Like most, I mark time in milestones, and a milestone year for me is 1908. That was the year my lawyer father, Herbert Ball, was born–113 years ago tomorrow. To be clear, dad probably wasn’t born a lawyer; yet everything about him supported the conclusion that he sprang from the womb clutching a Harvard Law degree. “Aught eight” was also the year another lawyer, William Howard Taft, became President of the United States; and still another lawyer, Thomas Riley Marshall, became Governor of Indiana. Marshall would go on to be Vice President of the United States under Woodrow Wilson; yet, if you know Thomas R. Marshall’s name at all, it is only as the man who reportedly said, “What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.”
Nope. Sorry. Uh-uh. What this country needs is a really low cost e-discovery platform. Something simple that lets lawyers see and search electronic evidence without spending a bunch of money. Or any money, really.
I’ve decried the absence of low-cost eDiscovery tools since Edison recorded sound. A dozen years ago, I laid down the EDna Challenge begging the vendor community for something a lawyer could use to process and review small collections of ESI for less than $1,000.00. They all laughed.
The vendors are laughing still…all the way to the bank. Yet, a glimmer of hope crept over the transom today as I dragged and dropped a container file holding 50,000 e-mail messages into a free Google tool called Pinpoint.
Within minutes, Google converted the emails to PDFs and ran optical character recognition (OCR) against embedded imagery. I quickly realized that Pinpoint hadn’t processed email attachments, so I grabbed the native attachments and pointed Pinpoint to them. The attachments uploaded, images were OCR’ed and audio files were transcribed! Even handwritten items were converted to searchable text! What? WHAT!
I expected a Google product to be adept at search, but WOW! Pinpoint’s AI proved a powerful adjunct to human exploration. Pinpoint automatically searches for spelling variants and synonymous terms, though you can restrict searches to exact matches using quotation marks. Searching John Podesta’s email for “Hillary Clinton” turned up documents that only contained the initials, “HRC.” Whoa! A search for “victory” hit on documents with the term “winning,” and Pinpoint found those hits within images deployed in a PowerPoint presentation.
Pinpoint OCRs and enables keyword search and entity filtering for these file types:
- Emails (.EML) and email archives (.MBOX)
- Images (.JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .BMP, .TIFF)
- Text (.TXT, .RTF)
- Structured text (.CSV, .XML, .TSV)
- Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
- Microsoft Excel (.XLS, .XLSX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (.PPT, .PPTX)
- Web pages (.HTML)
- Audio (.MP3, .MP4, .M4A, .WAV, .FLAC, .WMA, .AAC, .RA, .RAM, .AIF, .AIFF)
When you run keyword searches, Pinpoint highlights hits. Highlighting works for native PDFs and files Pinpoint converted to PDFs:
- Emails (.EML) and email archives (.MBOX)
- Images (.JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .BMP, .TIFF)
- Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (.PPT, .PPTX)
- Audio (.MP3, .MP4, .M4A, .WAV, .FLAC, .WMA, .AAC, .RA, .RAM, .AIF, .AIFF)
Pinpoint instantly displays any document it converts to PDF and users can search and filter the following file types, but to view the content of these native formats you must open them outside of Pinpoint:
- Microsoft Excel (.XLS, .XLSX)
- Structured text (.CSV, .XML, .TSV)
- Web pages (.HTML)
Pinpoint supports collaboration by enabling Pinpoint users to share their collections. Other users can see, search, filter and download documents but won’t be able to add to the collection.
Pinpoint is a glimpse of an affordable future for eDiscovery. Truly, it’s eDiscovery for everyone, but not without limitations. Tagging is clumsy, export is an item-by-item slog and users are currently limited to 100GB of storage and about 200 thousand files. Mail containers must be converted to MBOX or EML formats to load. Right now, it’s just not built for eDiscovery. It’s designed for journalists, and there are key things it can’t do that lawyers need.
But consider what it can do: no cost processing and hosting of the filetypes common to eDiscovery. Brilliant search. Automatic transcription of sound files and automatic OCR of images, with solid privacy and security for uploaded content. For free.
The power and the promise are there. The price is right. There’s no public development roadmap for Pinpoint but it won’t take much for it to become a capable tool for DIY eDiscovery. Next time you wonder, “Where’s the Google for eDiscovery?” the answer may be easy to Pinpoint.
Ball in your Court 
Doug Austin said:
I’ll have to check it out and report on my own observations, Craig! One observation I’ve noted right off the bat: when I clicked on the link you provided, it gave me a message that said: “Organization accounts aren’t supported. Switch to a private @gmail account. I was logged into my ediscoverytoday.com account, which is based on Gmail, but not a personal account (obviously). So, apparently, it’s eDiscovery for everyone, as long as you have a Google personal Gmail account. 😉
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craigball said:
It’s in beta, so they are trying to limit it to journalists, academics and others who have a reason to seek access. Ask and ye shall receive. It’s impressive that they knew of you sufficiently to deny you access. 😉
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David K. Tobin said:
fwiw, at the firm I work for we only bill $300 per month per case for up to 30 GB of data using one of the popular cloud ediscovery tools
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craigball said:
That’s a fantastic rate for an “all in” 30GB ingestion, processing and hosting month! No other charges for, say, setup, additional users (seats), production? Feel free to name the vendor…please. If they are delivering a tool you like for that price, they deserve the spotlight.
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davidkeithtobin said:
Rather not say. We were an early adopter and they have been very good to us on our renewals. Our firm pays a flat rate for a few TB, unlimited archiving and unlimited users. This is what we do to recoup our costs. Some attorneys still don’t like to bill the client and it gets w/o. We could make it cheaper with more usage and better collections.
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melroseadam said:
Most small firms spend that much *total* on all of their software, let alone ediscovery software. I’ll have to give this tool a shot!
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craigball said:
Note what I missed at first blush: the price David shared is not the price charged to users by the vendor. It’s the price David’s firm resells the service they bought in bulk. Still a great deal, but likely not available to anyone who merely seeks hosted services.
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Remington Smith said:
Actually, GoldFynch is even better than David’s pricing to clients.
512MB = Free (single test account—a great idea to learn the platform and experiment for free)
1GB = $10/mo.
3GB = $25/mo.
5GB = $35/mo.
10GB = $70/mo.
15GB = $100/mo.
25GB = $165/mo.
50GB = $315/mo.
75GB = $465/mo.
100GB = $600/mo.
150GB = $825/mo.
Case volumes above 150 GB increase in 50 GB increments at the rate of $275 per 50 GB.
This is all in pricing with unlimited users and the data tiers are billed pro-rata, so theoretically, you could ingest 150GB and only pay ~$27.5/day until you can get the data set narrowed down to say 3GB for review and longer-term hosting (deleting the 147GB after two days) and only pay something like $78.33 for the first month and $25 each month thereafter until you no longer wished to host the data. If any other vendors are offering this kind of pro-rata pricing, please share.
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craigball said:
I have to challenge the claim that Goldfynch’s prices are better than David’s firm’s pricing. David’s firm’s $300 price was for a full month of 30GB. Goldfynch rounds up to the next tier, so their price would be a bit higher ($315.00) for the month. It’s not fair to compare anything less than the full month of usage for apples to oranges. I also note that Goldfynch double dips in its charges in that it aggregates the volume of container files and their extracted contents. So, if Goldfynch ingests a 2GB zip or PST file that holds 2.5GB in data, Goldfynch charges for 5GB usage (by charging for both container and contents individually–2GB+2.5GB=4.5GB–AND rounding up to next tier). “That dog don’t hunt,” as we say in Texas. What do they say in Iowa?
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Remington Smith said:
If you precisely needed more than 25GB and less than 30GB for the month, David’s single tier pricing would be slightly ($15.00) cheaper per month. But, as far as per GB for the tiers offered, Goldfynch’s $6.60/GB/mo. (for up to 25GB) and $6.30/GB/mo. (for up to 50GB) is better than David’s $10.00/GB/mo. (for up to 30GB). Also, perhaps it is a newer feature, however, Goldfynch now allows you to easily delete the duplicative top-level containers (e.g., Zips, PSTs, etc.) in bulk after you extract their contents, and they will no longer count toward your hosting total. See https://goldfynch.com/docs/viewing_files/docs_reclaim_case_space/. Unless your experience is different, I believe in your unpacking scenario, as long as you immediately delete the top-level container, you would not pay for the next bigger tier for more than 1 day, and it would drop back down to the lower tier for the remainder of the month. Unless I am misunderstanding their prorated pricing discussed here (https://goldfynch.com/blog/2021/05/18/the-case-for-prorated-ediscovery-pricing-hint-it-cuts-costs.html), it would appear to be a real game changer.
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craigball said:
I want to add that I’m not seeking to discourage anyone from considering Goldfynch for their e-discovery needs. I first heard of Goldfynch in 2016, when it was barely out of the starting gate and (IMHO) Goldfynch was more beta project than viable product. I just haven’t heard or seen much about Goldfynch since–perhaps because they aren’t a VC darling that spends heavily on marketing. Any company that works to genuinely reduce the cost of competent eDiscovery is an angel in my book; so, looks like I’ve got to spend some time and money to kick the tires! (my test set is too large for their free account).
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rossdj said:
Hi Craig, Ross from GoldFynch jumping in. You’re welcome to sign up and upload as much as you like to the free test case. Just send the support team a note via the in-app “help” button that you need more space to evaluate.
You are correct that we are self-funded and have a negligible marketing spend. We are not very attractive to investors as we are “leaving money on the table” and targeting the lower, long-tail of the market. Still, we have been growing steadily MoM.
P.S., we do have a 35 GiB plan at $227.50 / month that we added last year, since we thought the jump from 25 to 50 was a bit too large.
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craigball said:
Thanks. I’ll give it a try with the test set I routinely use to kick the tires on processors and review tools. Let me know if I can be of help to you in your efforts to deliver low-cost, user friendly eDiscovery tools. That’s something I support at all times.
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Remington Smith said:
A slight correction / addition: GoldFynch recently added an additional tier that that would be more competitive than David’s firm pricing—even for the 25GB+ to >30GB dataset.
512MB = Free (single test account—a great idea to learn the platform and experiment for free)
1GB = $10/mo.
3GB = $25/mo.
5GB = $35/mo.
10GB = $70/mo.
15GB = $100/mo.
25GB = $165/mo.
35GB = $227.50/mo. <– This one
50GB = $315/mo.
75GB = $465/mo.
100GB = $600/mo.
150GB = $825/mo.
Case volumes above 150 GB increase in 50 GB increments at the rate of $275 per 50 GB.
This new tier a great addition, as I often seem to find myself with a little over 25GB (removing Digital WarRoom from contention) but well short of 50GB of data to analyze.
For purposes of completeness, GoldFynch also offers nearline archiving for 50% off the normal tier price after the case has been hosted at least 6 months. I do wish they offered immediate access to archiving.
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Remington Smith said:
Craig, I think it is time to exhume EDna. GoldFynch and Digital WarRoom also seem like possible contenders for a reanimated / reimagined EDna challenge. I am particularly impressed with GoldFynch’s pro-rata tier pricing for larger datasets.
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John said:
I shudder any time Google gets involved with anything. Unless they have a separate privacy policy for this, I personally wouldn’t touch it. Actually, even if they did I wouldn’t touch it. Their unofficial motto is “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission (and hope there’s no fine involved)” when it comes to data collection. This would be a goldmine for their data mining and advertising business model. Thanks for the post, Craig, but no thanks, Google!
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craigball said:
Entirely your call for your data, but Google does have an explicit privacy policy for the Pinpoint data.
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Alison ONeill said:
Challenge accepted. With Digital WarRoom EDna could easily process, review, and export in typical eDiscovery format for under $1000. If we assume 50,000 documents would be approximately 5 GB, EDna would pay $250 per month using Digital WarRoom. The Digital WarRoom Single Matter Hosted option is $250 per month which includes 25 GB ($10 per GB thereafter), three users, a month to month commitment, training and support. If Edna can complete her work in one month her cost would be no more than $250. We also have on-premise software and a hosted Private Cloud option available and have tiered pricing for larger matters. Challenge met.
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craigball said:
Ha Ha. Nice try! That’s NOT the EDna challenge, which required a minimum two years of access to the data in a volume that could fill two DVDs. So, yes, the 25GB workspace is ample, but requiring that EDna finish the case in a month changes the rules. Two years on DWR is, what?, $6,000?
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Alison ONeill said:
We still come close – If she want to nearline her matter the cost is $0.20/GB with a minimum of $50 per month. So, 23 months of nearline at $50 per month would cost EDna $1150. If EDna needs to access the data it can be brought back on line for her use and review.
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craigball said:
No, not very close. Again, requiring EDna finish in a month is not fair. DWR’s pricing is lower than many other better known tools in the marketplace–good for you!–but Digital Warroom does NOT meet the EDna challenge…and insisting that it does–or came close–just isn’t accurate.
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Remington Smith said:
For what it is worth, when I suggested Digital WarRoom as a possible contender for a reanimated / reimagined EDna challenge, I was thinking of the last, updated $5,000 EDna challenge (https://craigball.net/2016/04/15/edna-still-cheap-and-challenged/) and focused on Digital WarRoom’s $1,795/yr. license model for unlimited data processing with on-premises software/hardware in my use case with ample existing hardware already available.
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craigball said:
Understood and appreciated, but we were clearly talking about the 2009 original $1,000 EDna challenge. 2016’s EDna II, the five grand challenge, was frankly put forward to make it easier for the industry to claim contenders. I raised the volume requirement to 12GB, but EDna still needs AT LEAST 90 days for review and up to two years of nearline access to the hosted data for three seats. EDna II has multiple “winners,” but it’s not the “real” EDna challenge. A $5,000 per matter price tag remains a high bar for many, many cases.
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Remington Smith said:
And, in that vein, the cost of licensing Digital WarRoom for two years ($3,590) would be nearly identical to the cost of licensing Vound Intella 100GB for the same period ($2,995 + $599 = $3,594).
I would love to see us dust off EDna with new, clearly-defined parameters and see how we look in 2021.
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Alison ONeill said:
Thanks Remington Smith! With the updated challenge amount of $5000 you can tell EDna Digital WarRoom has her covered with money left over if she chooses the on premise solution and Digital WarRoom comes within $1000 of the target with our Single Matter option. Have Edna give us a call. 🙂
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Alison ONeill said:
The Digital WarRoom on-premise solution would cost EDna $3590 and includes training and unlimited email support. We’d love to help Edna out. 🙂
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craigball said:
Is that $3,590 per year, so $7,000+ for two years or is that the fee for two years at half that rate per year?
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Remington Smith said:
No. Digital WarRoom is $1,795 per year per station.
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craigball said:
But, then three users requires three dongles and three licenses at three times the cost per year. Sharing a dongle using a sneaker net isn’t supporting three simultaneous users. To paraphrase Colonel Jessep in “A Few Good Men:” “Son, we live in a world that has rules, and rules have to be guarded by people with blogs.” ;-))
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Remington Smith said:
Alison O’Neill, is Digital WarRoom’s license dongle based like Vound Intella, where, say 3 users could swap the dongle around to further process and analyze the data—so long as they do not do so simultaneously?
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Alison ONeill said:
Nope, the Digital WarRoom on premise solution is $1795 per year for a total two year cost of $3590!
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Alison ONeill said:
Indeed. 🙂 But EDna and her two friends could use the Digital WarRoom Single Matter Hosted option for $6000 for two years – I know, close but no cigar. Well, smoking isn’t good for us anyway. And didn’t Colonel Jessup get arrested in the end? 🙂
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craigball said:
Yes, he was taken into custody (but Trump pardoned him in 2017). Still, I want him on that wall. I need him on that wall. As a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that he and his ilk provide, I think I’ll just say “thank you” and be on my way.
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