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I don't remember exactly when "e-discovery" became popular, but I've never agreed with "Every e-mail you write could wind up in court. Everybody knows this, but

by seiji 16y ago

I don't remember exactly when "e-discovery" became popular, but I've never agreed with "Every e-mail you write could wind up in court. Everybody knows this, but people still act like it will never happen to them." email is fake. It can be faked. It can be forged. It isn't a legal record, but people treat it that way.

rikthevik 16y ago
I still wouldn't like to be in front of a judge explaining myself. Just because an e-mail somewhere, somehow, could be forged, doesn't make the whole medium inadmissible in court.
spotter 16y ago
> It isn't a legal record, but people treat it that way No they don't. It's evidence and is treated as such, including all the proper oversight regarding chain of custody and regulatory capture/compliance. All evidence can be faked or forged, like testimony, physical evidence, or even legal "records" (what is that supposed to even mean, anyway? Did you know contracts are also evidence? And that they can be forged?) That's why we have judges, juries and all sorts of messy legal constructs like "truth" and "perjury" and "oath". None of this stuff is deterministic in the real world and it's a lot more complicated than some guy with a beard producing e-mails from a server in the closet.
btilly 16y ago
You may not agree with it, but it is true. Email is far from perfect, but it is no worse than, for instance, a typewritten letter. As for the other problems, they have a tried and true solution. You take the author of the putative email, sit them down in the witness box, and ask them point blank if they wrote said email. If they admit to it, it is now perfectly good solid legal evidence. If they say they did not, it now becomes a question about whether the witness is committing perjury. And given the email trail, and given what other witnesses have said, the truth does tend to out. So, imperfections notwithstanding, every email you write could wind up in court. Furthermore, imperfections still notwithstanding, an email trail can easily become very valuable evidence. Particularly in civil trials where the standard of evidence is much lower.
anamax 16y ago
> It isn't a legal record, but people treat it that way. What is this "legal record"? Email can be a business record. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_record Business records may be used as evidence in legal proceedings. Like all evidence, BRs may be faked/forged. So what?

by seiji 16y ago

rikthevik 16y ago

I still wouldn't like to be in front of a judge explaining myself. Just because an e-mail somewhere, somehow, could be forged, doesn't make the whole medium inadmissible in court.

spotter 16y ago

> It isn't a legal record, but people treat it that way No they don't. It's evidence and is treated as such, including all the proper oversight regarding chain of custody and regulatory capture/compliance. All evidence can be faked or forged, like testimony, physical evidence, or even legal "records" (what is that supposed to even mean, anyway? Did you know contracts are also evidence? And that they can be forged?) That's why we have judges, juries and all sorts of messy legal constructs like "truth" and "perjury" and "oath". None of this stuff is deterministic in the real world and it's a lot more complicated than some guy with a beard producing e-mails from a server in the closet.

btilly 16y ago

You may not agree with it, but it is true. Email is far from perfect, but it is no worse than, for instance, a typewritten letter. As for the other problems, they have a tried and true solution. You take the author of the putative email, sit them down in the witness box, and ask them point blank if they wrote said email. If they admit to it, it is now perfectly good solid legal evidence. If they say they did not, it now becomes a question about whether the witness is committing perjury. And given the email trail, and given what other witnesses have said, the truth does tend to out. So, imperfections notwithstanding, every email you write could wind up in court. Furthermore, imperfections still notwithstanding, an email trail can easily become very valuable evidence. Particularly in civil trials where the standard of evidence is much lower.

anamax 16y ago

> It isn't a legal record, but people treat it that way. What is this "legal record"? Email can be a business record. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_record Business records may be used as evidence in legal proceedings. Like all evidence, BRs may be faked/forged. So what?