Collecting and Analyzing iPads in Litigation

In the Division 1 LinkedIn Group earlier in February, Jim Zack from long-time Forum Sponsor Navigant Consulting posted a link to an article on Navigant's website called "Collecting and Analyzing iPads: What You Need to Know."

As an aside, if you are not a member of the Division 1 LinkedIn Group, it is a great way to stay up-to-date with announcements for Division 1, articles such as the one Jim posted, and with the Dispute Resolver generally.  Become a member, and then start a discussion! Now, back to the Navigant article.

Navigant consultant Cuyler Robinson's article outlines some of the issues that one has to deal with when looking for relevant documents and emails in a corporate environment where iPads and other tablets quickly are replacing laptops as the mobile computing hardware of choice for executives and lawyers.

iPads have been around only for five years at this point, and the big issue is that Apple's device security complicates both forensic imaging and forensic data gathering. Apple keeps what's under the hood in the iPad operating system secret, leaving e-discovery vendors and attorneys alike flatfooted when trying to figure out how to gather relevant information.  Add in that backups are made either through iTunes or into the iCloud, and you have multiple layers of complexity involved in trying to get relevant information.

Cuyler's article is well worth the read as a reminder that e-discovery will continue to evolve in the same way that electronic devices generally do.

I mean, how difficult would it be to try to gather electronic data for litigation from Google Glass?

If you have experience with gathering forensic data from this "new" media -- from apps on phones or tablets or the watches or eyeglass computers that are being developed, we would love to hear your experiences.  Was it difficult? How, if at all, can you tell whether relevant information has been spoliated on a tablet?