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You are viewing ARCHIVED CONTENT released online between 1 April 2010 and 24 August 2018 or content that has been selectively archived and is no longer active. Content in this archive is NOT UPDATED, and links may not function.The unearthing of 13-year-old emails in an attempt to discredit a woman accusing Jian Ghomeshi of sexual assault underscores the growing importance of “digital debris” in criminal and civil trials, experts say.
Lawyers and technology experts say the Internet has allowed for extensive records to be kept of one’s movements and comments unlike anything in the past, but most people still don’t consider the potential permanence of their words when firing off a message.
The amount of electronic data, records and documents introduced in trials can be “overwhelming,” said David Fraser, an Internet and privacy lawyer with McInnes Cooper.