Featured Articles – Expert Witness Features – page 15

When it comes to downloading, ‘sharing’ isn’t always being generous

SINCE THE BIRTH of Napster in the late 1990s the media have bombarded us with horror stories involving peer-to-peer file sharing. Whether they be stories about music and video piracy, viruses, child pornography or national security, the reality is that peer-to-peer file sharing is here to stay and these technologies are changing the way we work, the way we play, the way media providers distribute their content and, of course, the way we break the law.

So what exactly is ‘file sharing’? Put simply, it is a method of connecting computers together so that files can be ‘shared’ on one computer, and a user of another computer on the same network can search for and copy that file to their own computer.

Electronic discovery – the tool of the future for litigation

A RECENT report by the Fraud Advisory Panel revealed that the average length of a serious fraud investigation between 2002 and 2006 totalled 33 months, costing the British taxpayer around £100m a year to fund in Legally Aided cases.

In the FAP’s document, Improving the Investigation and Prosecution of Fraud, particular attention was paid to two common pitfalls in fraud investigations: first, difficulties faced in focusing the investigation during the early stages; second, containing the issues that arise when handling large volumes of seized material.

Mobile phones: a wealth of evidence for those who know where to look

IT IS ESTIMATED that there are now more active mobile telephones in the UK than there are people.

The worldwide mobile telephone subscriber count is over three billion, which accounts for half the population of the planet.

Modern mobile telephones are able to store massive amounts of data: hundreds of contact details, along with the times and sometimes the durations of calls – both incoming and outgoing – may be stored. Recent technology has enabled internet browsing and email correspondence, as well as instant chat (such as Yahoo chat or Windows Live Messenger). Embedded cameras and microphones now allow telephones to capture events and even to ‘geotag’ them using co-ordinates generated by onboard GPS systems.

Professional negligence A case of being named, blamed and shamed

First, there is the knock to your pride and ego that comes with direct criticism of your work and advice.

However, more tangibly, such claims can be very expensive even if the actual damages are covered by an indemnity policy. There will be an excess to pay and, typically, many hours will be spent in defending the action and justifying the standard of work undertaken.

When is a digital forensics expert NOT an expert?

FOR MANY YEARS lawyers knew exactly what to do when they took on a case involving computer crime – call in the forensic computing experts.

A rare breed, their skills were held in high regard and shrouded in mystique, and they often appeared to be performing miracles. Armed with just a few software tools and years of hard-earned experience, they could deliver compelling evidence by piecing together a few fragments of deleted files recovered from various hard drives or email servers.