1.  The sheer complexity of e-discovery has created the need to streamline the process. In-house counsel are now seeking to develop a set of policies and procedures that can help them place controls around e-discovery, leading to predictable levels of quality, efficiency and costs. This is especially true in light of the fact that each matter may involve a variety of internal and external stakeholders, from IT and records management to outside counsel and legal technology vendors. By operationalizing the process, legal departments can better coordinate these disparate parties.

2. The complexity of the e-discovery process exposes an organization to a considerable amount of risk. Because e-discovery will remain a routine duty of the legal department for the indefinite future, the chief information officer and IT department are increasingly involved in acquiring the tools and services to create repeatable and defensible processes.

3.  As our culture has shifted from paper to digital communications, there has been an explosion in the amount of electronically stored information. It’s not uncommon for corporations to put data in terms of petabytes, which is equal to 1 million gigabytes. This deluge of data means that without a plan in place, e-discovery can quickly become an unmanageable and expensive process.

4. The economic downturn of the last few years has put corporate expenditures under scrutiny. This includes a company’s litigation budget, which can easily swell as the volume of corporate data and the frequency of e-discovery requests increase. This need to rein in costs, or at least create a means to predict litigation costs, has also led to the operationalization of e-discovery.

via Operationalizing e-discovery—two different approaches.

This compares with Apple’s $76.4bn of cash reserves, which it has built up during a phenomenal half-decade of strong sales.

Apple said last week that sales of its popular iPad tablet device had more than doubled to 9.25m in the three months to the end of June, while iPhone sales reached 20.3m as quarterly profits also doubled to $7.31bn.

Meanwhile, US politicians are currently struggling to agree a deal on the best way to raise the country’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

via Apple now holds more cash than US government – Telegraph.

Mendelsohn’s mandate couldn’t be learned.

Until last year, Mendelsohn was in charge of prosecuting suspected violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for the Justice Department, as deputy chief of the department’s fraud section. He presided over a broad crackdown on corporate corruption abroad, levying record-breaking fines and prosecuting executives for bribery.

via News Corp. Hires FCPA Expert – Law Blog – WSJ.

Mendelsohn’s mandate couldn’t be learned.

Until last year, Mendelsohn was in charge of prosecuting suspected violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for the Justice Department, as deputy chief of the department’s fraud section. He presided over a broad crackdown on corporate corruption abroad, levying record-breaking fines and prosecuting executives for bribery.

via News Corp. Hires FCPA Expert – Law Blog – WSJ.

Tenaris, a global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products and related services to the oil and gas industry throughout the world, admitted that its employees and agents offered and made improper payments to officials of OJSC O’ztashqineftgaz (OAO), an Uzbekistan state-controlled oil and gas production company, and failed to record such payments accurately in Tenaris’s books and records.

In connection with four public bids to provide oilfield pipe and related services for energy extraction and transportation projects, Tenaris retained an agent to obtain competitors’ bid information, which Tenaris then used to secretly submit revised bids to its advantage.

Tenaris agreed to pay the agent 3.5% of the value of four separate contracts, while being aware or substantially certain that the agent would pay all or a portion of the money to one or more OAO employees.

According to the agreement, Tenaris voluntarily disclosed this conduct to the department in a timely and complete manner, conducted an internal investigation, provided thorough, real-time cooperation to the department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and undertook extensive remediation, including voluntary enhancements to its compliance program.

via Latin American Herald Tribune – Tenaris to Pay $9 Million Over US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations.

In a SEC filing, Google indicates that it has set aside US$ 500 million to prepare for a possible settlement with the Justice department to avoid further inquiry or litigation. The figure was accrued over the first quarter of 2011, which now requires the company to modify its earnings report from during that period.

In May 2011, in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $500 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2011. Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter, we believe it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

As a result, Google’s net income has dropped from US$ 2.3 billion to US$ 1.8 billion for 1Q 2011, which means its per-share earnings are effectively diluted from $7.04 to $5.51 each for the period. Google is confident, though, that the decrease in earnings will not be material to its business overall.

via Google Sets Aside US$ 500M for Possible DoJ Settlement.

There are many obvious advantages that come with the portability of these devices, but one of the drawbacks is that they can easily left behind in a cab or stolen.

Simple steps like password-protecting phones and enabling remote locking and wiping of the device can go a long way in keeping company data safe.

Another issue is malware, especially as Android grows in popularity. Whenever possible and appropriate, anti-malware software should be deployed on any device that accesses company networks or data.

Forrester recommends some basic regulations that should be included in any corporate mobile security policy. Among them:

The IT department should be allowed to manage any device that has access to company networks and data. This should, of course, be done while still respecting the user’s privacy.

The company’s usual Web usage policies should apply to personal devices, as long as they’re being used at work.

The company’s IT department should be able to monitor usage while the device is being used on the company’s network or premises. They should also have the freedom to restrict access to corporate data if necessary.

If the device is stolen or the employee leaves the company, the IT department should be able to wipe company data from it remotely.

via How to Keep Company Data Safe on Employees’ Personal Devices.

CNET obtained a copy of the department’s position on mandatory data retention–saying Congress should strike a “more appropriate balance” between privacy and police concerns–that will be announced at a House of Representatives hearing tomorrow.

“Data retention is fundamental to the department’s work in investigating and prosecuting almost every type of crime,” Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general for the criminal division, will say, according to his written testimony. “The problem of investigations being stymied by a lack of data retention is growing worse.” (See related article.)

The Bush Justice Department endorsed such proposals under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Tomorrow’s announcement demonstrates that the Obama Justice Department is following suit and appears to be its first public statement embracing mandatory data retention.

That aligns the Justice Department with data retention’s more aggressive supporters among House Republicans and places it at odds with privacy advocates, civil libertarians, and the Internet industry. Those groups have questioned the privacy, liability, cost, and scope, including whether businesses such as coffee shops would be required to identify and monitor whoever uses their wireless connections.

via Justice Department seeks mandatory data retention | Privacy Inc. – CNET News.

The Justice Department filed a major lawsuit against BP and eight other companies involved in the Gulf oil spill disaster.

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What the User Wants, the User Gets

In recent years, users have largely ignored the rules of the IT department and got the emails, data and other information on the device of their choice, by hook, crook, or auto-forwarding. While IT is now getting back on top of things, as phones have become more enterprise 2.0-friendly, there is nothing like an official app to please both the support and executive branches.

IBM has a lot at stake in this environment, so it comes as little surprise to see Lotus Notes Traveler for Android arrive, enabling all those Lotus Domino users to pick up their messages on the go. Launching today as a free application, Traveler lets users to securely collaborate with colleagues and manage their personal email too.

via Lotus Notes Comes to Android.