May 2, 2016

Why do stories of Secretary Clinton's emails keep popping up in the news or the government's request of Apple to create a backdoor for their encryption? Why should we care? Email and texting have changed the ways we communicate and the ways our government can surveil its citizens in the name of national security, causing ripple effects throughout our justice system.

As new information and communication technologies are developed, protections of individual rights to privacy are not always in place fast enough to ensure that technologies are appropriately used or that valuable records are preserved and discoverable.

Such conflicting interests related to e-discovery will be the topic of a documentary film and panel discussion at a May event hosted at Drexel University.

'The Decade of Discovery is a film that asks what is heroic, what is the truth and what is the role of an attorney in finding the truth. It is a film about justice and the right to learn the truth from an adversary and also about freedom and the right to learn the truth from your government,' says the filmmaker, Joe Looby.

The film follows the story of a government attorney, Jason R. Baron, on a quest to find a better way to search White House emails; and a teacher, Richard Braman, on a quest for civil justice. It documents their efforts, along with those of a cast of judges, academics, and legal professionals, to improve discovery and create a more open and transparent government.

Technology has played and continues to play a critical role in our lives, affecting not just our personal interactions and work, but also our freedoms and civil justice.

About the event:

The Decade of Discovery: A Film Screening and Panel Discussion will take place on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the URBN Center Annex on the Drexel University Campus. For additional details, including a list of panelists, please visit the Libraries event listing.