Ignatius Grande quoted in Bloomberg BNA; Featured in Law Technology News

On Nov. 20, Ignatius Grande spoke on a panel at the Georgetown Law Advanced E-Discovery Institute, a two-day conference held at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in McLean, VA. The panel discussion drew coverage in Bloomberg BNA and Law Technology News.
 
Approximately 120 people attended Grande's session, entitled "E-Discovery and the Internet of Things." Other panelists included Ralph Losey, shareholder at Jackson Lewis; Monique Altheim, a New York City-based e-discovery and data privacy attorney; and Mark Michels, director at Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics.
 
The panel discussed the growing implications of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure. A recent survey of business executives at global companies found that more than 80 percent thought that IoT solutions would be the most strategic technology initiative for their organization in a decade.

"About two-thirds of those companies are in the process of deploying IoT products," Bloomberg BNA quoted Grande as saying. He explained that this growth in the development of IoT could pose challenges for in-house counsel if they don't have an understanding of the technologies a company is implementing. "Possession, custody and control does extend to the cloud and to third-party providers. Case law such as Brown v. Tellermate will be the framework for how this area develops."
 
According to Law Technology News, Grande also noted that preservation and data collection issues arise when an enormous quantity of data is aggregated. He said there are chair sensors that can tell if someone is sitting down, but added it would be difficult to put a litigation hold on such a device. Many products in the IoT sphere are not created with litigation holds, preservation and collection in mind, he said. In terms of liability, he noted that companies will most likely be required to preserve IoT data produced by the capabilities of their products and services when such data is covered by a litigation hold.
 
Grande also said vendors will need to learn how to properly handle IoT data. He noted that e-discovery companies must have the proper certifications to store such data and, without protocols in place for the IoT, that data may not be secure.