Where the Electronic Data Are Makes All the Difference
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all
–Joni Mitchell
Today’s decision by the Second Circuit that Microsoft did not have to hand over data stored on its server in Ireland should remind us all that information…
Brexit’s Prediction Lesson for Investigators
What lesson does the Brexit vote hold for anyone conducting or contemplating fact investigation?
Don’t let confirmation bias muddy your thinking.
One of the key “Investigator’s Enemies” identified in my book, The Art of Fact Investigation,…
Computers Come Up Short on Mapping Reality
A story in today’s Wall Street Journal about “Why the Virtual Reality Hype is About to Come Crashing Down” makes the simple point that computers haven’t caught up to all the permutations of real life to make a “virtual reality” headset…
FINRA and Due Diligence: On-Site Checks Are Indispendible
Due diligence is all about following up on red flags, but if you don’t find them, there’s nothing on which to follow up. Thus, our tireless refrain: turn over every piece of public record information you can about a person, and don’t…
Cell Phone Pinging and Probable Cause
The next time an investigator tells you he can legally “ping” someone’s cell phone to figure out where they are going, run away fast. We’ve written before about the illegality of getting a friendly phone company employee…
TelexFree and the Need for Investor Due Diligence
“TelexFree is already creating MILLIONAIRES and now is YOUR turn.” So read the now defunct website of TelexFree Inc., which U.S. officials ordered to be taken down earlier this month. Massachusetts company TelexFree Inc.…
Spanish Princess Accused of Fraud
Yesterday, a judge in Spain named Princess Cristina, King Juan Carlos’s youngest daughter, as a suspect in an ongoing money laundering and tax fraud case involving the Princess’s husband, Inaki Urdangarin. The judge alleges…
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…
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…
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…
