CBS and Benghazi: Lessons for Fact Checkers
Now that 60 Minutes has apologized for airing a false eyewitness account of the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, what can investigators, journalists and others who deal in facts learn from the incident, well summarized by the Columbia…
Wanted: New Home for Dark Mail Alliance
Edward Snowden continues to prompt discussion about how much secrecy is appropriate when it comes to national security – at least as far as the U.S. is concerned. His opinions on appropriate levels of secrecy in host nation Russia or previous…
Sockpuppets at Wikipedia: Fact Finders Beware
Today’s news that the foundation in charge of Wikipedia is investigating a series of suspicious articles reminded us of our usual refrain about the danger of restricting research to the internet. When clients tell us they’ve checked…
Due Diligence 102: Hedge Funds Now Responsible for Investigating People
It’s back to school for hedge funds in the light of two new sets of strict rules introduced by the SEC. The big lesson funds need to learn is the difference between verification of information presented to them by investors and others,…
Catching Captain Hookah: How the Silk Road Mastermind Revealed Himself in a Chatroom
Last week, FBI officials caught the mastermind behind an underground e-commerce site called Silk Road, which has been called the “Amazon of illegal drugs.” Since its creation in 2011, the site took in $1.2 billion in revenue…
Investigating Jurors: The Ethical Bounds of Using Social Media
We recently read that one of the jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial had both tweeted at a famed criminal defense attorney and posted a comment about Arias having “Latina blood” on her Facebook page after the jury had convicted…
When Do Investigations Invade Privacy?
What can facts can investigators gather without violating a person’s privacy? The answer we like to give is: whatever the law allows us to gather, but that doesn’t fully answer the question. For one thing, privacy means very different…
SEC Gives Hedge Funds the Green Light to Advertise
After a year of consultation, the Securities and Exchange Commission came out today with final rules that will allow hedge funds to advertise to the general public. In exchange, hedge funds will need to make sure that their investors have sufficient…
E-Verify: An Error Rate that Will Ruin Lives
The new immigration reform bill approved by the Senate last week mandates that employers check a government database called E-Verify to confirm that all of their new hires are legally eligible to work in the U.S. First launched in 1996, E-Verify…
Due Diligence on Edward Snowden: Did Someone Blow It?
Plenty of news outlets are tracking hour by hour the efforts of Edward Snowden, the man who leaked highly confidential government documents obtained using top-secret security clearance, to find asylum from criminal charges in the U.S. We do…
