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…
Finding Phone Records: Usually Out of Bounds
Last week, the Associated Press reported that the Department of Justice had obtained confidential phone records for more than 20 telephone lines used by the staff of the Associated Press while investigating leaks of classified information. …
Big Data? Good Investigators Prefer Their Data Small
When you see two big book reviews and an entire special section of The Wall Street Journal devoted to a topic, a curious person should ask: how does this affect me, my family, my business, the world? The book is Big Data: A Revolution that Will…
Bare Minimum: How to Make Your Gmail Messages More Secure
Well, another day, another email hacking story. This one involves the Bush clan, with reports that a hacker who goes by the name Guccifer accessed private emails and photographs, telephone numbers and addresses sent between members of the Bush…
Sealed Court Documents During Due Diligence
Over the past few days we’ve dealt with two cases where our clients were deeply invested in the question of whether or not the contents of sealed court documents could be made public. And our answer to both of them was the same: If someone…
We Can All Hear You Now: The Dangers of Doing Business in Public
Among the pros (and cons) of having a cell phone is that you don't have to stay chained to your desk anymore. Now you can do business anywhere you have phone coverage. But sometimes we are so consumed by the convenience of being able to conduct business on the go that we forget the risks.
Lessons Learned: What the General Petraeus Scandal Teaches Us About Private Communications
By now the General David Petraeus debacle has been all over the news. We certainly don’t need to go over all the sordid details. Nor do we need to go over all the Internet security tips the case has made front page news. A summary…
Ping a Cell Phone, Cross a Line
Unbeknown to most cell phone users, just turning your cell phone on reveals your location. That's because once turned on, your cell phone constantly "pings" (bounces a signal off of) nearby cell phone network towers. This data is collected by the cell phone company and can be traced to reveal your location.
Short of turning your cell phone off and pulling out its battery, there's nothing you can do about this: This is just basic cell phone technology at work. Technology that can determine your physical whereabouts for as long as your cell phone is turned on, which for most of us means 24 hours a day.
Personal Data and Service Contracts: How to Protect Your Personal Information
Attorneys know that one of their primary obligations to their clients is to protect client confidences. Therefore, great pains are taken to make sure that clients' highly personal information stays in safe hands. But what happens when attorneys are the ones passing along their personal information? Well, unfortunately lawyers are far less careful with their own confidential information than they are with their clients'.
Confidentiality in Interviews: What You Can Promise and What You Can’t
"Three may keep a secret," wrote Benjamin Franklin, "if two of them are dead." While attorney-client privilege confers a lot of power on lawyers and their agents to keep a secret, the privilege is never absolute. It can be waived by the client anytime, and can be breached in all sorts of ways.
