Extract from Victoria Hudgins’s article “E-Discovery’s New Wild West: The Metaverse”
As more enterprises, including law firms, are venturing onto the metaverse, these virtual worlds, and the potential evidence they host, are likely to be dragged into litigation. But despite e-discovery attorneys’ experiences adapting to collaborative platforms and text messaging apps, many expressed concern that the metaverse is a “Wild West” that introduces new technical challenges, potential data issues and jurisdiction complications.
While no one knows how widely the metaverse will be adopted by companies or their employees, e-discovery attorneys said it could significantly impact the discovery process.
“It’s definitely an area we should watch,” said Bryant Isbell, managing director of global e-discovery and data advisory at Baker McKenzie. He added, “There’s a lot of issues around data privacy and cybersecurity as we look at what the metaverse will be and as that continues to develop.”
However, in addition to considering how to protect users’ privacy and data, traditional discovery processes may need to be reassessed when relevant information regarding litigation exists on the metaverse, lawyers said.
