Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In.most.all.of.these.cases,.because.I.would.be.asking.them.
to.create.reports,.I.would.need.to.go.through.their.supervi-
sors.as.that.creates.new.work.for.them.
In.effect,.I.am.tapping.into.the.ownership.of.the.data.in.
each. of. these. cases.. I. have. to. understand. not. only. where.
the.ownership.lies.in.our.organization,.but.who.controls.the.
access.to.that.data.
It.is.important.to.make.one.point.clear,.however..In.the.
case.of.computer.data.managed.by.the.desktop.technicians.
such. as. logon/logoff. data. or. Internet. search. information,.
and.so.forth,.the.actual.“ownership”.might.be.more.correctly.
assigned.to.the.company..And.if.I.were.an.outside.counsel.or.
auditor.or.even.someone.in.an.adversarial.position.in.a.legal.
matter,. that. level. of. ownership. would. be. the. irst. consider-
ation..It.would.be.important.to.establish.the.legal.ownership.
of. relevant. data. in. order. to. establish. who. has. the. right. to.
allow.for.its.release.
Yet,. inside. of. that. organization,. some. entity,. possibly. a.
department,.division,.or.person,.will.control.and.manage.that.
data..This.entity.owns.the.access.to.that.data,.or.is.the.custo-
dian,.with.whom.we.will.need.to.communicate.if.we.hope.to.
acquire.the.information.we.need.
As.we.talk.about.the.ownership.in.this.section,.it.is.impor-
tant.to.understand.that.both.types.of.ownership.must.be.con-
sidered,.but.the.custodian.who.controls.access.to.the.data.in.
question.is.whom.we.most.need.to.be.concerned.with.
If.we.look.at.the.examples.given.earlier,.it.should.be.clear.
that.throughout.our.lives.we.create.data.that.are.controlled.
by.many.different.entities..In.the.quest.to.gain.control.over.
our.digital.data,.it.behooves.us.to.consider.and.enumerate.as.
many.of.those.sources.of.data.as.possible.
Take.the.time.to.consider.all.of.the.places.that.possibly.rel-
evant.electronic.evidence.might.reside.and.who.would.have.
ownership.of.and.access.to.that.data..If.you.are.creating.an.
electronic.discovery.process.for.an.organization,.or.even.sim-
ply.thinking.about.your.own.processes.should.they.become.
