Peer to Peer Magazine

35 WWW.ILTANET.ORG More ESI: IoT Data Presents New Challenges and Opportunities in Discovery FEATURES ROBERT AMBROGI, ESQ. Robert Ambrogi is a practicing lawyer in Massachusetts and veteran legal technology journalist and blogger. Bob also works with Catalyst as director of communications. He writes the award-winning blog LawSites and is a technology columnist for Above the Law. In 2011, Bob was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring "the law's smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders." In 2017, he received the Yankee Quill award for journalism from the Academy of New England Journalists. ALON ISRAELY Alon Israely was a co-founder of Business Intelligence Associates, Inc. It became Total Discovery in 2015 with Alon leading this early-stage enterprise SaaS company providing a legal compliance platform to corporations, government and law firms. With over seventeen years of experience, Alon has worked with corporations and government entities as an expert witness and consultant on legal compliance, ediscovery and information security and privacy related issues. Alon holds a B.A. from UCLA and a J.D. from New York Law School. IoT devices span many domains. Common ones include wearable personal devices, vehicular traffic signaling systems, commercial and industrial equipment, medical devices (implanted and as part of healthcare infrastructure systems), appliances, automobiles, home automation systems and law enforcement tools and weapons. Access Challenges IoT poses many challenges to litigation, particularly to ensuring defensible and cost-effective discovery. Its ubiquity and potential as a rich source of facts make it a required area to explore for potentially discoverable and relevant information. But its practical use as evidence is a different story. There are technical hurdles and proprietary rights issues to overcome, and once the data is collected in a defensible, forensically sound manner (which carries its own set of difficulties), a cost-effective and useful way to review, analyze and present the IoT data is also needed. Using current tools and methods, these activities carry a high risk-to-reward ratio: a party may spend a lot of energy and money recovering data from an IoT platform only to find it not relevant or helpful. Reviewing and presenting the data from an IoT device or system requires specialized or custom solutions that may entail a healthy amount of technical effort and corresponding legal sign-off, so the rewards must be carefully considered in advance. In certain criminal cases the risk may be justified, but in many civil cases the amount at issue may not justify the effort and expense. Except in unusual circumstances, a court would be unlikely to force the issue. In many situations, the most useful information will reside not in the IoT device itself, but rather in the hosted database or system that manages the IoT platform. For everything from fitness trackers to industrial robots, IoT devices are typically managed through hosted (oen cloud) systems that congregate, process and manage the data, making the hosted system the best source for that IoT data. The ediscovery best practice of focusing on the best source of the information is especially important here when that source is likely the easiest and most cost-effective to access. New Sources of Discoverable Data Many forms of IoT data have potential use in litigation, particularly data from consumer devices: » Wearable devices track movements and activities. These include health bands such as Fitbit, digital accessories like the Apple Watch and ejewelry, and tagged personal items such as luggage, wallets and keys. » Home security and monitoring systems record points of motion and security data as well as large volumes of video and audio data. Examples include the Ring doorbell and the SimpliSafe home security system. » Home automation systems control and manage lights, heating and door locks. Nest brand products, for example, include IoT carbon monoxide monitors and smoke detectors as well as a climate-control device that can be remotely monitored and managed from a smartphone app. Undoubtedly use of this information in homeowners' insurance claims or utility disputes will become standard. » Vehicle tracking systems are a rich area for discovery of IoT data. Onboard computers and road-monitoring systems provide vast amounts of data on vehicles' whereabouts and maintenance. Trucking companies use these devices to keep track of routes, maintenance, drivers' hours and DOT compliance. Vehicle IoT devices could reveal critical facts about a driving incident or confirm the exact hours a driver worked when gathering evidence for overtime or other employment maers. » Virtual personal assistants such as the Amazon Echo and Microso Cortana are advanced audio and video human interface devices used to access the internet and personal data storage. Using voice commands, people can direct the devices to shop online, play music, manage their calendars and even control other IoT devices. Data from

• Cover