The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) has launched a research programme to investigate what problems and possibilities digital evidence in court might present in the future.

The institute has arranged for a members' meeting to be held on 28 March, and has made a call on its Web site for individuals and organisations from IT and the legal profession to join the programme.


Barrister Stephen Mason, director of the programme for the BIICL, said the integrity and future use of digital evidence urgently requires investigation. 'This is a significant programme that has already gathered a tremendous interest among specialists in evidence and the IT industry,' he said.


'The digital world is with us for the foreseeable future, and human beings will use IT for nefarious purposes. It is for lawyers and the IT industry to combine in order to more fully understand the nature of digital evidence. It is important to ensure proof of digital evidence is not sidelined into obscurity.'


Integrity of digital documents is the first project for the programme, which will involve an investigation into the use of digital signatures and encryption, among other technical and non-technical areas. An unresolved theme that crops up regularly when talking with companies involved in electronic document presentation for the legal profession is whether there should be a common document format prescribed.


One firm that has been heavily involved in secure document formats and digital evidence is Adobe, of PDF file fame. Adobe will be involved in the BIICL's programme, and backs the aims of the project.


Michael O'Neill, a senior manager for broadcast, film and digital imaging at the company, pointed out that though using securable document formats that can be read by most systems, such as PDF, is important, similar things can be done with images presented in court.


'It's possible to lock documents down with digital signatures or with security policies to be able to define who can view the document,' he said. 'No one can make changes. What was captured is the same as what you view in court. It maps that golden thread for checking in and checking out of the evidence locker.'


Link: www.biicl.org/index.asp?contentid=1010