Comments on: Brief Says Don’t Treat RAM as “Stored Information” http://blog.cdt.org/2009/02/13/brief-says-dont-treat-ram-as-stored-information/ Digital Policy in Process Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:02:16 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: bfwebster http://blog.cdt.org/2009/02/13/brief-says-dont-treat-ram-as-stored-information/comment-page-1/#comment-19205 bfwebster Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:08:16 +0000 http://blog.cdt.org/?p=841#comment-19205 It's not only burdensome, it's impossible. <a href="http://andstillipersist.com/2007/06/the-demolished-firm/" rel="nofollow">I wrote about this when the federal court ruling came out</a>. After doing the math on the impossible nature of such a request just on the computer systems within my own home, I wrote: <blockquote>Imagine the complications for a typical corporation that might have hundreds or even thousands of computers. Imagine the complications for Google, which has hundreds of thousands of servers. Again, with all due respect to Judge Chooljian, RAM is not a record nor a document. RAM is not historical; it is ephemeral. Any attempt to make the transient contents of RAM subject to preservation and discovery opens a trans-stellar can of worms.</blockquote> I'm glad to see that this is being challenged; hopefully, it will be overturned upon appeal. ..bruce.. It’s not only burdensome, it’s impossible. I wrote about this when the federal court ruling came out. After doing the math on the impossible nature of such a request just on the computer systems within my own home, I wrote:

Imagine the complications for a typical corporation that might have hundreds or even thousands of computers. Imagine the complications for Google, which has hundreds of thousands of servers.

Again, with all due respect to Judge Chooljian, RAM is not a record nor a document. RAM is not historical; it is ephemeral. Any attempt to make the transient contents of RAM subject to preservation and discovery opens a trans-stellar can of worms.

I’m glad to see that this is being challenged; hopefully, it will be overturned upon appeal. ..bruce..

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