The internet has had a big impact on law and legal cases. It enables lawyers to find new clients, access online research databases, and improve productivity. However, using it to collect evidence requires walking a fine line — not all online evidence is admissible in court.
If you plan to use online writings, recordings, or photographs in a case, you must understand the best evidence rule to ensure the authenticity and admissibility.
What’s the Best Evidence Rule?
The best evidence rule is a legal principle requiring a party to provide original documents to prove their contents during a case. This principle applies only when a party presents the content of the writing, recording, or photograph as evidence, according to the Federal Rules of Evidence.
If the original document of the evidence exists and can be obtained, the secondary evidence usually won’t be admissible. If the original can’t be obtained, the party must give a valid reason and substantiate the secondary evidence if allowed by the court.
Public and private information on social media and other online accounts can be admissible. However, it must be authenticated directly. The party must show proof of how the data was obtained and preserved – and that’s where SMI Aware comes in.
Our Approach & Process
At SMI Aware, we trust in the power of technology to collect and preserve court-admissible information. We developed proprietary technology to locate, collect, export, and preserve data from search engines, social media, public records, and the deep web while ensuring:
- Ethical Processes: We comply with regulations to deliver legal and quality services.
- Data Security: We protect client data to maintain investigation integrity.
- Uniformity: We follow a standardized method to ensure consistent and defensible results.
- Chain of Custody: Our Export service includes source code, metadata, and time stamps to ensure authenticity and compliance.
We also have certified and experienced in-house analysts to complement technology. While our technology is powerful, human review eliminates false positives and ensures deeper, more accurate analysis.
We customize the investigation to deliver actionable case-specific reports. For example, our Deep Reports cover a subject’s complete online presence, including social media, the deep web, and online forums. After the investigation, we provide archivable information for secure preservation or court-ready reports for use in cases.
Build Strong Cases with Us
The success of any case depends on the authenticity of the collected evidence, as required by the best evidence rule. Many cases fail because of insufficient or improperly collected evidence, risking both the case outcome and your reputation.
Instead, you can partner with a proven social media evidence collection company like SMI Aware. We use custom technology and certified analysts to collect and preserve authenticated, court-admissible evidence, saving you time and money.
Contact us today to find out how SMI Aware can help your firm ethically collect and preserve OSINT evidence.
