UAE to Follow U.S., U.K. in Fighting Corporate Bribery

In the world of electronic discovery and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the sought after balance of "discovery abroad" may find some much appreciated balance in international law.

The new law, which will be drawn up by the State Audit Bureau, would fulfill the UAE's commitment to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which it signed in 2003.

The UAE has ambitions to improve transparency and governance while increasing its role as a center for international business. The UAE has proposed a new company law that will pave the way for a reduction in restrictions on foreign company ownership, while international businesses now have the option to elect the English-speaking Dubai International Financial Centre Courts to resolve disputes.

Bureau chair Hareb bin Saeed Al Amimi released a statement. "This law will greatly support the UAE's efforts to fight corruption and related offences, protect public funds and better utilize national resources for comprehensive development."

Image courtesy of Dubai Tourism

"Do Not Track" Me

Apple is joining the "Do Not Track" team and will include the option to opt-out of website tracking when its new version of Safari is released soon. By doing so, Apple joins Microsoft and Mozilla in providing users this option. (See Wall Street Journal article.)

But this feature is somewhat toothless in that it relies on the websites to voluntarily follow the users' request, and we all know that certain less than scrupulous websites are not going to be very enthusiastic. So Senators Kerry and McCain proposed "Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights" legislation in early April to add some teeth to the request.

I wonder if this will have an impact on forensic collections? In particular, when lit holds are implemented, will users need to turn this option off? Might a website be required to not follow "do not track" in order to prevent spoliation? What do you think?

John Cleaves is supervisor of trial technology consulting at Latham Watkins, based in its Los Angeles office. He is a member of LTN’s editorial advisory board. E-mail: John.Cleaves@lw.com

Image: Clipart.com