Ediscovery And Government Chief Information Officer

Piece of evidence that is physically non existent can be discovered through ediscovery. There can be many things that can count for physically non existent evidence, like emails, instant messages, a blog or something on the internet. The evidence is simply present and the worth it has is intangible as it exists only in the electronic form. Actually there have been cases before like the Zubulake vs UBS case which make it clear that intangible material even if destroyed like a CD which has been broken can be used by the court as a form of evidence if it establishes that data might have been on it.

If, for instance, an embarrassing letter from an aide to a Senator were to compromise the Congressman?s standing, his case could move forward even if he destroyed the letter. The court could be satisfied of the probability of its former existence. Said Congressman could be prosecuted based on invisible evidence that has no existence beyond its own probability.

It becomes a tough scenario for a government CIO (chief information officer). The CIO has to look at the legal problems and questions of viability surrounding the intangible assets of his agency. It is possible for the CEO of a business to be the electronics officer and decide how the data must be shared. However, a government CIO, although a commanding officer or ranking official, more than likely should report to a higher ity (all the way up to the President).

A lot of the work of government agencies has to done secretly, so if they are involved in a court case some sensitive information may be revealed, given this scenario a CIO has to follow orders from two various channels. One from his higher-ups and one from the courts. This creates a Scylla-and-Charybdis scenario for the officer. He is caught between the need to turn over "ediscovered" documents in a legal case, and the need to maintain secrecy for the present administration?s inner workings.

Generally, the government CIO will work in the benefit of his agency and conceal the ediscovered documents and the evidence will be termed as unavailable. This does not mean the case is over (the court can in effect re-create the evidence as perhaps existing). But, it does give an understanding of an information officer?s special dilemma, the higher up in political circles he finds himself.