New gadget extracts evidence from cell phones – The New Britain Herald News : New Britain, Conn., and surrounding areas (newbritainherald.com)
With the help of an upgraded piece of equipment, city police Detective Michael Grossi was able to discern in less than a minute Monday that his superior officer had 93 text messages and 512 e-mails listed on his Blackberry.
He could also individually read each one. If any had been deleted, Grossi could have accessed the contents.
“With these tools we can interpret the data and get it off the phone,” said Lt. James Wardwell, who turned over his BlackBerry for the demonstration. “Right now he’s connected and sucking the data off. It took him about a minute to retrieve the data and hand me back my phone.”
If any of the information had contained child pornography, the quick analysis time could prevent a child from being molested again. That’s what Heather Steele. president and CEO of the Innocent Justice Foundation, was hoping for when she arranged for the city police department to receive two $2,500 grants from the Michael Bolton Charities, Inc. and the J. Walton Bissell Foundation earlier this year.
The police “are the vanguard of people who understand what these crimes are,” Steele said. “With the Internet it has exploded, but a lot of chief and command officers didn’t understand and chose to put their resources in things like burglary or homicides.”
Steele’s California-based non-profit organization connects law enforcement agencies in need of tools and training to investigate crimes against children with charities who are willing to fill the funding gap.
She was on hand Monday along with Jacqueline Smaga from Michael Bolton Charities and Dan Anthony from the West-Hartford based J. Walton Bissell Foundation to accept recognition from the city for their contribution and tour the department’s Digital Forensics lab to view the investigative techniques that their money helped buy.
“Our unit is probably the best in the state,” Mayor Timothy Stewart told the visitors minutes before he awarded them with plaques for their participation. “We started several years ago, way before most other departments. They’ve solved some pretty interesting cases, not just for our department, but for others as well.”
The department used the money to purchase upgrades to two pieces of equipment used to analyze mobile digital devices including BlackBerries, iPhones and other cell phones. Detectives must either obtain consent from the owner or a search warrant before they can search the digital devices, police said.
Wardwell created the digital unit in the 1990s as computer technology was increasingly becoming a factor in crimes and criminal investigations.
Know the Rules for Tech-Based Evidence | The Recorder
Technology-based evidence is subject to the same evidentiary hurdles as traditional demonstrative evidence. Different evidentiary rules are implicated depending on whether the evidence itself is electronic or whether technological means are used to display non-electronic evidence. If the underlying evidence is a hard copy, such as a photograph, then there are no impediments to use technology to display the evidence as long as a proper foundation has been laid.
Demonstrative technology-based evidence is as admissible as the evidence it seeks to illustrate. Visual evidence can be used to illustrate a witness' testimony if it will help the jury understand the testimony and it is a fair representation of the evidence it purports to illustrate. United States v. Mohney, 949 F.2d 1397, 1405 (6th Cir. 1991). Thus, accurate computer-generated models or diagrams can be used to illustrate a witness's testimony. United States v. Beckford, 211 F.3d 1266 (4th Cir. 2000). (Beckford allows computer-generated diagrams as a demonstrative aid to help illustrate investigative findings concerning observations of bullets, bullet holes, and bullet path angles.)
Where computer animations are used to illustrate a witness's testimony, the jury should be instructed that the simulation is not a reenactment of the event. Hinkle v. City of Clarksburg, WV, 81 F.3d 416, 427 (4th Cir. 1996); Datskow v. Teledyne Continental Motors Aircraft Products, a Div. of Teledyne Indus., Inc. 826 F.Supp. 677, 685–686 (WD NY 1993) (Here, the court instructed the jury that computer-generated animation of fire in an airplane engine was “simply computer pictures” to help them understand [the expert's] opinion.) The proper foundation for such evidence is established by demonstrating that the demonstrative evidence is a fair representation of the underlying admitted evidence. People v. Ham, 7 Cal.App.3d 768, 780 (1970). Ultimately, the court has discretion to exclude this evidence if it believes that the probative value is outweighed by the risks of juror confusion. California Evidence Code §352.
It cannot be stressed enough that the technology-based demonstrative aids accurately reflect the testimony — since this is the most likely ground for exclusion.
If one is using computer output as the substantive evidence rather than to simply illustrate the expert's testimony, there are greater implications for admitting the evidence. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589 (1993), the Supreme Court interpreted Federal Rule of Evidence 702. Here, the court said that “under the Rules the trial judge must ensure that any and all scientific testimony or evidence is not only relevant, but reliable.” Daubert focuses on objective criteria that may provide a safeguard against the admission of evidence that has customarily been received, but may not have a scientific basis.
The factors laid out in Daubert that are used for determining whether a technique is scientific knowledge that will assist the trier of fact are: 1) whether it can be (and has been) tested; 2) whether the theory or technique has been subjected to peer review and publication; 3) the known or potential rate of error in the case of a particular scientific technique; and 4) general acceptance. The court further stated that “[t]he inquiry envisioned by Rule 702, we emphasize, is a flexible one. Its overarching subject is the scientific validity and thus the evidentiary relevance and reliability of the principles that underlie a proposed submission.”
Sections 720 and 801 of the California Evidence Code are equivalent to Federal Rule 702. See People v. Leahy, 8 Cal.4th 587, 598 (1994) (“Sections 720 and 801, in combination, seem the functional equivalent of Federal Rules of Evidence, rule 702, as discussed in Daubert.”). Under §801 and the Kelly/Frye test, the admissibility of the evidence will turn on whether it is “generally accepted by experts in the field.”
Opposing counsel may argue that the evidence, though relevant, should be excluded because it poses a high risk of unfair prejudice under Federal Rules of Evidence Section 403 or California Evidence Code §352. As a result, it is advisable to have the judge pre-rule on the admissibility of graphic-animation evidence. The court will weigh the probative value or logical force of the evidence and compare it to any number of dangers or costs that might be created if the evidence is admitted, such as unfair prejudice or misleading the jury.
Strategically, the most prevalent use of demonstrative evidence is through expert testimony, which if properly presented can substantially enhance the expert's credibility before the jury. For reconstructions of an accident or event in dispute, the reconstruction needs to be made under “substantially similar” conditions to those existing at the time of the event. People v. Boyd, 222 Cal.App.3d 541, 565-66 (1990); Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co., 119 Cal.App.3d 757, 791 (1981). In all circumstances, when there is any doubt regarding the admissibility of the evidence, the litigator should obtain a pre-ruling from the court regarding the admissibility of the demonstrative evidence.
Technology-based demonstrative evidence is now universally recognized as an indispensable tool for litigators in the modern age. Just like everything else in trial, the key to the use of technology-based demonstrative evidence is preparation, preparation, preparation.
Switching From MS Office? 4 Things to Consider Other Than Cost
Google Apps, StarOffice and other competitors are becoming viable alternatives to the once unassailable Microsoft Office. And while cost is always a driver in purchasing decisions, IT has to be aware of other significant issues when implementing new software.
The cost, access and interoperability of emerging Office applications are causing Microsoft customers to consider other options when it comes to upgrading. For example, the City of Los Angeles and Jaguar dropped Microsoft in favor of Google and its cloud software.
This article will talk about the not so obvious costs of migrating away from Microsoft Office including security, access, support and collaboration.
Security
Moving from Microsoft Office to a competitor’s Office suite can have subtle, but important, effects on the security of your documents. The fairly obvious concern is whether or not the new Office applications meet all of the regulatory requirements of your business. A more subtle concern is how to control access to your information.
Moving to a Cloud based solution enables users to access all of the documents they need wherever they may be located. But what happens when an employee leaves the company? If access to a Cloud based solution is based on an employee’s email account, simply shutting off their access to the company’s domain is not sufficient.
The first step an organization must take is to meet with their vendor to discuss all aspects of their security model . Once the new Office suite security functions are understood, the necessary policies, procedures and checklists for your organization can be updated.
[continued] Switching From MS Office? 4 Things to Consider Other Than Cost.
Justices Take Up Workplace Privacy With Text Message Case | Law.com
The Supreme Court on Monday leaps into the high-tech world of text messaging in a challenge with potentially huge implications for the privacy rights of senders and receivers and for workplace communications.
City of Ontario, Calif. v. Quon, one of two cases leading off the final round of oral arguments this term, is the Court’s first foray into workplace monitoring of electronic and digital communications.
The city asks the justices whether a member of its police SWAT team had a Fourth Amendment “reasonable expectation of privacy” in text messages transmitted on his SWAT pager. The case also raises the issue of whether the senders of messages to the SWAT pager had their own reasonable expectation that the city would not review their messages.
“It’s a new area. It’s complicated, and the stakes are high given the shift in how people communicate,” said Andrew Pincus, partner in the Washington office of Mayer Brown, who filed an amicus brief supporting the police officer, Jeff Quon, on behalf of civil liberties and consumer groups.
The Quon case is paired on Monday with Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a challenge to the non-discrimination policy that the University of California Hastings College of Law applies to student groups seeking recognition for funding and services. The Court will hear six additional cases in the next two weeks before wrapping up the term’s arguments, including important challenges involving arbitration, genetically engineered crops and public disclosure of the identities of ballot petition signers.
The Quon challenge is being watched closely by a broad range of litigators — criminal defense, intellectual property, civil rights, employment and others — because the Court’s decision could have significance not just for public employers, such as Ontario, but for private ones, and for discovery of evidence as well.
via Law.com – Justices Take Up Workplace Privacy With Text Message Case.
Google Changes Name to Topeka?!
Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.
We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name. But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains.
In fact, Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: “Don’t be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones.”
via Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name.
Yes, readers, it is 01 April. Thankfully even mega-corporations still have a sense of humor!
‘Sexting,’ Texting and EDD Before High Court | Law.com
While stories of “sexting” and cheating husbands are common fare in tabloid magazines, such salacious facts are a relative rarity in U.S. Supreme Court cases. It is equally unusual for the Supreme Court to issue opinions with the potential to touch upon aspects of electronic discovery. A perfect storm is brewing in the form of City of Ontario v. Quon, No. 08-1332, in which the Supreme Court will address a government employee’s expectation of privacy in text messages sent from his employer-issued device — including spicy text messages sent to his wife and alleged mistress. Although Quon involves a public employer, the Court’s ruling potentially could have far-reaching implications for workplace best practices in the private sector as well. In addition, Quon has the potential to extend its reach to other forms of electronic communication beyond text messages, including other types of “outlier” electronically stored information.
Text messages are just one form of outlier ESI, data that parties are more likely to overlook during the discovery process given that it may exist “out of sight” and/or “out of mind.” Common sources of outlier ESI include cellphones and personal digital assistants, voice mail systems, instant messaging systems, chat rooms and web sites. Few court decisions have addressed the preservation and production requirements of outlier ESI in litigation. Under certain circumstances, however, failure to preserve and produce outlier ESI has been held to constitute spoliation and resulted in sanctions such as an adverse inference.
Brief for India’s outsourcing lawyers: keep it cheap – Times Online
Nestled amid the bustle of north Mumbai, the headquarters of Pangea3, one of India’s biggest legal outsourcing companies, is enough to give a British corporate lawyer used to the slick environs of the City or Canary Wharf the heebie-jeebies.
On the street outside, manual scavengers pick through the morning garbage while hawkers throng the sidestreets. Inside, the scene is just as alien — more reminiscent of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise than of a traditional London law firm.
Hardly anybody is wearing a suit, there are no private offices and there is not a wood-panelled boardroom in sight.
Instead, an army of young Indian graduates, most of them from the country’s top law and engineering schools, sits before a barrage of computer terminals. Many are working on legal documents digitally accessed from the servers of blue-chip Western clients via transcontinental fibreoptic cables. Others are engaged in research for upcoming litigation to be fought out in American courtrooms, or are analysing patent filings registered by British companies.
Most striking, perhaps, are the collection of giant Perspex tubes that tower above the large open-plan office. Accessible via spiral staircases, they contain raised meeting rooms. Together with the fingerprint scanners that operate the locks on the doors, they lend the premises a sci-fi feel. This may be fitting: if Sanjay Kamlani, the firm’s co-chief executive (and one of the few workers wearing a tie) is right, this is the future of the corporate legal profession.
t is a vision that could radically change Britain’s legal industry.
Much of the work that Pangea3 and similar firms deal with, such as drafting derivatives contracts or conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, was once the preserve of trainees and associates at big City law firms. Some of those firms racked up annual revenues of more than £1 billion during the boom years, in part by billing out teams of junior lawyers for up to £300 an hour for even the most routine tasks.
However, those firms, in a drive to cut costs, are beginning to send that sort of work to cheaper jurisdictions, such as India, South Africa and the Philippines.
Whereas a new recruit at a “magic circle” firm in London can expect a starting salary of about £60,000 — rising to more than £90,000 at the best paid firms — Pangea3 can pay a good Indian law graduate as little as £350,000 rupees (£4,700) a year.
That sort of cost-saving has proved compelling in the wake of the economic downturn and is causing demand for Indian outsourcing providers to soar. Studies suggest that there are as many as 10,000 lawyers in the country working for outsourcing providers, and total revenues in the sector are expected to double this year to $1 billion (£613 million) and rise to $4 billion within five years.
Turnover at Pangea3 doubled in 2009, and Mr Kamlani expects a similar increase this year. The company’s investors include Sequoia, the venture capital group that backed Google. Its clients include several leading Wall Street banks.t is a vision that could radically change Britain’s legal industry.
Much of the work that Pangea3 and similar firms deal with, such as drafting derivatives contracts or conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, was once the preserve of trainees and associates at big City law firms. Some of those firms racked up annual revenues of more than £1 billion during the boom years, in part by billing out teams of junior lawyers for up to £300 an hour for even the most routine tasks.
However, those firms, in a drive to cut costs, are beginning to send that sort of work to cheaper jurisdictions, such as India, South Africa and the Philippines.
Whereas a new recruit at a “magic circle” firm in London can expect a starting salary of about £60,000 — rising to more than £90,000 at the best paid firms — Pangea3 can pay a good Indian law graduate as little as £350,000 rupees (£4,700) a year.
That sort of cost-saving has proved compelling in the wake of the economic downturn and is causing demand for Indian outsourcing providers to soar. Studies suggest that there are as many as 10,000 lawyers in the country working for outsourcing providers, and total revenues in the sector are expected to double this year to $1 billion (£613 million) and rise to $4 billion within five years.
Turnover at Pangea3 doubled in 2009, and Mr Kamlani expects a similar increase this year. The company’s investors include Sequoia, the venture capital group that backed Google. Its clients include several leading Wall Street banks.
via Brief for India’s outsourcing lawyers: keep it cheap – Times Online.
Will Shanghai Overtake Hong Kong as World Financial Center?
A report by British law firm Eversheds claiming that Shanghai could overtake London as a world financial center in 10 years has led to a predictable round of hand-wringing from the British press, including the Financial Times, the BBC and the Telegraph.
But not all of Asia is gloating. Missing altogether from Eversheds’ report is the city that’s most worried about losing ground to Shanghai: Hong Kong.
Obviously, such surveys are to be taken with a grain of salt; after all, over a tenth of Eversheds’ respondents predicted Dubai would emerge as the world’s preeminent financial center in decade’s time.
And Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with a separate local government and legal system, has been booming recently. So far this year, its exchange is leading the world in initial public offerings, mostly on behalf of mainland Chinese companies. It remains the preferred regional base for global banks and, consequently, international law firms.
Still, Hong Kong has long had a complex about Shanghai, which was the region’s preeminent financial center before falling under communist rule in 1949. Now that that same communist government has embraced capitalism, fears abound that Shanghai will be promoted at Hong Kong’s expense.
That anxiety was reflected in a Reuters article last week, in which one Hong Kong banker fretted that his city would become a second city — a Boston or a Chicago to Shanghai’s New York.
via Will Shanghai Overtake Hong Kong as World Financial Center?.
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