Slack communications are often tricky for computer forensic experts. Onna solves the complexity of preserving Slack massages after a party can reasonably anticipate litigation.
For the uninitiated on persevering or requesting Slack in discovery, Slack is a messaging and collaboration app used by approximately 750,000 organizations1. There are 42 million daily active users of Slack2. Needless to say, litigation with Slack in discovery can range from trade secret litigation to wage and hour disputes.
Understanding Slack
A company's Slack environment is referred to as a "workspace." While small to medium-sized companies usually operate within a single workspace, larger organizations might use multiple workspaces connected to Slack Enterprise Grid.
Unlike email, where messages can get lost in cluttered inboxes, Slack organizes conversations into channels, making it easy to find and follow discussions related to specific projects or topics. Members can create public or private channels for group discussions within a workspace. Public channels are open to all members, while private channels require an invitation. Channels can be deleted or archived when no longer needed.
Slack offers direct messaging (DMs) for smaller conversations outside of channels. DMs are perfect for one off discussions that don't require an entire channel's input, like a mix between a text message and email.
Slack in Discovery
Slack has had starring roles in many discovery disputes. Parties have been sanctioned with default judgements for the failure to collect Slack data after courts found the producing parties acted with the intent to deprive (along with other conduct)3. Other intentional conduct by parties has resulted in court ordered adverse inference instructions4. However, not all cases are that extreme with intentional wrongful conduct.
In FTC v. Roomster Corp., the defendants failed to preserve Slack data. The case was brought by the FTC and several states for a permanent injunction for claimed violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The defendant was an internet-based room and roommate finder application. The FTC alleged the defendant inundated the internet with tens of thousands of fake positive reviews to bolster their room and roommate application5.
The FTC served a Civil Investigative Demand ("CID") on the defendants that directed them to preserve evidence by suspending their routine document procedures6. Through a comedy of errors not fully explained in the opinion, the defendants did not preserve Slack data, which they admitted was destroyed after they had a duty to preserve evidence7.
United States Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn held that the plaintiffs were entitled to discovery on whether the defendants had a “culpable state of mind” on the lost Slack data (stated otherwise, the intent to deprive)8. Judge Netburn ordered the piercing of attorney-client privilege by allowing communications from counsel on litigation hold instructions that gave the defendant, "clear guidance on the potential consequences of noncompliance."9
The defendants were ordered to produce within one week 1) defense counsel’s litigation hold letter and instructions on consequences for noncompliance with evidence preservation and 2) the defendant's document destruction protocols and policies.10
The piercing of the attorney-client privilege for communications about preserving evidence is a serious concern that can include a laundry list of ethical problems, from the duty of candor to the court, to the duty of competency, and possibly show bad faith in preserving evidence.
Defensibly Collect Slack Data
Litigants are well versed in the duty to preserve electronically stored information (ESI). The challenge for attorneys, clients, and computer forensic experts is the constant advance of new technologies used every day. Slack communications is one of those new technologies that is used extensively by companies that cover the spectrum from mega tech companies to restaurants.
Onna solves the challenges of collecting Slack data. Onna connects to Slack accounts allowing all employee accounts to be available for legal hold. When necessary, organizations can select the accounts needed to be placed on hold and create a steadily syncing archive. Even if users delete or modify files in the source systems, Onna keeps an original defensible copy.
Slack’s technology is state-of-the-art. It integrates with over 2,000 apps, offering customizations, shortcuts, and file-sharing features for optimal functionality. Slack also allows users to develop their own apps on the platform, with more than 885,000 developers actively using this feature.
Collecting data from Slack requires a clear understanding of your organization's plan features and offerings. Slack offers three business plans: Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid. Pro and Business+ cater to small and medium-sized businesses, while Enterprise Grid serves larger organizations with more complex structures.
Onna's enables users to easily preserve data in real-time within source systems with just one click. Once in-place preservation is complete, users can search, cull, and export the data set to their preferred review tool for further analysis.
Preserving Slack Data with Onna
There are multiple best practices on how to collect data when executing a litigation hold to preserve evidence. This is one method, other professionals can have variations.
Step 1 is preserving Slack data with Onna connecting directly to the party’s Slack workspace.
Relevant data is collected and processed simultaneously, cutting major parts of the EDRM process in half.
Slack data can be searched based on keywords, proximity searches, senders, file types, modification dates, and other metadata.
Slack data can be reviewed and issue coded for export to a review application.
After Slack data is searched to identify records for review, Slack data can be selected for export for document review.
Exported Slack data is converted into a comprehensive review-friendly file with chosen metadata. All native formats are preserved.
Onna maintains a comprehensive audit trial of preservation activities, which can be used to demonstrate a defensible collection process if challenged.
Meeting the Duty to Preserve with Onna
Slack is a part of life for companies of all sizes. As such, Slack is part of any lawsuit if it has relevant data.
Onna’s Slack API connector empowers corporate legal departments, IT, and HR teams to collaborate with trial counsel in seamlessly enacting a litigation hold to preserve and collect Slack data for export to eDiscovery applications for document review.
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