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When Discovery Clashes with Privacy Law

By Michael Collyard and Michael Geibelson
December 26, 2012

No matter the industry or market sector, increasingly robust data-analytic platforms offer business decision-makers new, quantifiable insights into the factors that motivate customers and consumers. At the same time, however, concerns about data misuse have led to a complex set of laws and regulations that impose limits on how businesses treat certain kinds of personal information, known as personally identifiable information (PII).

Businesses that want to use data analytics and comply with those privacy rules have an additional burden when the data in question become or could become part of discoverable information in litigation. Then, businesses must make choices about how to handle PII data, which of it to produce and the justifications to support those decisions. Balancing these data-driven issues requires an understanding of the ever evolving landscape of each competing concern.

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