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Email becomes the electronic equivalent of DNA evidence

businessshrink.biz — IDC reports that companies will dump over $21.8 billion dollars into legal research data mining and litigation-support infrastructure services by 2010. Employees emails are being used in court more and more. ISPs are being forced to log emails, IMs and more. Warrants are not required to obtain most of this information. Enter the new DNA evidence.

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  • shadowsage, on 10/20/2007, -0/+20I hate the idea of this happening but I expect it's just going to get worse. Privacy isn't a freedom anymore. The lack of a warrant being needed to require this type of information is particularly eye opening.
  • speedracer17, on 10/20/2007, -1/+10Beware. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Every email you ever write is stored at one of several email relay stations in the US. In fact, in litigation, there are several firms that specialize in retreiving all your emails. Every email you write is forever.
  • WiseWeasel, on 10/20/2007, -0/+5Fortunately for us, it's still possible to use anonymous email. If you find a service that lets you sign up with a bogus email address, use fake info, and use a proxy server each time you access it, it's possible to use email without a trace, as long as the proxy server is anonymous and uncompromised. There are technical solutions for those that are truly concerned. Or, and I'm just throwing this out there, you could NOT seriously incriminate yourself on the web, since that tends to leave long-lasting records...
    • razrielle, on 10/16/2007, -0/+2Or you could be even safer and use 7 proxies
  • phenry50BMG, on 10/20/2007, -0/+14How do they prove who typed it? Borrowing someone's IP isn't that difficult nor is cracking a password.

    I wonder what it would be like to live in a truly free country. I guess I won't know unless I live through the revolution.
    • jeffiek, on 10/17/2007, -0/+12"How do they prove who typed it? "

      Reality isn't relevant in a court of law.
    • crapmatic, on 10/16/2007, -0/+1Probably the same sort of convincing evidence that "shows" who was using p2p and downloading Journey and Bruce Springsteen songs.
  • zyklon, on 10/20/2007, -0/+6Wow. I know for a fact that I can spoof some serious emails with the proper "equipment". I wouldn't be surprised to see some hackers getting arrested for aiding murderers, rapists, conspirators, etc.
  • canuq, on 10/20/2007, -1/+4.
  • altinnovation, on 10/20/2007, -0/+4Wtf.... You can't id someone by their email. Not to mention the fact that others can get into your account and pc, people could register email accounts to anyone, and from anyone's computer with a fair amount of work.
  • DMXell, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2IMs and Emails are bad enough, but every website we visit? Okay, the cause they listed is a good one, but even so, this is in major violation of privacy. So let's backtrack a few months ago when a video about Google and privacy made front page. Essentially the video showed that when you go out side you have a good chance of being photographed dozens of times for security reasons. So if privacy isn't privacy outside, and it's not on your phones and the internet, than the only "private" place left is your home. But even that is about to become less private with the fly cameras being developed (cameras on a fly-like structure that can stealthily go into locations and video tape the area).
  • aztuscani, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2This article is slightly misleading. Email is just a piece of the big pie called electronic data. Electronic data on your computer can be used against you in court much like DNA but it isn't that simple. Files, folders, internet history, email, and anything else created by computer systems that can be recovered through forensic practice are all like DNA in a way. It all depends on context. Email is not a secure form of communication though, so there are many holes that should be considered or that could be argued during litigation to the extent that you really can't compare it to DNA. But again, it all depends on the context of the information.
    • webaddict, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2However, one of the points of the article and the title / description is the fact that email headers and sender information is currently accessible without a warrant. Files, folders and Internet History that are on your local PC require a warrant. Since the emails to/from and header info, IP address and data transmitted do not require any warrant whatsoever it is like DNA in the fact that you can obtain DNA from a crime scene, body or other public items without a warrant. No offense, but in light of you stating the article is misleading, I have a hard time believing you actually read the article considering you missed most of the actual details and complexities of the issue.
  • Sil369, on 10/20/2007, -0/+6Not applicable to Bush.
  • dkern, on 10/20/2007, -0/+3Thought crimes do not occur, instantly. Yet prosecution of them is already here. You can change your mind but not unsend an email!
    • MicrosoftBob, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2That is a scary thought, indeed. I think Orwell would have had a field day with email and the internet.
  • macwac, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2Does this mean everyone have to use certificates? cus thats going to make the life of IT support hell.. there is already enough problems with just opening up the mail client and teaching them how to send the mail, now they would need to be explained how to use certs?
  • willynilly, on 10/20/2007, -0/+5Hey, here's a clue if you run a company or ISP: DON'T SAVE THIS *****.


    Then it's not an issue.


    And WHY THE ***** IS DIGG DOUBLE-SPACING COMMENTS?
    • webaddict, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2I've noticed the double spacing too. I thought it was the difference of holding down shift and enter, but I don't think it matters, it's still double spacing. Who knows. :P
    • Tetraca, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2It'd probably be a good business decision as well since you wouldn't waste all that space on hard drives and save that extra few bucks on maintaining the equipment for tracking.
  • reeder, on 10/20/2007, -1/+3The submitter hates freedom.
    • webaddict, on 10/16/2007, -0/+3Interesting, you got the opposite, the submitter is trying to fight for your freedom that you are so blindly letting slip between your fingers.
  • edzilla, on 10/20/2007, -0/+3Set up GPG for you and your contacts, and you're pretty much safe.
    Also, use jabber as an IM, some clients support on the fly encryption.
    • tybris, on 10/16/2007, -0/+1The problem is... I don't want to give up GMail :-(
      • edzilla, on 10/17/2007, -0/+2Yeah, well, if you use gmail, you are already giving any privacy you might have had, so I guess you don't really need GPG.
    • tybris, on 10/16/2007, -0/+1P.S. I know of GreaseMonkey scripts, but that's highly unpractical when using a public computer. You also have a more general problem of not being able to trust anything that runs in your browser)
  • lagrange, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2Use a server in a country with real privacy laws for your e-mail.

    Make yourself a hard target, they will always go after the sheep first.
    • fac3less, on 10/16/2007, -0/+1Actually, they already have the sheep. Wouldn't they go after the hard targets first?
      Heh.
  • diggggggggggg, on 10/16/2007, -0/+1This is how innocent people end up in jail.

    People often say things they don't really mean simply because they can and they often say things that could easily be misinterpreted by a third person.

    And people often visit sites not because they approve of the site but out of sheer curiosity, or even by mistake.
  • HRF1, on 10/20/2007, -0/+3Believe it or not, McLaren were fined a unprecedented $100 million for the Stepney-gate scandal just a month ago based on emails and SMS texts that were shared amongst the team's formula one drivers.
  • algo, on 10/20/2007, -0/+4hmm.. if email = dna then 90% of it is junk. sounds about right.
  • KingBunny, on 10/20/2007, -0/+3So I guess it's no longer funny for me to type "JIHAD BOMB INFIDEL" at the end of every email.

    I am reminded of an XKCD comic which I can't find. Allow me to paraphrase:
    "No matter what JIHAD BOMB happens to us, this email will EXPLOSIVE DEVICE always live on AMERICAN INFIDEL inside of a government computer somewhere."
  • crapmatic, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2If the courts and ISPs are logging email and abusing privacy, then I think that's grounds to reinvent the email protocols. At the same time that could put an end to spam. The solution here is open source, but it can't be where grandma and Cousin Joe haev to go to Sourceforge, pick through a long list of nt, x64, redhat, etc crap, then have to install Cygwin... this has to be EASY and cool. A whole family and friend network could probably get weaned onto the new email system, then it grows.
  • jvontayes, on 10/20/2007, -0/+2Tell the truth in the beginning and you wont make like an ass when it goes to court. Forensic auditing and searches will bring up old e-mails that people delete not to mention this whole e-mail thing is going to end up having it's own set of laws soon - so much for privacy.
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