digital evidence
Data proving facts
Digital evidence is information stored or transmitted in electronic form that can be used to establish facts in legal proceedings.
This includes emails, text messages, social media posts, computer files, GPS data, and metadata.
Unlike physical evidence, digital evidence can be easily copied, altered, or deleted, making proper collection and preservation critical: The prosecution's case relied heavily on digital evidence from the defendant's phone.
- audio recordingsStored sonic content
- emailsDigital written messages
- metadataDescriptive information about content
- time stampsRecorded time indicators
- cyber crimeIllegal acts online
chain of custody · databases · smartphones · text messages · surveillance systems · cloud storage · e-discovery · images · servers · laptops · wearable technology · spreadsheets · deleted · browser history · hard drive · file recovery · trace · subpoena
- evidenceproof, admissible, findings, inadmissible, results
- court evidenceexhibit, fingerprints, ballistics, photograph, video
- e-discoveryESI, production, processing, collection, predictive coding
- cyber lawcyber law, cyberlaw, cybercrime, data protection, data privacy
- Digital Forensicschain of custody, computer forensics, forensic report, expert witness, court testimony
- legal techlegal research, e-discovery, legal search, LexisNexis, e-filing
digital evidencephysical evidence
Tangible items proving facts
material evidence · real evidence · documentary evidence · fingerprints · trace evidence