In the age of digital data, search orders may have had their day. Mary Young argues that both search & imaging orders need to be redesigned
- Standard search orders don’t reflect the reality of today’s data landscape. In some cases, imaging or hybrid orders could be more appropriate.
- Considering some of the practicalities involved in the search and imaging before the order is made, may assist with a more efficient and cost effective exercise.
The courts have reminded us in numerous judgments that the primary purpose of a search order is to preserve evidence. As most documentary evidence is now in digital form, stored on devices or on cloud-based systems, it is usually possible to take an image of the data required without removing anything from premises, and without affecting the data being imaged. As such, it may be that where a search order would have been required in the past, an imaging order or some sort of hybrid order could now be more appropriate.
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