ALSO CALLED: Electronic Evidence Discovery, eMail Evidence Discovery, Electronic-discovery, eMail Search and Discovery, Email Discoverability, Content Discovery, Discovery Management, Electronic Content Discovery, Electronic Evidence, Computer-based Discovery, Legal Discovery, Electronic Data Discovery, e-Mail Discoverability, Electronic Data Management, eDiscovery, Digital Evidence Discovery, Enterprise Search and Discovery, EDD, e-Discovery, Digital Discovery, Electronic Information Discovery, Digital Evidence, and Electronic Document Discovery
DEFINITION: Electronic discovery (also called e-discovery or ediscovery) refers to any process in which electronic data is sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal legal case. E-discovery can be carried out offline on a particular computer or it can be done in a network. Court-ordered or government sanctioned hacking for the purpose of obtaining  … 
Definition continues below.

ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY DEFINITION (continued): …  critical evidence is also a type of e-discovery.

The nature of digital data makes it extremely well-suited to investigation. For one thing, digital data can be electronically searched with ease, whereas paper documents must be scrutinized manually. Furthermore, digital data is difficult or impossible to completely destroy, particularly if it gets into a network. This is because the data appears on multiple hard drives, and because digital files, even if deleted, can be undeleted. In fact, the only reliable means of destroying data is to physically destroy any hard drive where it is found.

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