The Advantages of an effective procedure for digital evidence capture

Digital evidence plays a crucial role in practically most cases and across a wide range of legal contexts, making it essential for legal teams to internalize a proper, efficient, and well-known management process for the capture and certification of digital evidence in any law firm.

From forensic investigations to legal litigation, having an efficient and client-focused process for capturing any digital evidence is necessary to ensure the integrity and validity of the evidence presented, thus preventing potential manipulation or deletion of the evidence.

In this article, we will explore the advantages of having a proper approach and how SaveTheProof’s tool can be the definitive solution.

Chances are you already have a more or less formal procedure for capturing digital evidence on public or private websites, social networks, etc. The goal is to optimize this process by reducing the unnecessary risks associated with simple screen captures. You can read more about screen captures in this post: “Screenshots are not solid evidence“.

The process of capturing digital evidence and certifying it should be as detailed and well-established as possible to ensure its total reliability and authenticity.

At a minimum, this procedure should establish:

Who?

Identify clearly who is responsible for capturing and certifying the evidence; whether internal (a lawyer) or external (if the client needs to access the content because it’s from a private website).

How?, and with what tools?

Simple screen captures are no longer sufficient for capturing evidence, and this is where SaveTheProof comes in as the tool for capturing and issuing certificates for the required digital content.

When?

The timing of evidence capture is crucial. The sooner, the better to prevent manipulation or deletion of the content.

Maintenance of Records and Archiving

This should be aligned with the internal document management procedure and comply with legal requirements as applicable.

These are the main advantages of integrating a well-defined process with SaveTheProof, as a certification platform, which is essential in any legal firm:

1. Timely and Effective Capture: Digital evidence can easily be modified or deleted if not captured promptly. An efficient procedure ensures that evidence is collected before it can be altered or removed. SaveTheProof is available 24/7, allowing access whenever needed.

2. Avoids Challenge Risks: Screen captures or screenshots can be subject to challenge if suspected of manipulation. A proper procedure, like the one offered by SaveTheProof, ensures the integrity of the evidence, minimizing the risk of challenge.

3. Reduction of Intermediaries: By eliminating intermediaries in the evidence capture process, the possibility of errors or unintentional manipulations is reduced, ensuring the chain of custody. The SaveTheProof.com platform can be used on-site from any device with internet access, eliminating the need to install any software. Therefore, the lawyer themselves can access and perform the capture, without having to send captures to third parties for certification or having the capture pass through multiple hands within the same team.

4. Ensures Chain of Custody: SaveTheProof, as an independent third party, ensures the digital chain of custody, as its capture devices are not susceptible to manipulation, keeping the user out of it.

5. Ensures Metadata: Metadata is crucial to validate the authenticity of digital evidence, and if required, it facilitates the work for computer experts. SaveTheProof preserves the metadata associated with each proof, ensuring its integrity, reliability, and reinforcing legal guarantees.

6. Ensures Image Quality: The tool guarantees the quality and authenticity of captured images, providing clear and legible evidence. This ensures that the evidence will not be rejected due to lack of image quality.

7. Time and Money Savings: By automating and simplifying the process of capturing digital evidence, SaveTheProof helps save time and resources, resulting in significant cost savings for the firm.

SaveTheProof emerges as the ultimate solution to streamline the process and meet the needs of law firms, ensuring timely, fast, and legally guaranteed capture of digital evidence with electronic signature and qualified timestamp seals. All while saving time and resources in the process.

You can sign up and try SaveTheProof for 7 days free of charge and with no commitment.

If you need more information, feel free to contact us!