What steps does Independent Reporters take to maximize security for remote discovery?
Remote discovery and questioning witnesses that are not present in rooms with counsel and a court reporter are now the current norms during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has raised questions on how Independent Reporters (IR) is providing remote services to clients and reducing concerns for clients using remote video connections? Here’s how!
- Independent Reporters will have a set login and password protection on all remote discoveries and mediations. Each discovery has it’s own unique ID and password and none of these are recycled.
- We will always ensure that we provide the session ID and password only to individuals that are needed to attend the remote video discovery. This ensures minimal chance of a party outside of the session having access.
- All parties are tested in advance with the same session they will use for the upcoming remote questioning.
- IR uses the “Waiting Room” feature and monitors this so that only participants on the list can join. Participants are held in the waiting room until our administrator confirms attendees, then opens the room.
- The Chat feature is disabled. This avoids any situation where a malicious link could be shared or comments are sent to parties that they were not intended to receive.
- We will always have an administrative technician on hand who monitors the platform. This allows us to ensure no one else can gain access.
- With Chat disabled there is no way to share documents through the Chat functions. Instead, if any exhibits need to be shared, this is done through the Screen Share function. (Ask us how to use this in the training)
- IR will ALWAYS provide training before and support during the meetings to ensure all parties are comfortable in using the platform.
- Independent Reporters is always reviewing new security enhancements available with the online platforms we use and ensuring our systems are always up to date.
We currently utilize two platforms for the backbone for IR Connect – Zoom and WebEx. This provides clients with options. While our preference is Zoom as it is more robust, provides better video and audio and is easier to use, WebEx is also available. We recently did a review of traffic and server usage that may be of interest to those that want to better understand how these platforms send data. You can click here to learn more about this report.
And to schedule a court reporter for remote services you can find our online booking pages here. As always the traditional method of giving us a call is also available. Here is how to contact our Calgary and Edmonton offices.