Posts tagged Edd

Background

Google Chrome OS is an operating system and computer that does one thing and one thing only: runs the Google Chrome web browser. You cannot save photos to it.  You cannot run Microsoft Word on it. There is no way to archive an email. Yes, Google Chrome OS is only good for working “in the cloud.”  ….and that is probably a good thing.

Working in the Cloud

I have long argued that you can do 95% of your business while only using cloud app.  And I do not mean small business, I mean big business, too.  Email, documents, database systems, customer care, video conferencing can all be done in the cloud effectively.

And if you are working completely in the cloud, why do you need a “regular” computer?  You do not need a CDROM or the ability to run install applications - you just need to be able to get to your cloud applications wherever you are.  So Google created a platform called Chrome OS that fits perfectly in this niche.  It is fast, runs on inexpesive hardware and allows you to access your cloud data when you need it.

Security, Encryption

One of the side benefits of Google’s Chrome OS is security.  First of all, you do not really store any data on Chrome OS…it is all kept in the cloud instead. So Chrome OS keeps your data secure by not storing any data at all.  But we all know that there are temp files and browser cache files on our computers - so what about that?  Chrome OS treats that secondary data as a first class citizen and encrypts all of it.  In fact, the user cannot opt out of encryption whether they would like to or not.  As a result, it is impossible to extract any data from a Chrome OS computer.  All of it is locked away and inaccessible.

eDiscovery

How much easier would your eDiscovery life be if your users could not store data on their computers?  No emails, no contracts, no instant messages.  Yeah, I though you would be interested in that. Chrome OS may very well be the best eDiscovery operating system ever created.  It forces users to store data on centralized, cloud-based resources and therefore stop data sprawl all over your network.

In Practice

I have been using a prototype Google Chrome OS laptop (thank you very much Google!) and I love it.  It is fast, responsive and allows me to get my work done. Even my document review platform is accessible via Google Chrome OS.  And while Google has some kinks to work out before their OS hits the consumer and business markets, it is clear that this form of computer is the wave of the future - as well as a sigh of relief to eDiscovery attorneys everywhere.

I hear a lot of people discuss whether eDiscovery technology is becoming a commodity…with the implecation that pricing should follow.  Heck, even I have been one of the those people.

The real question, however, is not whether eDiscovery is becoming a commodity (and here’s a spoiler: it is not - 10% will always be bespoke and very custom, thus blowing the whole thing), but rather if eDiscovery technology pricing can be predictable.  Can service providers, law firms or in-house eDiscovery departments offer predictable (or capped) eDiscovery technology services?

In my opinion, the answer is a resounding yes!  eDiscovery pricing can be predicable and capped - especially when dealing with volume.  And isn’t that want clients want?  The ability to say, “I will pay a reasonable fee, even if the case keeps growing, but I don’t want the pricing to get out of control.”

I have been a big proponent for predictable pricing for quite some time and have introduced it to my clients at my day job.  What do you think?  Should we stop talking about commodity pricing and, instead, focus on predictable pricing?

I have been using CouchDB for just a little over two years.  Some of my initial findings still hold true today.  It is fast, flexible and “of the web.”  It sounds kitschy, but do some reading, learn more about it and I am pretty sure you will be impressed.

One of the best features in CouchDB is the ability to both host data and an application within the same CouchDB database.  Throw in Couch’s built in replication capabilities and you can share full applications with other people that use CouchDB with a few simple clicks.  It really is that easy.

For all you fellow litigation support/eDiscovery folks out there, I am going to publish a NIST file database that is hosted in CouchDB.  It will have every NIST hash in an easy-to-look-up database.  If you find it useful, I will give out the URL to the Couch database so you can replicate it yourself.  

Let me know if you are interested.  It will be available in about a month.

The Problem

If you have electronic evidence (thumb drive, USB hard drive, etc), the last thing you want to do is alter the evidence, right?  If you remove files, add files or alter files then the evidence would no longer be terribly accurate.

The Solution

To prevent altering data, you should connect electronic evidence to your computer using a write blocker.  This is typically a piece of hardware that sits between your computer and an external USB hard drive that makes it impossible to write data to the external drive.

WiebeTech now offers and affordable write blocker that is the size of a regular thumb drive.  It is definitely worth checking out, especially for the price.

But what do you do if you do not have a write blocker handy?  Do you just plug-in the evidence and risk altering data?  Well, you don’t need to take that risk, thanks for some good information from a trusted litigation support guru, Kel Rollins.  Apparently there is a Windows registry key you can add that will prevent all writes to removable media:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]
“WriteProtect”=dword:00000001

Now that is what I call a simple write blocker!  Thanks for the tip, Kel.

Many law firms and corporations rely on outside vendors to handle some or all of their eDiscovery tasks.  And while I have my own opinion has to which is the best option, regardless it makes sense to design you vendor ecosystem to work for you in the most efficient manner.  Here is my strategy that works well in just about every situation:

symbiotic relationship: photo by: nattu

• Select 2-3 vendors for your regular work
  • Fewer than 2-3 vendors is not enough diversity
  • More than 2-3 vendors becomes too confusing - invoicing and work-flow gets out of control
• Ensure each vendor is competitive on
  • Price
  • Invoicing practices
  • Service
  • Feature set
• Always have an extra vendor on standby.  Your standby vendor should be one you want to try (but you have not had a chance, since that would violate your 2-3 vendor rule)
• Whenever one of your regular vendors no longer stays competitive, then cut them loose and bring in your standby.  There should be no love lost here….this is business after all
• Rinse and repeat

Do you have another approach?  What makes sense to you?  Fill out a comment below.

When I was in charge of eDiscovery technology at an AM100 firm, we typically received vendor invoices that detailed every charge.  

Photo: uberculture

Sound familiar:

• Forensic image mounting
• Data extraction
• Data processing
• Password cracking
• Tech Time
• OCR
• etc

I was always confused why vendors never offered an all inclusive pricing model.  Is OCR so complicated that vendors cannot figure out how to include it into the processing charge?  Is tech time really needed for forensic image mounting - and why am I being charged separately for image mounting since I am already paying for processing?

All I wanted was to option to receive easy-to-understand invoices.  Sure, I read all of the invoices (and I often sent them back because of mistakes), but what I needed were invoices that actually made sense to my attorneys their clients.  

Isn’t that what people really want?

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When I left law firm life and went back to consulting, I made sure my company offers All-In pricing for its processing, hosting and production.  No separate bills for all the little stuff.  Feel free to visit http://www.legaldiscoveryllc.com or contact me at dcarns@legaldiscoveryllc.com to learn more.

Ever added up all that eDiscovery data you are storing on your network?  Most firms follow a very “organic” approach to eDiscovery management, so you may not realize how it all adds up.  In case you have not gone through the mental math, here is the rule of thumb:

eDiscovery requires x6 the storage capacity of the original data

Photo: Paul Hammnond

That means in the life of 10 GB case, you will store 60 GB of data.  Stick that in your data management plan.

Many CIOs or IT Directors will ask the litigation support manager:  How could this be necessary?  Why can’t you lit support people better manage your data?  After all, we have given you NAS space, SAN space and any combination of SATA, SCSI and Fibre drives.  So what gives?

Just so there is no confusion, most litigation support professionals are careful, calculated people.  They have a reason for each step in their work flow - which needs to be a defensible process.  So if you have been curious about eDiscovery data storage, here is a list of what is involved:

• Data #1: Original data sent from client, vendor or other third party
• Data #2: Extracted version of the original data
• Data #3: Culled data from the extracted set
• Data #4: Processed data from the culled set (this might include TIFFs)
• Data #5: Document review database files and full text index
• Data #6: Productions, productions, productions

Many people ask whether you can just delete data as you move along the process, thus breaking even along the way.  The problem is you need to A) defend your work all along the way and B) be able to go back and bring more data in from earlier stages that you may have left out through culling, etc.

This eDiscovery data storage “problem” become quite dramatic when you start talking about larger cases.  Imagine a small firm that is facing a 300 GB case.  They might say, “No problem.  Let’s get a 1 TB NAS to store the data and accommodate growth.”  Unfortunately, what they really need is almost 2 TB of disk space and plan for unexpected growth beyond that.  So it really adds up.

And while the eDiscovery storage problem is as nasty one, the biggest issue of course is that attorneys never want to archive the data to less expensive storage. Even when the case is over.  <sigh>

What has your experience been.  Do you see more or less data at your firm/company?

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These days, of course, I am more partial to pushing the storage burden to third party providers.  Feel free to contact me with questions.