Charles Adams

Legal Issues Pertaining to the Development of Digital Forensic Tools

Developers of new and improved forensic tools need to design them with the end result of their use in court in mind. Law enforcement must be able to show that the forensic tools and techniques produce reliable evidence in order for a court to consider it. Reliability is enhanced by demonstration that the forensic tools conform to the general standards within the forensic community. In addition, forensic tools must have adequate safeguards to protect the privacy of the public. Designing forensic tools so that they produce audit trails may help to verify that the use of forensic tools is limited appropriately to comply with court authorization.

Legal requirements for the use of keystroke loggers

This paper examines the American federal Wiretap Act and its application to the use of keystroke loggers as forensic tools and by private individuals. The paper concludes that for purposes of the Wiretap Act, a keystroke logger intercepts electronic communications if the keystrokes that the logger records are being transmitted over telephone lines or the Internet. Under the Wiretap Act, law enforcement personnel must obtain a wiretap order in order to use a keystroke logger to intercept any electronic communications.

Legal Issues Pertaining to the Use of Cell Phone Data

This paper examines the principal legal issues related to the use of cell phone data as evidence at trial and to establish a basis for obtaining wiretap orders or call detail records from service providers. Four scenarios are considered. The first three scenarios explore evidentiary issues related to data extracted from damaged SIM cards, partial data recovered from memory chips and deleted data obtained from handsets. The fourth scenario, which focuses on the so-called “Trojan defense,” clarifies the important distinction between evidence admissibility and evidence sufficiency.

On the Legality of Analyzing Telephone Call Records

This paper examines the legal issues related to the access and use of call detail records (CDRs) of telephone subscribers that are maintained by service providers. The scenarios considered involve a federal law enforcement agency obtaining CDRs to identify suspects in a terrorism investigation; a federal, state or local law enforcement agency analyzing CDRs to gain insight into drug trafficking activities by an organized crime family; and a state or local law enforcement agency using CDRs to identify parole violators or motorists who exceed the posted speed limit. In addition, the legality of a service provider analyzing CDRs to support its direct marketing efforts is discussed.

California's New Homestead Law

This Comment deals with Californias new residential exemption law. Like the homestead law, the new law protects a debtors residence from the claims of unsecured creditors; but the residential exemption law does not require a declaration of homestead before a judgment against the debtor is recorded. The author finds that although the new law adds significantly to the protection of debtors, it presents a number of technical difficulties.