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Chain of Custody for Evidence Using Blockchain Technology

Most of those familiar with blockchain technology are familiar with it within the context of cryptocurrency. However, there are several more uses beginning to wind their way through the evolution of blockchain technology – especially in the legal industry. With blockchain technology, we’re now able to point to the origin along the chain of custody steps, revolutionizing chronological documentation, custody, analysis, control, and disposition of both physical and electrical evidence for all types of cases.

Background information

First of all, what is blockchain and how does it work? Simply put, blockchain is a decentralized ledger that is impervious to hacking, immutable, and anonymous. Cryptocurrency is just one example of the use of blockchain technology. This distributed ledger technology is the underlying force behind bitcoin, ethers, and other blockchain projects. DLT is decentralized – transactions are recorded onto millions of computers simultaneously. Each block of data is linked to a previous block of data – that is, “chained” together.

The transaction is synchronized among hundreds of computers and all nodes reflect the updated data as it occurs. Once a transaction is validated and added to a blockchain, the transaction or asset is theoretically immutable. A change in one copy or block of data on a system still leaves hundreds of other copies existing on hundreds of other computers. It would be virtually impossible to change the data on all of the decentralized systems.

Since its inception almost 10 years ago, blockchain has developed into a mainstream technology that is trusted and transparent.

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Adviser Settles SEC Administrative Proceeding Regarding Alleged Failure to Safeguard Retail Investor Assets

On August 15, 2018, the SEC announced that it had settled an enforcement action against a dually-registered investment adviser and broker-dealer alleging that the firm failed to adopt and implement policies and procedures reasonably designed to safeguard retail investor assets against misappropriation by the firm’s representatives.

According to the SEC, the firm used certain automated surveillance tools to review large quantities of data to identify, using pre-set criteria and thresholds, suspicious or unusual transactions or events that could be indicative of fraud or misconduct by firm representatives. Nevertheless, according to the SEC, between 2011 and 2014, these automated tools failed to operate effectively, preventing the firm from detecting the misappropriation of over
$1 million in client funds by five representatives. For example, a transaction-based analysis tool intended to identify attempted direct disbursements from client accounts to accounts controlled by firm representatives required
an exact match between the information associated with the disbursement request and information about firm representatives included in an internal database. The SEC alleged that because of the exact match requirement this tool was not reasonably designed to identify suspicious money movement transactions.

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Many Still Unaware of 2017 Changes to Law Involving Corporate Disputes

Any lawyer who advises clients on disputes involving corporations, LLCs, or limited partnerships needs to be aware of the significant changes that were enacted in Pennsylvania’s Act 170 on Feb. 21, 2017. Lawyers who are not aware of these changes will not only be operating at a disadvantage, they could be exposed to legal malpractice claims. This article summarizes changes in Act 170 that will have the most significant impact on commercial litigation in Pennsylvania. (The new statutory changes can be found at 15 PA.C.S. Section 101 et seq.)

Importantly, the changes in Act 170 apply retroactively to all LLCs, LLPs, corporations and GPs. I have been surprised by the number of lawyers who are unaware of these changes, and as a result, I have listed the highlights from a commercial litigator’s perspective.

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Cyber security threats against small businesses on the rise in 2018

In a world before social media, one with less people on the planet than electronic devices connected to the internet, shoplifters and annoying computer viruses posed the biggest threats to small businesses.

But in the world today where connected devices outnumber people new data from the National Cyber Security Alliance suggests that almost 50 percent of small businesses have experienced a cyber attack, more than 70 percent of attacks target small businesses and as much as 60 percent of hacked small and medium-sized businesses go out of business after six months.

As October, which is cyber security month, approaches, Zions Bank hosted on Tuesday a special presentation at the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel and Event Center aimed at helping businesses reduce their risk of cyber security attacks with keynote speaker, Dean Sapp, the chief information security officer at Braintrace, covering myriad security topics ranging from prevention and recognition to the types of security breaches and data hacks prevalent today.

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In Major TCPA Win for Plaintiffs, Ninth Circuit Adopts Broad Definition of Autodialer

In a major victory for plaintiffs pursuing claims related to robocalls and texts, a federal appellate court panel has adopted an expansive view of the legal definition of an autodialer.

Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, calls made via an “automatic telephone dialing system,” or ATDS, without the receiver’s consent can carry statutory penalties between $500 and $1,500 per violation.

On Thursday a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that under the definition of an ATDS outlined in the statute, the devices can include autodialers “with the capacity to dial stored numbers automatically” rather than just those that are able to generate numbers randomly or sequentially.

“This has a massive impact on TCPA litigation, not just in the Ninth Circuit but nationwide,” said Abbas Kazerounian of Kazerouni Law Group, the lead plaintiffs lawyer in the underlying case.

Kazerounian’s client, Jordan Marks, sued Crunch Fitness in 2014 after his phone carrier charged him for three incoming text messages sent by the gym over an 11-month period. In October of that year, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant of the Southern District of California granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the gym’s lawyers at Greenberg Traurig. It found that the texting system Crunch used, Textmunication, didn’t fit the definition of an ATDS since it lacked a random or sequential number generator and didn’t have the potential to add that capacity.

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