One (possible) answer – the devil is in the detail, and assuming that is – one can get hold of the detail.

I wonder whether one can determine ‘the fairest and lawfully’ when one do get hold of the detail. If you’re looking for the detail, then you have used the incorrect word ‘hold’. Well in Singaporean term…

Last October, I attended the e-Discovery Exchange Platform, an event organised by innoXcell, in Singapore (as I was out in that part of the world). I enjoyed a very different ediscovery conference/event.

Singapore, the Lion City, itself needs no introduction, what needs to be said is that when in Singapore do what the Singaporeans do or don’t do. My first encounter was in the MRT (the tube/metro) station. I have heard about the ‘no chewing gum’ stuff but not about the ‘no food/eating/drinking’ in station platform and train. Being blinded by the heat and travel exhaustion I naturally drank a bottle of water while waiting in the platform. This natural action could have set me back S$200 or more! I was lucky I wasn’t caught, so I was told. I also found out that chewing gum is permissible and not an offending action to chew gums. So better chew gums than drink water in trains and platforms in Singapore!

How does this translate into ediscovery setting in Singapore? I have to admit I turned up at the e-Discovery Exchange Platform event unprepared as I joined at the very last minute and only for one day. No matter, I did have some fun and met some interesting folks and had great exchanges. One exchange which I want to remember – is that the term ‘litigation hold’ is not in the Singaporean ediscovery vocabulary. Like don’t assume chewing gum is not OK. For ediscovery to take hold in clean and organised Singapore – use ‘lock down’ and do not aim to ‘get hold’ of the detail (like in the American sense of performing ediscovery). Are the Singaporeans taking hold of ‘creative ediscovery’ (fairest and lawfully?) to the next level ( i.e. like in their city planning or planned city), by having options available (opt-in framework) for dealing with matters involving discovery?

I also heard (during the coffee exchanges) that ediscovery is discovery. My guess is that technical drama in ediscovery is nothing to brag about in Singapore. For the creative Practice Direction, check out for the devil in the detail in the Practice Direction No.3 of 2009.

A Singaporean lawyer also kindly gave me an interesting case report (that challenges the PD right to the detail) to read which I won’t bore you with the detailed analysis.

Mmm.. This blog is posted in UK, dated 2nd February – end of a lunar calendar.  From 3rd February the lunar calendar falls under the rule of the White/Metal Rabbit. I wonder what the Rabbit brings…

Wishing all my Chinese friends and readers a ‘Very Happy and Prosperous New Year’ !

Oh! I just saw me in the front page of the video! (which I just found at the innoXcell event site). A nice way to close this blog.
Thanks!

However, being a student and living nearby the beautiful Peking University campus compensated for all the not so nice stuff or inconveniences associated with living in Beijing. What inconveniences? Mmm..No Facebook plus no access to blogging sites. I am now more aware of what is the meaning of ‘information gap’ (or may I say – information control?). Actually I am more aware but this awareness does not contribute to my general well-being. Does the lack of information affect one’s general well-being? This question pops up as I read the news ‘Freedom of expression on Internet guaranteed’ especially this statement;
‘The Internet has an “irreplaceable role in accelerating the development of the national economy” and will continue to impact daily work, education and lifestyles, the paper says.’
From this I am deducing that my general well-being will be impacted.

This blog will mark not only my varied, different lifestyles in Beijing but also that the internet has crossed over to the sovereignty realm.

Anyhow, I am joining the Sina blogging sphere and hope to improve my mandarin and also improve my general well-being.
I also hope to get back into the ediscovery sphere once I am back or cross over the other side of the Internet.

Sitting here and with all the freedom to click to whatever sites/blogs etc. , I ought to feel great (and grateful) that I don’t get a page telling me ‘Page not available’. Strangely, I feel the break from the online social sites a great mind cleanser or should I say ‘data cleanser’?

By my (temporarily) cleansed mind, I am not missing much in terms of new found data/information or the ediscovery/edisclosure scenes. What I do recognise or discover is that my data/photos/news and whereabouts are really not everyone’s business at all?! More strangely, other people’s data/photos/news and whereabouts are a constant source of mystery and a rich playground for all kinds of mischief including learning.

Would you rather get a ‘Page not available’ or something mysterious or an obscure/ repeated blogs/stories about someone/something/stuff that isn’t your business at all? Who has the right to determine which data is mine or/and is not everybody’s business? Well…it’s like doing ediscovery/edisclosure, isn’t it?

Whether my data or other people’s data is private or not, it is so good to be able to re-connect with friends again at Facebook.

So a quick post on what’s new in the Data scene. Check out the ICC’s site on news coming from the European Commission on changes to the Standard Contractual Clauses.

I guess it won’t make any sense to compare or contrast past year’s events or developments especially when it comes to talking about technology or the internet. Still…it does make interesting reading if one can grasp the full extent of the changing technological landscape.

Since I am only able to recognize the changing calendar and as I have been on the move a lot over the past years, my newsfeed are via my friends or from social media sites. Being in Beijing means access to social media sites and blog sites takes on a new dimension. I have to re-invent how I connect with new friends and turn to the foursquare to ‘shout’ out my location or bearing. Would anyone find my identity and location in 2012? (see the movie?!)

Nothing to do with ediscovery but a reminder that I am in Beijing and a Chinese friend has a new business at www.tui3.com   My challenge is to learn mandarin (fast enough!?) such that I can use this site.

Before I say farewell to the noughties, here is a glimpse of what someone said ‘you need to know about e-discovery in 2010’.

Notice any changes? I can only recognize the change from 2009 to 2010.

Happy 2010.

I just opened an invitation e-mail and the word – e-Garbage struck a loud chord! Imagine how much e-Garbage I will add to the universe of ‘e-something’ if I could just do a ‘click’ on my physical garbage and turn them into e-Garbage?! Thank goodness I can still have my teddy bear.

The invitation e-mail was for CYBERLAWS 2010 | Call for Papers – ‘The First International Conference on Technical and Legal Aspects of the e-Society’.