4 ms·

Why doesn't chain of custody apply to data?

• ceejayoz 6y ago
  It does, but in a murder trial, the weapon was generally out of police custody for at least some time, right? There's an opportunity to introduce reasonable doubt when a third-party is in possession of the data in-between, but it's likely this sort of data isn't going to be the only evidence in any resulting prosecutions. It's far more likely to be probable cause for warrants.
• moksly 6y ago
  It does, but it’s actually the fourth amendment that would be in place here, and numerous child pornography cases as well as the Panama papers have shown that US courts will allow illegally obtained data, as long as it was obtained by private citizens who were not working with law enforcement and that the data can be established as reasonably untampered.