Collecting electronic evidence

Searching computers for criminal evidence

Description

The common need to collect, preserve, and present electronic evidence in ways that best ensure and reflect their integrity and irrefutable authenticity, both for the purposes of domestic prosecution and international co-operation.

Context

Procedures and technical methods for handling electronic evidence should be further developed, and particularly in such a way as to ensure their compatability between states. Criminal procedural law provisions on evidence relating to tradition documents should similarly apply to data stored in a computer system.

The power to extend a search to other computer systems should also be applicable when the system is located in a foreign jurisdiction, provided that immediate action is required. In order to avoid possible violations of state sovereignity or international law, an unambigious legal basis for such extended search and seizure should be established. Therefore, there is an urgent need for negotiating international agreements as to how, when and to what extent such search and seizure should be permitted.

Claim

1. One idea worthy of consideration is formalizing international expedited procedures that protect electronic evidence on foreign soil from alteration or destruction. These could be in the form of "preservation of evidence requests," or "protected seizures," whereby an international request freezes a scene until a domestic judicial search mechanism can be used. Just like technological advances are the product of creativity and ingenuity, legal work in this area must likewise be imaginative and forward leaning.