Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal’s second MCLE lecture for the IBP Misamis Oriental Chapter, Cagayan de Oro (CDO) last July 8, 2015 revolved on the discovery of social media evidence. There is a growing trend in different jurisdictions around the world that puts social media data as an important source of proof for or against a party in almost all types of litigation. It was the perfect accompaniment for his first lecture which tackled the basic and some complex principles of electronic discovery on other pieces of electronic evidence.
DR. ATTY. NOEL G. RAMISCAL CDO MCLE JULY82015
Dr. Ramiscal began by giving a definition of social media and some statistics that put no doubt on the crucial importance of the usage of social media networks in the everyday lives of netizens. He gave several examples of online social networks (OSNs) and focused on the primary issues that affect their users legally.
OSNs like Facebook delineate content that is public and private, but these delineations are not markedly observed when it comes to criminal prosecutions or civil proceedings where the relevant content in a user’s private profile can be the subject of discovery. “Privacy” as a battle cry of embattled producing parties has been consistently shouted down by courts in the U.S., U.K., Europe and recently, even in the Philippines. The general jurisprudential trend is to deny any unqualified reasonable expectation of privacy even in private postings where the privacy of these postings has been compromised by the actuations of the user, or their Facebook “friends”. Dr. Ramiscal showed to the CDO lawyers certain techniques of e-discovery that they can employ to get the possibly incriminating content that could actually help them win their case.
DR. ATTY. NOEL G. RAMISCAL CDO MCLE LECTURE JULY82015 SOCIAL MEDIA
Dr. Ramiscal then delved into evidentiary issues in the admissibility of social media evidence in court. He expostulated on the various objections that could be raised including authentication and hearsay issues and how to meet them.
Since social media data like all electronic data can be subjected to spoliation or destruction by the user, Dr. Ramiscal apprised the CDO lawyers of tactics they can use to prevent the spoliation of this type of evidence. He also explained the measures they can seek against parties who have actually destroyed these e-data and their counsels who may have actually advised them or contributed to the e-data’s destruction.
DR. ATTY. NOEL G. RAMISCAL CDO MCLE JULY82015 CDO SMILING LAWYERS
DR. ATTY. NOEL G. RAMISCAL CDO MCLE JULY82015 LAWYERS
To round off his discussion, Dr. Ramiscal relayed to the CDO lawyers some legal tips in avoiding being placed in legal and ethical hot waters when it comes to approaching or “friending” any party related to any case they are involved in. Prudence, propriety and common sense are basically the rules of the day.
DR. ATTY. NOEL G. RAMISCAL CDO MCLE LECTURE JULY 8 2015 WITH GORGEOUS CDO LAWYERS
To the attentive and most appreciative CDO lawyers who stayed through the duration of his second lecture, Dr. Ramiscal gives them his highest and warmest regards!
DR. ATTY. NOEL G. RAMISCAL CDO MCLE LECTURE JULY 8 2015 WITH ATTY. REY RAAGAS, IBP CHAP. PRES.
Philippine Law Bytes: TheCyberLawyer Issues by Dr. Attorney Noel Guivani Ramiscal 