Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure – Computer Forensics and E-Discovery

On December 1, 2006, many amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect. There are three rules specifically that impact Computer Forensics and E-Discovery which need to be considered when building a case for your client, as well as protecting your client’s rights.

Most companies fail to realize the following two points:

•Any data that can be compiled into viewable form, whether presented electronically or printed on paper, is potentially within the definition of “document”.
•Electronic documents may be considered obsolete by the business in terms of its current computer infrastructure, but may have archival value and be recoverable to a readable format by specialized forensic techniques.
FRCP – Rule 26 (LII 2007 ed.)

With the new law regarding E-Discovery now in place, Rule 26a1 changes are very important.

At the first sign that litigation is coming, a company must use their Litigation Hold procedures and not wait for the courts to act. The problem is most companies do not have these procedures in place, nor do these companies know that litigation holds must start this early in the process.

Of course in order to have Litigation Hold Procedures, a company must have a retention policy and know where the company’s data is stored and must be easily accessible.


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Source: Forensics Computer
By: Jason Perry