Metadata May Not Be a Public Record in Maryland

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Michael D. Berman

As of October 1, 2011, Maryland will permit custodians of public records to scrub unprivileged metadata from those records, apparently at the requestor’s cost, before producing those records under the State analog to the Freedom of Information Act.  The statute, SB 74, Chapter 536 of the 2011 Laws of Maryland, amends the State Public Information Act (“PIA”).

Chapter 536 initially broadens the scope of the PIA by providing that, with enumerated exceptions, the custodian of a public record “shall provide an applicant with a copy of the public record in a searchable and analyzable electronic format” if: it is available; requested in that format; does not disclose confidential or protected information; and, is otherwise disclosable.  As such it has been correctly applauded. M. Poinski, “Md. makes strides towards government transparency,” The Daily Record (Apr. 20, 2011).

The statute, however, proceeds to state that a custodian “may remove metadata from an electronic document before providing the electronic document to an applicant. . . .” [emphasis added].  It provides two acceptable methods for scrubbing metadata: 1) using a software program or function; or, 2) conversion to a different searchable and analyzable format. Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Litigation, ESI

Maryland Murder Conviction Reversed Over MySpace Page

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Michael D. Berman

In Griffin v. State, No. 74 (Sept. Term, Apr. 28, 2011), Maryland’s highest court reversed a murder conviction because printed MySpace pages were not properly authenticated.

Mr. Griffin was charged with shooting another person.  The State introduced Ms. Barber, his girlfriend’s, MySpace profile to show that she had threatened a State’s witness. The page said: “REMEMBER SNITCHES GET STITCHES!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!”

The State attempted to authenticate the MySpace page through the testimony of a police officer who identified people in a photo on the page, and provided other similar information, such as residence and date of birth, that comported with Ms. Barber’s information. Later, the parties stipulated to what the officer would have testified, however:  “When Ms. Barber had taken the stand after being called by the State, she was not questioned about the pages allegedly printed from her MySpace profile.”

The Court noted that “anyone can create a fictitious account and masquerade under another person’s name. . . .” It pointed out that a Boston internet company created a profile for a toy named “Freddi Staur,” and nearly 200 Facebook users added the frog as a “friend.” Continue reading →

Posted in ESI

Computer Usage Policies and the “Reply All” Button

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Michael D. Berman

Businesses manage their information technology assets through computer usage policies. Tonya L. Johnson recently provided an interesting post on the American Bar Association site.  Noting the potential for error when “reply all” is selected inadvertently, she wrote that the market research firm, Nielsen, had removed that option from employee email systems.  Ms. Johnson provides a step-by-step guide for Microsoft Outlook 2003, but notes that in more recent versions, only partial removal is possible.  This suggests that solid computer usage policies and appropriate employee training may be the best course of action.

Posted in ESI, Software

iPad App for Depositions

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Michael D. Berman

Joshua Gilliland, author of the Bow Tie blog and Bow Tie Law blog, and president of Majority Opinion, LLC, was kind enough to provide me with a complimentary copy of  his new iPad App, called The Deponent App.  Deponent marries document assembly principles with a database of stock deposition questions that can be tailored by the user and assembled into an outline for questioning during  the deposition.  Continue reading →

Posted in ESI, Software

Kate Paslin Demonstrates Access Data CaseVantage 6 and Summation iBlaze

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Michael D. Berman

Kate Paslin, Assistant General Counsel of AccessData Corporation, presented and discussed a number of the company’s software products to a University of Baltimore law school ESI seminar.  Kate discussed  CaseVantage 6 with secure sharing over web-based portals and the ability to define user profiles for, for example, expert witnesses or document reviewers, as well as its virtually unlimited capacity.  She also demonstrated the updated, flagship product, AD Summation iBlaze, and how to use its rich features to prepare chronologies, privilege logs, and lists of trial exhibits, among other things.  Kate has lectured widely on ESI topics and has written a chapter on metadata for a forthcoming book to be published by the ABA.

Posted in ESI, Software