• Monroe Police Arrest 2 Suspected of Stealing 300 Identities Nationwide http://t.co/AgrMqTXO #
• E-Discovery Legal Issues for IT http://t.co/3NGzY7x5 #ediscovery #legalit #LTEC2012 #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP #
• Breach at beer distributor results in hundreds of compromised card numbers being used nationwide http://t.co/Mna1aK48 #
• With Royal Family Fury Over Topless Photos of Kate Middleton, You Can See The Streisand Effect In Action http://t.co/hgI2NU5y #
• British Banking Association: Planned EU #dataprotection reforms would expose banks to greater risk of fraud http://t.co/36LqHW8c #privacy #
• Playing The Gamers: How EA’s ‘FIFA 13 Hopes To Track And Change Users’ Behavior http://t.co/OAdwC3Iu #
• Weekly Twitter Updates on Ediscovery, Privacy & Social Media… http://t.co/d7A9hQJK #
• Your weekly updates on #ediscovery #privacy and #social media is ready! http://t.co/2CaCeShM #
• FL: Miami federal jury convicts man in murder of U.S. postal carrier in ID-theft scheme http://t.co/VUpMCAar #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWF04PP ▸ Top stories today via @mhrdaly @LegalTechBytes #
• Czech Data Protection Authority and Police Go To Court Over DNA Database http://t.co/6U8cC6l4 #privacy #LTEC2012

E-Discovery Legal Issues for IT

Lawyers are often labeled as “luddites” and their lack of understanding of technology is legendary.

In an era, where almost all business records are in the form of electronically stored information, it has become essential for lawyers to become more technologically savvy.

On the other hand, it is just as important for IT to understand legal and its requests.

Ediscovery is one area, where this has become an absolute necessity.

But how well do IT professionals understand the legal aspects of their work? Most probably, not very well.

Are you an IT professional?

Do you believe that all your company’s data should be deleted as quick as possible? Do you believe that none of your company’s data should ever be deleted?

Have you ever received an instruction from the legal department that sounded like: “Save all responsive documents” and scratched your head as to what documents legal was referring to?

Is your company moving its database to the cloud? Are you involved in acquiring new hardware or software for your company?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, the newly published e-book “E-Discovery Legal Issues Guidebook” is for you. It was published on September 7, 2012, by PenTest Magazine, the “only magazine devoted exclusively to penetration testing”.

This seventy page e-book is specifically aimed at IT professionals who deal with ediscovery. With its collection of eleven articles, written by thought leaders in the  field of ediscovery, it aims to inform IT professionals of the basic legal issues surrounding ediscovery.

In it, you will find analyses of the major ediscovery cases, from the seminal Zubulake case to the more recent Apple v. Samsung case. Basic legal ediscovery principles, such as the duty to preserve and spoliation are explained without the usual legal jargon. More advanced topics, such as ediscovery of data stored in the cloud and ediscovery of personal data in the EU are covered as well.

This publication recognizes the essential part IT professionals play in the process of ediscovery, and aims to foster co-operation between the legal and IT departments.

Disclosure: This blogger has contributed to the publication with a chapter on international ediscovery and EU data protection.

U.S. Cross Border Ediscovery vs. EU Data Protection: Clash of the Titans

Thanks to my dual qualification as an attorney in the U.S., as well as in the EU, I am in a unique position to act as a bridge between the exclusively common law tradition of pre-trial ediscovery in civil litigation in the U.S.  and the EU tradition of data protection of personal data.

Twitter Weekly Updates for EUdiscovery

• “A Time Bomb For Civil Liberties”: France Adopts a New Biometric ID Card http://t.co/S1BKqwj5 #privacy #IAPPSummit #
• MT@FordhamCLIP Great summary of Cmr. Brill’s speech at #CLIPconf on risks of #bigdata misuse http://t.co/n3OArVZI #IAPPsummit #IAPP #
• Droids:Scan this QR to install a cool #privacy information app. #IAPP #IAPPSummit http://t.co/DwJYpr33 #
• Update on European Union Proposal to Reform Data Protection Rules http://t.co/TPM0iB1D #IAPP #IAPPSummit #Privacy #
• Scan your iPhone/iPad on this QR to install the coolest #privacy information app. http://t.co/N2qMiWHX #IAPP #IAPPSummit #
• This app will keep Android mob.device owners up to date on the latest #privacy news! http://t.co/rDQvkjRr #IAPP #IAPPSummit #
• Court Imposes Sanctions for Failure to Conduct Reasonable Inquiry and Late Production http://t.co/1h41pXkd #
• iPhone/iPad owners: the “Altheimlaw” App will keep you up to date on the latest #privacy news! http://t.co/f0kS38Uy #IAPP #IAPPSummit #
• Attention iPhone/iPad owners: the mobile app “Altheimlaw” will keep you up to date on the latest #privacy news! http://t.co/f0kS38Uy... #
• RT@RichNet FTC Brill : #DNT should address both collection and use of data online … it’s not “Do Not Target” #IAPPsummit #IAPP #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @legaltechbytes @mcafeedlp @tanejagroup @iainhull #
• At #IAPP Summit with Renato @OpiceBlum http://t.co/KTyHvdbt #
• Sotto Discusses White House Administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights http://t.co/rgHTk3lP #
• Everything’s leaking everywhere: McGill shuts down website that revealed donor records http://t.co/D3BYS4nP #
• Ethics of Electronic Discovery – Part Two – For Part One, see here. Ethical Analysis of the Hypothetical What ethica… http://t.co/txZnwcnY #
• Twitter yanks @LindenLeaks account, but some damage was already done http://t.co/VYCW7kg1 #
• Hey Teacher (And Employer), Leave Those Facebook Passwords Alone http://t.co/QlUp17zj #
• Six Months Until Texas Data Breach Amendment Takes Effect – As a reminder, unless it is repealed or delayed in the n… http://t.co/G8c3Fnpo #
• The Sears Dilemma: ‘It’s Hard Out There For A Platform’ – An unusual offering from Sears caught the eye of a blogger… http://t.co/9ADSKbIu #
• CBI for the Cloud – A growing number of companies are implementing cloud computing solutions to lower IT costs and i… http://t.co/nTYoxwaw #
• Germany: Parliament Appoints Hogan Lovells Lawyer as Expert for Public Hearing Regarding Whistleblower Jurisdiction … http://t.co/ip7hmZ0t #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @gbillois @vlex @infogovernance @hutko #
• Ca: UBC computer with sensitive data recovered http://t.co/86RkQdPQ #
• Seventh Circuit Strikes VPPA Claim for Retention Damages – The Seventh Circuit held yesterday, in a decision written… http://t.co/q5kVHmVR #
• Japanese hacker arrested in Thailand http://t.co/97y7htew #
• I’m a DPO, get me in here! – The 500 lucky winners of this year’s “Get a place at the ICO’s Annual Data Protection O… http://t.co/Xrey25uj #
• Do Government Agencies Regularly Spy On Federal Employees’ E-Mails? http://t.co/ZNP3WW7m #
• Members of LulzSec Charged for Crimes Affecting Over One Million Victims; “Sabu” Turned on Fellow Hackers http://t.co/oVUOSsRW #
• What Employers Are Thinking When They Look At Your Facebook Page http://t.co/5q3q03hx #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @_elisa278 @kcuracorp @tanejagroup @tools4everuk #
• 2012 IAPP Global Privacy Summit – Hunton & Williams privacy professionals will be featured speakers at the Internati… http://t.co/1Jhx6bYG #
• Hogan Lovells Submits Comments on Proposed EU Regulation to UK Ministry of Justice http://t.co/93IW1Yg7 #
• Belfast city councillors’ bank details disclosed in data foul-up http://t.co/daKP7dmD #
• My next speaking engagement in L.A. on international ediscovery http://t.co/ry4o8L7e #
• Correction Of The Day: Age Is Just A Million-Dollar Number – Junie Hoang, the formerly-anonymous actress suing Amazo… http://t.co/D1rWhH8v #
• The Drone That Crashed Into A S.W.A.T. Team’s Tank – During a test flight at a Vanguard Defense Industry training fa… http://t.co/3As4WcRY #
• Digital Playground becomes hackers’ playground http://t.co/z3a3P9nK #
• London Privacy Workshop Seeks Input for UK Consultation – Hogan Lovells partners Quentin Archer, Roger Tym and Winst… http://t.co/WI6aH72Z #
• HHS Publishes Standards for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers and Remittance Advice http://t.co/cNQanexO #
• Really – You Disclosed All Responsive Documents? – In a must read decision, the Court imposed sanctions (costs and a… http://t.co/X3sOp567 #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @johnwadeovc @helgibjorgvins @kuan0 @ali_foi #
• Facebook Can Tell You If A Person Is Worth Hiring – There’s another good reason for checking out a candidate’s Faceb… http://t.co/BdCjkCIh #
• AU: Defence under investigation after privacy breach http://t.co/U5VOrcVX #
• A Hash of It – I’m teaching e-discovery at the University of Texas Law School this semester, and though it’s been a http://t.co/ZlVLC7Cv #
• Ethics of Electronic Discovery – Part One – I have been interested in the ethical issues surrounding electronic disc… http://t.co/NfEJImrX #
• Judge Peck’s Opinion on Predictive Coding in Ediscovery http://t.co/fH7kXSFD #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @akerman_law #
• A battle hymn for the chocolate factory – If you can access electronic media, you must have been reading about Googl… http://t.co/DoGfa5Ro #
• University of Washington and other universities hacked. Again. And again. http://t.co/yLMOkVzC #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @crossroadssys #
• Stealing kids’ identities: Miami-Dade schools sleaze http://t.co/6CxojdHs #
• Thnx! RT @ComplexD: Bring More Cowbell? Weekly Top 5 “Cowbellers” @LarryBodine @BenKerschberg @EUdiscovery @eddblogonline @LitSuppGuru #
• NTIA Seeks Comment on Beginning Conduct-Code Discussions – The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications … http://t.co/ef4OMo2p #
• #CLIPConf #CLIPConf Panel on The Ethics of Big Data Collection and Use with @omertene #privacy(pic)http://t.co/FZKxBb6g #
• #CLIPConf Panel on The Ethics of Big Data Collection and Use with @omertene #privacy #
• Republican Senators Introduce SECURE IT Act – Yesterday Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the Strengthening and … http://t.co/rJVTRfvP #
• #CLIPConf @EdFelten :Re-identification is the norm #privacy #
• #CLIPConf Panel moderated by @PrivacyWolf with @JaneYakowitz @EdFelten @paulohm Ari Schwartz, Felix Wu. #privacy http://t.co/dt756CaG #
• EU/US Privacy: Who blinks first? – I want to return to the theme I referred to yesterday about the different privacy… http://t.co/mlZXLc97 #
• Andrew Breitbart’s Fans Mark His Passing With An All-Out Assault on Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi http://t.co/aCNSQAYe #
• #CLIPConf Brill(FTC): Data Minimization essntl to prevent harm in case of data breach & non-trad. backgr.screening falls under FCRA(2/2) #
• #CLIPConf Comm.Brill (FTC): Sentiment Analysis must remain anonymous, Sensitive Information must get heightened protection(1/2) #
• Leakage from website poses threat to Chinese netizens http://t.co/XcS2ZyBK #
• #CLIPConf Tal Zarsky: automated predictive practices lead to new forms of redlining. (a.k. weblining) #privacy #
• Ediscovery and DataProtection Daily is out! http://t.co/0vWJxEQJ ▸ Top stories today via @daraghobrien @nevr @valdesjo77 @vigitrust @ronpatz #
• Panel on Public Perceptions on Information Aggregation #CLIPConf #privacy http://t.co/jo8Lo07I #
• #CLIPConf Alessandro Acquisti: we’re moving towards PPI: personally predictable information #privacy #
• At #CLIPConf for #BigData Symposium #

How EdiscoveryMap Kept You Informed in 2011

A short recap of EDiscoveryMap’s Monique Altheim‘s activities in 2011 to help keep her readers informed in the areas of Privacy, Ediscovery and Social Media:

• She attended nine conferences worldwide (Brussels, Lisbon, Mexico City, Washington D.C., Arlington, New York) related to Privacy, Ediscovery, Social Media and the Internet, to keep informed on the latest developments in those fields.
• She posted ninety two articles on her blog EDiscoveryMap.
• She created a Facebook Page and a Google + Page as new platforms for sharing information.
• She tweeted thousands of Privacy, Ediscovery and Social Media tweets via her three Twitter handles @moniquealtheim, @EDiscoveryMap and @EUdiscovery
• She produced, filmed and posted topic relevant videos on her EDiscoveryMap YouTube Channel and power point presentations on her EDiscoveryMap SlideShare site.
• She created two news aggregator sites: a Summify newsletter, and the EDiscovery and Data Protection Daily
• She ran a social media campaign for the CFP Conference.
• She developed an information sharing mobile app for iPhone/iPad and Android devices.

And finally, she created a new website for her law firm, The Law Office of Monique Altheim.

Wishing all a Happy 2012, and looking forward to share even more information this coming year via old and new channels and platforms.

Attention EU Readers of EDiscoveryMap: We are bringing EDiscovery to Brussels on January 26

EDiscoveryMap is pleased to announce that Monique Altheim will moderate E-Discovery Sessions at the Computers, Privacy & Data Protection Conference (CPDP) in Brussels on January 26, 2012.

The panels will feature an international roster of thought leaders and practitioners in the field of Cross-Border E-Discovery and EU Data Protection:

Willem DEBEUCKELAERE, Privacy Commission (BE), Master Steven WHITAKER, Royal Court of Justice (UK), Chris DALE, e-Disclosure Information Project (UK), Amor ESTEBAN, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP (USA), James DALEY, Daley & Fey LLP (USA), Nigel MURRAY, Huron Legal (UK), George RUDOY, Integrated Legal Technology LLC (USA), Monika KUSCHEWSKY, Van Bael & Bellis (BE), Natascha GERLACH, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (BE), Dr. David EVANS, Evans LLC (USA), Dominic JAAR, KPMG (CA), and Erik LUYSTERBORG, Deloitte (BE)

With the increased globalization of the economy, companies in the EU are often subject to litigation holds and requests for production of relevant data by US litigants. If those data contain personal information, there is a serious conflict with the EU Data Protection Laws, which deem preservation and production of such data in principle illegal.

Since the concept of pre-trial discovery is practically non-existent in the European Union member states with a Civil Code tradition, the session will start with a discussion of the general principles of the U.S procedure of discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) in civil litigation, for the benefit of EU attendees.

What triggers the duty to preserve data relevant to litigation? What are litigation holds? What is spoliation? What are the sanctions for non-compliant parties? These are some of the topics that will be addressed.

What happens when the data, relevant to U.S. litigation, contain personal information and are located in an EEA member state?

The second panel will explore these complicated conflicts between U.S. Ediscovery obligations and EEA Data Protection obligations and propose some practical solutions.

The just published Sedona Conference International Principles on Disclosure and Data Protection, as well as the draft EC Proposal for a Data Protection Regulation, and their impact on the future of Cross-Border Ediscovery will be discussed.

What technological innovations can be applied to minimize the personal data preserved and collected in EAA member states?

What happens when relevant data are located in the cloud, on social media sites or on mobile devices? Which national law applies to determine the applicable data protection regime?

These and other emerging topics in cross-border Ediscovery will be tackled by the last panel.

The CPDP Conference, titled “European Data Protection: Coming of Age” will run from Wednesday, January 25 until Friday, January 27. It will coincide with the official publication of the EC’s Proposal for EU Data Protection Regulation and with the European Privacy Day on January 28.

To take advantage of the early bird registration fee , register here before December 30.

How To Build Your Own Mobile App in Three Easy Steps: A Thanksgiving Primer

Which professional has not entertained the wish to stay informed and in the loop, without having to spend hours of valuable time scouring the Internet for relevant information on a daily basis?

The daily load of professional newsletters, email subscriptions, RSS feeds, real time Twitter feeds, Facebook news streams, and now Google plus feeds, has become so heavy, that many have expressed the desire to go on an information diet.

I too have suffered from information overload, and in searching for a solution, I stumbled upon a very simple answer: I developed my personal mobile, information management tool in the form of an iPhone/iPad mobile app, which I use on my iPhone.

The “AltheimLaw” app is custom made for my needs and delivers real-time news from a variety of hand-picked sources, including social media sites, video and slide presentation sites, as well as more traditional RSS feeds of news aggregator blogs.

This particular app can, of course, also be installed by anyone who shares my interest in the very specific topics of e-discovery, data protection, privacy, social media, tech and information governance. I also created an Android version for those who use that platform under the name “Monique Altheim Esq.”.

But if you wish to create your own, custom made app to suit your own specific needs, and if you would like to publish it to any of  the IPhone/iPad, or Android platforms, you can do so, without knowing a word of code.

The entire process takes just three steps:

1. Register as a “developer”
2. Build your app
3. Publish your app

Here’s a breakdown of the three steps for two popular mobile platforms: The iPhone/iPad, and the Android .

1. Register as a developer:

The first step is to register as a “developer”. This will grant you permission to submit your app to the relevant store.

Requirements for iPhone/iPad:

• Enroll at http://developer.apple.com/programs/start/standard/ as an individual developer.
• Pay a $99 fee for developing an unlimited amount of apps
• Get a developers’ certificate and create a development provisioning profile at http://developer.apple.com
• Since following all the required steps can be daunting, I recommend following Appmakr’s step by step instructional YouTube videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/AppMakr#p/u

Requirements for Android:

• Register at https://market.android.com/publish/signup
• Pay a $25 fee for developing an unlimited number of apps.

  2. Build your app:

Building an app is very easy, even if one doesn’t know a word of code, thanks to websites like www.appmakr.com

Just click on the “get started building your … version” on appmkr’s home page. You will see three icons, respectively for Apple, Android and Windows. Just click on the one you need.

You  may enter a keyword to start, so that Appmakr can find related icons and RSS feeds for your app, but you can disregard its suggestions and skip this step. It is better to use your own icons and RSS feeds.

The website basically gives you a template to work with, which it then translates into code.

Appmakr has a YouTube site where you can watch 13 instructional videos on how to buid an iPhone /iPad app, guiding you step by step through the creation of your app: http://www.youtube.com/user/AppMakr#p/u

You can test-publish your app to your iPhone to check out whether you like the end product, before you publish it to the App Store.

Once you have finished building your app, you will be able to download the file on your computer.

TIP 1: You will need some basic knowledge of Photoshop or other similar software to adapt your screenshots to the different size requirements for the iPhone and iPad.

The iPhone/iPad and Android have each different image size and file type requirements for the icons and screen shots. For example, the iPhone icon must be 512×512 pixels in .png format.

TIP 2:  Safari cannot download the appmakr files. I used Firefox instead.

If you wish to make the app available for devices using Android, you can transfer the app into the Android (as well as Windows) format by clicking on the appropriate icon underneath your finished iPhone app link.

  3. Publish your app

iPhone/iPad

To publish your app, go to https://itunesconnect.apple.com and click on “Manage Your Applications”. Then click on “Add New App” in the upper left hand corner and follow the instructions.

You should download the “application downloader” software (the link should be on the iTunesConnect site), install it, and then download your app in that program.

When you go back to your iTunesConnect account, you will see that the status of your app is “Waiting for Review”. In the next stage your app will be ”In Review”, until, hopefully, the status will read “Ready for Sale”, at which point your app should be searchable and ready for installation in the App Store.

The entire process takes between one or two weeks.

Android

To publish your Android version, go to https://market.android.com/publish/Home

Follow the instructions to upload your app file. It is as easy as uploading a YouTube file. Within an hour your app will be for sale and downloadable on the Android market.

As between the iPhone/oPad and the Android platforms, the clear winner is Android: It has a much lower registration fee and the publishing of the app is a breeze.

Either way, when you think of the many hours you will save by cutting out most of the noise online through the use your app, it is worth the registration fee and the afternoon you might spend creating it.

While there are other sites that will help you build your own app, Appmakr is the only one that offers it at no fee.

It is also important to update your app regularly, to keep it compatible with changes on the platform. When Apple updated its IOS to IOS5, I had to rebuild my iPhone/iPad App from scratch.

Since my law firm focuses on ediscovery, privacy and data protection, social media and information governance, these are the topics that are covered in my app.

If you want to keep informed on these topics, you can download the “AltheimLaw” app for iPhone/iPad here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monique-altheim-esq/id454018900?ls=1&mt=8 and the “Monique Altheim Esq” app for Android here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.appmakr.app296991

Once you install such an app on your mobile device, the latest real-time news that is relevant to you is always available at the click of a finger, during your commute or while waiting online at the post office or the supermarket, during a quick lunch break, before falling asleep or upon waking up in the morning.