This thesis analyses legal issues related to evidence and contract laws in the context of electronic commerce. Electronic commerce raises a number of legal problems such as the need for authentication, liabilities, whether electronic records are admissible as evidence and whether electronic transmissions are considered writing where writing is required. Many legal systems have faced or will face some questions, such as whether electronic evidence is inadmissible only in the ground of being created or stored electronically? Should the law of evidence be reformed in order to meet the new technologies? It is questionable whether electronic communications and records can or should meet the legal requirements of "writing" and "signature". Do electronic and digital signatures satisfy the legal requirements? It has been argued that it is not logical and reasonable to apply legal requirements that have been constituted in the ground of paper-based communication on electronic communication. Electronic contracts raise some legal issues, including whether the contract must be in a particular form or authenticated; when the message is sent and received; whether it is received in the same form as it is sent; validity, time and place of communication; cross-offers and battle of forms issues. All these issues are considered from UK common law point of view and according to CISG, UNIDROIT Principles, PECL, UNCITRAL Model Laws and the Uniform Commercial Code. Electronic contracts involve consideration whether a computer can properly be used to enter into a contractual relationship, to which existing rules on contract negotiation may need to be developed to suit formation of contracts by means of computer and telecommunications and whether old rules are appropriate today. This study examines other legal problems relating to contracts formed on the Internet, including the use of electronic agents, enforceability of mass-market licences, electronic payments and choice of law and jurisdiction issues.

The proliferation of the Internet has amplified the use of social networking sites by creating a platform that encourages individuals to share information. As a result there is a wealth of information that is publically and easily accessible. This research explores whether open source intelligence (OSINT), which is freely available, could be used as a digital forensic investigative tool. A survey was created and sent to digital forensic investigators to establish whether they currently use OSINT when performing investigations. The survey results confirm that OSINT is being used by digital forensic investigators when performing investigations but there are currently no guidelines or frameworks available to support the use thereof. Additionally, the survey results showed a belief amongst those surveyed that evidence gleaned from OSINT sources is considered supplementary rather than evidentiary. The findings of this research led to the development of a framework that identifies and recommends key processes to follow when conducting OSINT investigations. The framework can assist digital forensic investigators to follow a structured and rigorous process, which may lead to the unanimous acceptance of information obtained via OSINT sources as evidentiary rather than supplementary in the near future.

Scrutiny of the capabilities and accuracy of computer forensic tools is increasing as the number of incidents relying on digital evidence and the weight of that evidence increase. This thesis describes the capabilities of the leading proprietary and open source digital forensic tools. The capabilities of the tools were tested separately on digital media that had been formatted using Windows and Linux. Experiments were carried out with the intention of establishing whether the capabilities of open source computer forensics are similar to those of proprietary computer forensic tools, and whether these tools could complement one another. The tools were tested with regards to their capabilities to make and analyse digital forensic images in a forensically sound manner. The tests were carried out on each media type after deleting data from the media, and then repeated after formatting the media. The results of the experiments performed demonstrate that both proprietary and open source computer forensic tools have superior capabilities in different scenarios, and that the toolsets can be used to validate and complement one another. The implication of these findings is that investigators have an affordable means of validating their findings and are able to more effectively investigate digital media.

This thesis analyzes legal framework as well as other issues regarding monitoring and intercepting the substance of communication under Section 88 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Also, the characteristics of logging and accessing data relating to communication (such as times, patterns, locations and parties involved) under Section 88a are described. These institutes in certain instances represent lawful interfere with the right to respect for private life and other human rights and both are of critical importance in the investigation of many types of crimes. The thesis is systematically divided into seven chapters. Chapter One presents both concepts in their relationship to the affected basic human rights and describes characteristics, major principles as well as the procedure of issuing a wiretap and data retention warrants. As both concepts have similar features with conception of Surveillance of persons and items under the Section 158d of the Czech Criminal Procedure Act, comparison with this institute is provided in the second chapter. The third Chapter is devoted to the evolution of Wiretapping legislation and its changes due to particular amendments. The first legal regulation of Wiretapping was adopted in the Czech Criminal Procedure Act in 1991 as a response to the political revolution...

For millions of people worldwide the use of computers has become a central part of life. Criminals are exploiting these technological advances for illegal activities. This growth of technology has therefore produced a completely new source of evidence referred to as ‘electronic evidence’. In light of this the researcher focused on the collection of electronic evidence and its admissibility at trial. The study intends to assist and give guidance to investigators to collect electronic evidence properly and legally and ensure that it is admitted as evidence in court. Electronic evidence is fragile and volatile by nature and therefore requires the investigator always to exercise reasonable care during its collection, preservation and analysis to protect its identity and integrity. The legal requirements that the collected electronic evidence must satisfy for it to be admissible in court are relevance, reliability, and authenticity. When presenting the evidence in court the investigator should always keep in mind that the judges are not specialists in the computing environment and that therefore the investigator must be able to explain how the chain of custody was maintained during the collection, preservation and analysis of electronic evidence. The complex technology behind electronic evidence must be clearly explained so that the court is able to understand the evidence in a way that an ordinary person or those who have never used a computer before can. This is because the court always relies on the expertise of the investigator to understand electronic evidence and make a ruling on matters related to it. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Substantiation of Electronic Evidence Abstract This thesis addresses the procedural questions of securing and presenting electronic evidence in criminal proceedings. The use of modern devices and the subsequent creation of electronic evidence is very common, making it necessary for legislation as well as investigative, prosecuting and adjudicating bodies to set out an adequate framework for securing and producing such evidence. The thesis seeks to determine the limits of this framework with regard to the rights to a fair trial, privacy and secrecy of correspondence, as well as the principle of public authority interference minimization, keeping in mind that electronic evidence must be secured and produced in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code, the Constitution and enforceable international treaties, respecting the rights of individuals but also allowing criminal proceedings to reach their ultimate goal. The thesis first concentrates on traditional instruments of securing evidence, e.g. search warrants, seizure of an item, operative-search means or various types of wiretapping. These general findings are then applied to commonly used information technologies, such as emails, documents stored on websites or social media platforms, as well as communication conducted via mobile applications. In its...

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Computer Science. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

For millions of people worldwide the use of computers has become a central part of life. Criminals are exploiting these technological advances for illegal activities. This growth of technology has therefore produced a completely new source of evidence referred to as ‘electronic evidence’. In light of this the researcher focused on the collection of electronic evidence and its admissibility at trial. The study intends to assist and give guidance to investigators to collect electronic evidence properly and legally and ensure that it is admitted as evidence in court. Electronic evidence is fragile and volatile by nature and therefore requires the investigator always to exercise reasonable care during its collection, preservation and analysis to protect its identity and integrity. The legal requirements that the collected electronic evidence must satisfy for it to be admissible in court are relevance, reliability, and authenticity. When presenting the evidence in court the investigator should always keep in mind that the judges are not specialists in the computing environment and that therefore the investigator must be able to explain how the chain of custody was maintained during the collection, preservation and analysis of electronic evidence. The complex technology behind electronic evidence must be clearly explained so that the court is able to understand the evidence in a way that an ordinary person or those who have never used a computer before can. This is because the court always relies on the expertise of the investigator to understand electronic evidence and make a ruling on matters related to it. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Magister Legum - LLM / This research will analyse legislation, case law, law commission papers and reports, as well as academic commentary on electronic evidence in South Africa, Canada and England. A comparative analysis will be conducted in order to determine whether South Africa is adequately regulating electronic evidence in light of international and foreign law.

The acquisition of digital evidence is the most crucial part of the entire digital forensics process. During this process, digital evidence is acquired in a forensically sound manner to ensure the legal admissibility and reliability of that evidence in court. In the acquisition process various hardware or software tools are used to acquire the digital evidence. All of the digital forensic standards relating to the acquisition of digital evidence require that the hardware and software tools used in the acquisition process are validated as functioning correctly and reliably, as this lends credibility to the evidence in court. In fact the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 in South Africa specifically requires courts to consider issues such as reliability and the manner in which the integrity of digital evidence is ensured when assessing the evidential weight of digital evidence. Previous research into quality assurance in the practice of digital forensics in South Africa identified that in general, tool validation was not performed, and as such a hypothesis was proposed that digital forensic practitioners in South Africa make use of hardware and/or software tools for the forensic acquisition of digital evidence, whose validity and/or reliability cannot be objectively proven. As such the reliability of any digital evidence preserved using those tools is potentially unreliable. This hypothesis was tested in the research through the use of a survey of digital forensic practitioners in South Africa. The research established that the majority of digital forensic practitioners do not use tools in the forensic acquisition of digital evidence that can be proven to be validated and/or reliable. While just under a fifth of digital forensic practitioners can provide some proof of validation and/or reliability, the proof of validation does not meet formal international standards. In essence this means that digital evidence, which is preserved through the use of specific hardware and/or software tools for subsequent presentation and reliance upon as evidence in a court of law, is preserved by tools where the objective and scientific validity thereof has not been determined. Since South African courts must consider reliability in terms of Section 15(3) of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 in assessing the weight of digital evidence, this is undermined through the current state of practice in South Africa by digital forensic practitioners.