Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
being.brought.into.court.to.prove.or.disprove.culpability.and.
liability.issues.
If. someone. worked. for. an. organization. that. developed.
some.new.experimental.manufacturing.product.and.signed.a.
noncompete.agreement,.then.went.to.work.for.a.competitor.
who. suddenly. began. manufacturing. the. same. product,. the.
court.or.the.complaining.party.(the.plaintiff.in.a.court.case).
might.very.well.bring.forward.the.electronic.version.of.that.
agreement.to.prove.their.assertion.of.breach.of.contract.
What. about. establishing. when. something. happened?.
Electronic.evidence.is.possibly.unique.because.in.many.cases.
there.will.automatically.be.a.time.stamp.afixed.to.any.type.of.
electronic.data..Even.if.that.“metadata”.with.the.time.stamp.
is.not.actually.part.of.a.document.or.piece.of.data,.there.will.
most.always.be.an.application.or.device.that.created.the.data.
and.whose.log.iles.will.contain.information.that.establishes.
the. time. and. date. on. which. the. data. was. created,. altered,.
moved,.or.even.deleted.
Again,. let's. think. of. some. examples.. Say. a. person. is.
accused.of.robbing.a.bank..The.robbery.took.place.at.1:35.
P.M..on.Monday.afternoon..During.the.trial.the.defendant's.
attorney. is. able. to. produce. a. video. recording. of. his. client.
buying.Twinkies.in.a.convenience.store.two.towns.away..The.
time.stamp.on.the.video.tape.shows.1:27.P.M..on.Monday..
The. store. is. more. than. a. half. hour. away. from. the. bank. in.
the.best.of.trafic..The.time.stamp.has.created.a.perfect.alibi.
(unless.the.prosecutor.can.prove.the.time.stamp.is.faulty.or.
the.video.has.been.tampered.with,.but.that.gets.into.a.whole.
different. discussion. on. data. integrity. that. I. promise. we. get.
into.later).
Or.consider.the.noncompete.agreement.we.talked.about.
earlier..What.if.the.employee.was.able.to.show.that.he.had.
a. more. recent. document. releasing. him. from. that. contract.
with.regard.to.a.speciic.product?.Again,.this.entire.argument.
would.revolve.around.the.time.the.agreements.were.created,.
so. the. integrity. and. reliability. of. the. time. stamps. or. other.
time.assertions.would.be.paramount.
