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Abuse Using Technology

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Updated: 
March 29, 2018

How is digital evidence different from other types of evidence?

Digital evidence is different from other types of evidence that you may want to use in court, such as printed pictures, testimony, and other types of official records.

One difference is the actual format of digital evidence, which would be in electronic data files. These files are most commonly found on mobile devices and computers, or stored in online accounts. Therefore, you will need to think through how to present it in a format that the judge will be able to examine. For example, if your evidence is located on your cell phone, and the judge needs to keep your evidence as part of the court record, you would want to think about how to get your evidence printed from your phone or in some other format that the judge can keep (so that the judge doesn’t keep your phone).

Another difference is that digital evidence can be easily changed, damaged, or destroyed, so it is important to protect the data. This may be done by creating backup copies that are saved to a second device, taking screenshots and emailing them to yourself, and updating account passwords.