Digital Evidence in the US Courtroom

Abstract

The importance of evidence in the digital form is ever growing with the majority of the public carrying at least several different digital devices in their everyday lives; mobile (smart) phones, tabletops, notebook computers, mp3 players, digital cameras, or other such technology. At the same time, rapidly changing world of technology is challenging courts to keep a pace with new laws addressing potential evidence and preserving privacy of its citizen. This phenomenon is common to virtually every country in the world and this is the time we have to conduct a serious review on our legal system on this matter before it is too late. In this paper,I will look into the relevant laws handling digital evidence specifically in the United States. The modern computer system was born in the US in 50’s and today’s cyber world, the Internet, was also created in the United States in late 60’s. Naturally we could say US has richer history of confronting and handling evidence in the digital format than any other countries in the world. Many countries actually have followed footprints of the US in terms of shaping up their legal system in this area for the same reason. Furthermore, this article explores potential paradigm shift in this area to meet dramatically changing environment especially post 9/11.