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Twitter Sues for the Right to be More Transparent – Social Tech eDiscovery

Back in July, we took a look at Twitter’s Transparency Report to show government requests for data over the last six months of 2013 (we had previously looked at their very first report here).  However, because Twitter is barred by law from disclosing certain details on government surveillance requests, the Transparency Report is not as transparent as Twitter would like.  So, on Tuesday, Twitter filed suit against the FBI and the Justice Department, seeking the ability to release more detailed information on government surveillance of Twitter users.

As reported by The Huffington Post, Twitter is asking a judge for permission to publish its full transparency report, including the number of so-called “national security letters” and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders that it receives. Twitter claims that restrictions on its ability to speak about government surveillance requests are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

“We’ve tried to achieve the level of transparency our users deserve without litigation, but to no avail,” Twitter said in a blog post announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court.  “It’s our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users’ concerns and to the statements of U.S. government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance – including what types of legal process have not been received. We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges.

So, today, we have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to publish our full Transparency Report, and asking the court to declare these restrictions on our ability to speak about government surveillance as unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is already considering the constitutionality of the non-disclosure provisions of the NSL law later this week.”

Transparency reports are typically issued by companies to disclose numerous statistics related to requests for user data, records, and website content. These reports indicate the frequency and authority that governments request data or records over the given period. Due to the creation of these reports, the public may be informed of the private information governments gain access to via search warrants, court subpoenas and other methods.  Many other major communication platforms provide Transparency Reports as well, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and Microsoft.

In Twitter’s most recent Transparency Report, they received 2,058 requests for information on its users over the previous six months from governments around the world – a 46 percent increase from 1,410 requests received the previous six months.  Over 61 percent of those requests (1,257 total) came from the US Government (Japan was next on the list with a mere 192 requests).

Twitter said it supports the USA Freedom Act of 2014, which was introduced earlier this year by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The bill would allow for greater public reporting about government surveillance requests.

A copy of Twitter’s filed complaint can be found here.

So, what do you think?  Do you agree with Twitter that they deserve the right to greater transparency?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Our 1,000th Post! – eDiscovery Milestones

When we launched nearly four years ago on September 20, 2010, our goal was to be a daily resource for eDiscovery news and analysis.  Now, after doing so each business day (except for one), I’m happy to announce that today is our 1,000th post on eDiscovery Daily!

We’ve covered the gamut in eDiscovery, from case law to industry trends to best practices.  Here are some of the categories that we’ve covered and the number of posts (to date) for each:

We’ve also covered every phase of the EDRM (177) life cycle, including:

Every post we have published is still available on the site for your reference, which has made eDiscovery Daily into quite a knowledgebase!  We’re quite proud of that.

Comparing our first three months of existence to now, we have seen traffic on our site grow an amazing 474%!  Our subscriber base has more than tripled in the last three years!  We want to take this time to thank you, our readers and subcribers, for making that happen.  Thanks for making the eDiscoveryDaily blog a regular resource for your eDiscovery news and analysis!  We really appreciate the support!

We also want to thank the blogs and publications that have linked to our posts and raised our public awareness, including Pinhawk, Ride the Lightning, Litigation Support Guru, Complex Discovery, Bryan University, The Electronic Discovery Reading Room, Litigation Support Today, Alltop, ABA Journal, Litigation Support Blog.com, InfoGovernance Engagement Area, EDD Blog Online, eDiscovery Journal, e-Discovery Team ® and any other publication that has picked up at least one of our posts for reference (sorry if I missed any!).  We really appreciate it!

I also want to extend a special thanks to Jane Gennarelli, who has provided some serial topics, ranging from project management to coordinating review teams to what litigation support and discovery used to be like back in the 80’s (to which some of us “old timers” can relate).  Her contributions are always well received and appreciated by the readers – and also especially by me, since I get a day off!

We always end each post with a request: “Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.”  And, we mean it.  We want to cover the topics you want to hear about, so please let us know.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with a new, original post.  In the meantime, feel free to click on any of the links above and peruse some of our 999 previous posts.  Now is your chance to catch up!  😉

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Transparency Reports for Other Companies – Social Tech eDiscovery

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve taken a fresh look at Twitter’s Law Enforcement Policies and their latest Transparency Report to show government requests for data, looked at (for the first time) LinkedIn’s Privacy and Law Enforcement Data Request Guidelines and Transparency Report and, yesterday, looked at Facebook’s policies and Government Request Reports.  Today, we will look at Transparency Reports for other companies.

Many other high profile companies also provide reports showing government requests for data, not just social media companies.  Some, like Google, provide a highly interactive report to navigate to various types of requests, ranging from government requests to remove data to requests for information about their users.  Others, like Apple, provide a simple one page letter with broad ranges of information requests and accounts affected (Apple’s latest letter is over a year old).  Some are current (through the end of 2013 at least), others have not been updated to reflect data since the end of 2012.  Evidently, some companies take transparency more seriously than others!  With that in mind, here are links to reports for various high profile technology companies where you might have data:

I tried to pull up the Transparency Report for Pinterest, but the link immediately redirects to their help page, so it’s only transparent if you can read really fast!

Obviously, in these modern times, our data (both personal and professional) is stored by a number of companies and law enforcement entities will request data from those companies for investigative purposes.  It’s a good idea to know how those companies respond to those requests and what rights you have as a customer.

So, what do you think?  Have you needed to request user information from any high profile technology companies for litigation purposes?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Facebook’s Policies and Government Request Reports – Social Tech eDiscovery

Two weeks ago, we took a fresh look at Twitter’s Law Enforcement Policies and their latest Transparency Report to show government requests for data, then last week (for the first time), we looked at LinkedIn’s Privacy and Law Enforcement Data Request Guidelines and Transparency Report.  This week, we’ll take a look at Facebook’s policies and Government Request Reports.

We originally looked at Facebook’s law enforcement policies back in 2010 – this policy was updated extensively by the time we looked at it again in 2012.  The good news is that the policy has remain largely unchanged since our last look – the main difference is the option to submit records requests online as well as via email, snail mail or fax (you still have to be a law enforcement officer to submit the request).

Facebook, similar to Twitter and LinkedIn, posts biannual Transparency Reports, however the company uniquely calls them “Global Government Request Reports”.  Facebook began publishing these reports last year, and posted the first one on June 30, 2013 for the first six months of 2013 – the latest report available is for the last six months of 2013.  The main page gives you an interactive map to click on to select a continent, then you can select a country for which get a specific report.  Or, you can download the entire report as a comma-separated values (.CSV) file to review all of the countries at once.

The downloaded entire report covers: 1) The countries that requested information from Facebook about their users, 2) The number of requests received from each of those countries, 3) The number of users/accounts specified in those requests, and 4) The percentage of these requests in which Facebook was required by law to disclose at least some data.  It also includes instances in which Facebook has removed content that governments have identified as illegal (e.g., posts denying the holocaust are illegal in Germany).  If you select the country individually via the interactive map, you also get a breakdown of the first three numbers for the types of requests (e.g., Search Warrant, Subpoena, Emergency Disclosures, Other).

In the latest report, the US had 12,598 requests for user data (44.8% of the total of 28,147 worldwide), referencing 18,715 user accounts (47.6% of the total of 39,320 worldwide) and some data was produced in 81.02% of the requests.  The next highest country was India (3,598 requests involving 4,711 accounts).  We’re number one!

Facebook, like other social media platforms, continues to push the US government to allow more transparency in releasing specific numbers and types of national security-related requests. Colin Stretch, Facebook’s General Counsel, made an all-encompassing comment about the topic: “Government transparency and public safety are not mutually exclusive ideals. Each can exist simultaneously in free and open societies, and they help make us stronger. We strongly encourage all governments to provide greater transparency about their efforts aimed at keeping the public safe, and we will continue to be aggressive advocates for greater disclosure.”

You can get more information about the reports here and look at their FAQ page here.

What other sites have reports?  We’ll take a look at that tomorrow.

So, what do you think?  Have you needed to request information from Facebook for litigation purposes?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

LinkedIn’s Transparency Report – Social Tech eDiscovery

Yesterday, we talked about LinkedIn’s Privacy and Law Enforcement Data Request Guidelines.  Like Twitter and other social media companies, LinkedIn also discloses a semi-annual Transparency Report to inform the public of the frequency and type of government requests the company receives regarding member data.  Let’s take a look.

With regards to the reporting, it’s worth noting that LinkedIn and other web-based companies cannot be fully transparent because of restrictions imposed on disclosing the number of national security-related requests received from the U.S. government. In A Letter to the LinkedIn Community, Erika Rottenberg, the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of LinkedIn, explains that, “we have been expressly prohibited by the U.S. government from disclosing the number of U.S. national security-related requests we receive, if any. This prohibition, which limits our ability to provide the transparency that we think our members and the public deserve, has been the source of great disappointment and frustration to us.”

In September 2013, LinkedIn filed legal challenges seeking the right to provide greater transparency into the number of national security-related requests they receive from the U.S. government. And last December they released, along with other technology companies, government surveillance reform principles that highlight government request transparency as a key part of necessary reform. In response to the legal challenges and advocacy of LinkedIn and other technology companies, the U.S. government officially changed its policy regarding the reporting of national security-related requests on January 27, 2014, to increase transparency (detailed in the articleGoogle, Yahoo and Linkedin disclose details on US National Security requests).

So, the Transparency Report isn’t as transparent as LinkedIn (and other providers) would like, but it’s better.

With that in mind, in the latest Transparency Report, covering the second half of 2013, there were 72 government requests for member data globally reported, with 56 of those (78%) coming from the US.   Requests actually dropped 13% from the first half of 2013 (from 83 to 72 globally and from 70 to 56 in the US – 20% drop).  Those requests impacted 110 member accounts globally, 90 of which were in the US (82%).  While requests dropped in the second half of 2013, the accounts affected rose from 97 to 110 (13% rise) globally and from 84 to 90 in the US (7%).  LinkedIn provides stats for the last two years on government requests for member data and member accounts impacted (at six month intervals).  In the most recent six months, LinkedIn provided data in response to overall requests 47% of the time (61% of the time to US requests).

Next week, we will take a look at Facebook’s policies and transparency.

So, what do you think?  Have you ever request information from LinkedIn for discovery purposes?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

LinkedIn Has Privacy and Law Enforcement Data Request Guidelines Too – Social Tech eDiscovery

Last week, we discussed recent updates to Twitter’s Law Enforcement policies as well as Twitter’s latest Transparency Report to show government requests for data.  Today, let’s take a look at the Privacy Policy and Law Enforcement Guidelines for LinkedIn.

This is our first time to take a look at LinkedIn, which (as you probably know) is a business-focused social networking site, designed for professional networking.  On March 26th of this year, LinkedIn updated its Terms of Service, which include its Privacy Policy and User Agreement, in part because they acquired Pulse, a mobile app, and SlideShare, a sharing platform for business documents, videos and presentations. As a result, LinkedIn integrated SlideShare and Pulse’s Terms of Service into one unified agreement.

The Privacy Policy is broken into four main sections: 1) What information we collect, 2) How we use your personal information, 3) Your choices & obligations and 4) Other information.  In the “How we use your personal information”, LinkedIn notes that “It is possible that we may need to disclose personal information, profile information, or information about your activities as a Member or Visitor when required by law, subpoena, or other legal process” as well as to investigate potential illegal activities, enforce the User Agreement or exercise the rights of LinkedIn or its members.  With regard to notifying users about these requests, LinkedIn states they “attempt to notify Members about legal demands for their data when appropriate in our judgment, unless prohibited by law or court order or when the request is an emergency” and they “may dispute such demands when we believe, in our discretion, that the requests are overbroad, vague or lack proper authority”.

In the “Your choices & obligations” section, LinkedIn’s policies regarding the access rights and information on closing members’ accounts are similar to those of Facebook andTwitter. If members close their account, their information will be removed within 24 hours, and LinkedIn delete closed account information and de-personalizes logs and other backup information within 30 days (unless required for legal obligations, meeting regulatory requirements, resolving disputes, and preventing fraud and abuse).

LinkedIn’s Law Enforcement Guidelines are kept in a separate PDF document.  The Guidelines answer questions such as the type of data requests you can make, your contact information that you must provide, information being requested, types of data that might be available, whether members will be notified that their information is being requested, non-US requirements, etc.  LinkedIn only accepts Data Requests, such as subpoenas and search warrants; Preservation Requests, in connection with official criminal investigations; and Emergency Requests, using the Emergency Request Form on the last page. You can only submit requests via fax, certified mail, express courier or in person, NOT online.  What, no horse and buggy?

Tomorrow, we will take a look at LinkedIn’s Transparency Report to see how many government requests they receive.  It will be here before you know it!

So, what do you think?  Have you ever had to request data from LinkedIn for a case?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Twitter Remains Transparent Regarding Government Requests – Social Tech eDiscovery

Yesterday, we took an updated look at Twitter to see how it handles private information and law enforcement requests (such as subpoenas) and what has changed since our last look about two years ago.  Today, we will take a look at Twitter’s latest Transparency Report to show government requests for data over the last six months of 2013.

Transparency reports are typically issued by companies to disclose numerous statistics related to requests for user data, records, and website content. These reports indicate the frequency and authority that governments request data or records over the given period. Due to the creation of these reports, the public may be informed of the private information governments gain access to via search warrants, court subpoenas and other methods.  Many other major communication platforms provide Transparency Reports as well, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and Microsoft.

Twitter began publishing Transparency Reports in 2012 (we took a look at their first one here) and has continued doing so every six months or so.  Twitter’s current format for their Transparency Report is divided into three categories: trends in government requests for account information, government requests for content removal, and copyright notices and is available for every reporting period since Twitter began publishing the report. The Transparency Report also offers insight as to whether or not Twitter acts upon the requests sent to the company.

The first category is Information Requests. This includes worldwide government requests for account information typically connected to criminal investigations. For the six month period from July 1 to December 31, 2013, Twitter had 1,410 information requests. Due partly to the influence of Twitter’s growing global expansion, this number is a 22% increase from the prior period; however, the United States still accounted for 59% of the total requests.

In the Removal Requests section, Twitter includes government requests and other complaints of illegal content from authorized reporters to remove or withhold its content. In the first half of 2013, there were a total of 60 requests. However, in the second half of 2013 this number was over five times greater – 377 requests!  Now that’s an upsurge!  309 of those requests came from one country – France.  The removal requests number does not include emergency disclosure report numbers, as this information cannot be disclosed to the general public at this time.

As for copyright notices, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices rose from 5,753 in the prior period to 6,680 – a 16 percent increase.  To find more information about Twitter’s Transparency Reports, you can review them online by clicking here.

Next week, we will take a look at how another platform – LinkedIn – handles privacy, law enforcement requests and transparency.

So, what do you think?  Do you feel that Twitter provides enough information in their report?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Twitter’s Law Enforcement Policies Revisited Again – Social Tech eDiscovery

It’s time to take another look at the social media platforms to see how they handle private information and law enforcement requests (such as subpoenas).  Let’s start with Twitter.

In 2010 and 2012, we reviewed Twitter’s Privacy Policy and Law Enforcement Guidelines.  Since our last review, despite their efforts to fight it, Twitter was ordered to produce tweets for a New York criminal case (People v. Harris).  At the time, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino stated that “If you post a tweet, just like if you scream it out the window, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy”, but acknowledged that his decision was “partially based on Twitter’s then terms of service agreement”, which was subsequently modified to add the statement “You Retain Your Right To Any Content You Submit, Post Or Display On Or Through The Service.”  After its appeal was denied, Twitter ultimately complied with the order.

There aren’t a lot of changes to Twitter’s Privacy Policy since our post in 2012, though the page is rearranged.  Most information in Twitter is still publicly shared with everyone, as noted by the tip at the top – “What you say on Twitter may be viewed all around the world instantly” (which former congressman and failed NYC mayor candidate Anthony Weiner famously discovered).  Your privacy settings determine whether some information such as location of tweets, email address and cell phone number is private or not.

In the Privacy Policy, Twitter now provides some details about Data Retention of account data, which is about 30 days from the date of deactivation, with the data being permanently deleted within a week afterwards.  Although the Data Retention section of the Guidelines for Law Enforcement page still states “Twitter retains different types of information for different time periods”.

One key change to the Guidelines for Law Enforcement page is that Twitter now provides a web form for law enforcement officers to submit general inquiries or emergency disclosure requests (no more sending faxes!).  If you’re not an authorized law enforcement or government representative, you can’t use the form.

Tomorrow, we will take a look at Twitter’s latest Transparency Report to show government requests for data over the last six months of 2013.  See you then!

So, what do you think?  Have you needed to request information from Twitter for litigation purposes?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Plaintiff Ordered to Re-Open Social Media Account for Discovery – eDiscovery Case Law
 

In Chapman v. Hiland Operating, LLC, 2014 U.S. Dist. Case No. 1:13-cv-052 (D.N.D. May 29, 2014), while noting that he was “skeptical” that reactivating the plaintiff’s Facebook account would produce any relevant, noncumulative information, North Dakota Magistrate Judge Charles S. Miller ordered the plaintiff to “make a reasonable, good faith attempt” to reactivate her Facebook account.

The defendant’s requests for production included a request for communications in the form of, “emails, text messages, instant messages, journal updates, Facebook postings, notes, cards, and/or memorandums”.  The plaintiff objected to that request on several grounds, including that it violated the attorney client and work product privileges, was “unintelligible, improperly vague and ambiguous” and overbroad.

However, in the plaintiff’s deposition, she stated that her attorney advised her to deactivate her Facebook account, which occurred prior to the production request by the defendants. She also stated that stated that she attempted to reactivate her account to respond to discovery requests but was unable to remember her password, but had not attempted to change her password or contacted Facebook regarding reactivating her account. She claimed that she rarely used the account, and when she did it was primarily to communicate with her nieces and nephews. 

Judge Miller noted that although the court was “skeptical” that the plaintiff’s Facebook account “will contain any relevant, noncumulative information, especially given the amount of discovery already completed in this case”, he granted in part the defendant’s motion to compel and ordered the plaintiff and attorney to “make a reasonable, good faith attempt” to reactivate the Facebook account.   He instructed that the plaintiffs do not have to permit defense counsel to be present during the attempt to reactivate the account, and if the account is reactivated, plaintiffs do not have to provide defense counsel the account login and password or full access to the account.

If the Facebook account is reactivated, Judge Miller ordered the plaintiffs to produce in the form of a screen shot other similar format all information from the account referencing a co-plaintiff’s health and his relationship with the other plaintiff since October 19, 2008, and ordered the plaintiff to complete the items by June 27th (last Friday).

So, what do you think? Was the plaintiff’s attorney out of line in ordering the plaintiff to deactivate her Facebook account?  Are screen shots the best way to produce social media data?Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

Order for Financial Records and Facebook Conversations Modified Due to Privacy Rights – eDiscovery Case Law
 

In Stallings v. City of Johnston City, No. 13-cv-422-DRH-SCW, 2014 U.S. Dist. (S.D. III. May 19, 2014), Illinois Chief District Judge David R. Herndon modified an earlier order by a magistrate judge in response to the plaintiff’s appeal, claiming that the order violated the privacy rights of the plaintiff, and of minor children with whom the plaintiff had held conversations on Facebook.

The initial order concerned discovery production of the plaintiff’s financial records through a previously issued subpoena. The plaintiff had objected to this production, on the grounds that the defendant had not specified the information sought from the records, namely an unidentified amount of money missing from the defendant’s accounts. In the objection, the plaintiff stated a belief that “seeking the financial records is a fishing expedition on the [defendant’s] part.” However, the magistrate judge ordered the production of the records and found upon review several cash deposits that were deemed potentially relevant, and then directed that the production of the plaintiff’s financial records would be subject to a protective order.

On the matter of the Facebook conversations, the plaintiff had produced approximately 466 pages of printed documents from the relevant account, with the names redacted, in response to the defendant’s discovery request for “[e]ach and every social media posting by [plaintiff] from 2011 to the present concerning her employment” at the defendant, “allegations of wronging against her, her suspension or termination, the investigation into missing money or wrongdoing … her lawsuit, her emotional or physical well-being, or any other matter identified in her Amended Complaint.” The defendant objected to the redaction of names, to which the plaintiff responded that they did not have an unredacted hard copy of the pages due to technical difficulties involving Facebook’s policies. The magistrate judge directed the plaintiff to produce either an electronic version of the Facebook pages, or a hard copy of unredacted pages.

The plaintiff then appealed on these orders, arguing that “defendants have presented no basis to override her right to privacy in her bank records afforded under the Illinois Constitution” and further that the request for unredacted Facebook data “violates her privacy, as well as the privacy of minors and other individuals not involved in this litigation.” At issue regarding the Facebook pages was that Facebook only allows users to download the contents of their entire account, which would require the plaintiff to produce all of her Facebook conversations since 2007 if submitted as discovery, when the defendant requested only documents from 2011 onward.

Upon reviewing the issue of the financial records, Judge Herndon found that any evidence of cash deposits made to the plaintiff’s account during the specified time period were relevant to the defendant, but agreed that the plaintiff has a right to privacy of bank records. Therefore, it was ordered that discovery of evidence would be limited to only those deposits made in cash, “demonstrating that they were made in cash and on what date.”

With regard to the discovery issues concerning Facebook pages, Judge Herndon noted that while the plaintiff states potential violation of privacy for minors, the plaintiff had not indicated clearly whether any of the conversation relevant to the litigation had taken place with minors. Further, it was noted that some of the redacted pages did contain relevant conversations, or conversations that could be deemed relevant at a later date, such as potential admissions against interest or inconsistent testimony. Therefore, the plaintiff was ordered to produce “a redacted hard copy of all relevant Facebook pages from 2011 to the present” as well as “the names and towns of residence of the individuals with whom [plaintiff] had relevant conversations.” Further, “[i]f any of the relevant conversations are between individuals who are currently minors, [plaintiff] is not to provide defendants with the minor’s name or town of residence unless Ordered by the Court at a later date.”

So, what do you think? Are sufficient steps being taken to protect individual rights to privacy concerning discovery? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.