The Associated Press reported today that an arrest warrant has been issued for disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis in Paris, France. Mr. Landis, former 2006 Tour de France champion, had his medal revoked when it was determined that he had elevated levels of performance enhancing drugs in his system. Mr. Landis maintains that the computer files were mishandled and erased. In an alleged attempt to prove his case, a French judge wants to question whether Mr. Landis had hacked into the database of Chatenay-Malabry Lab, the laboratory that first uncovered the elevated levels of testosterone in his body, to show that the Lab had made mistakes.
The soap opera that is Mr. Floyd Landis is not the issue here. What’s more important to understand is the potential lengths individuals, law firms, IT firms, and such will go now to prove its case in a Web 2.0 world. Organizations need to understand that whether they are the target of an investigation/lawsuit, or an interested third-party, there are individuals and other organizations that will go to great lengths to extract the pertinent information they need to defend their client (or clear their name, as was the case for Mr. Landis). Without some sort of data governance program in place, information that is not being sought, but comingled with data that is being sought, could potentially be released in an unauthorized manner.