Digital "Evidence" is Often Evidence of Nothing

Abstract

Digital data increasingly presented in courts as evidence is mistakenly viewed by judges and juries as inherently unalterable. In fact, digital data can be very easily altered and it can be impossible for this falsification to be detected. A number of common ways are described whereby data in one’s computer can enter without the computer owner’s knowledge, let alone complicity. The same applies to all digital storage media, such as those used in digital cameras, digital “tape” recorders, digital divers’ computers, GPS “navigators”, and all other digital devices in common use today. It is important for judges and juries to be highly skeptical of any claims by prosecution that digital “evidence” proves anything at all.