Social Media Forensics

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ICYMI: CT Man Jailed for 17 Years, Exonerated Thanks to Digital Evidence

New Haven, CT man who served 17 years in prison for murder and robbery was freed back on April 25, 2018 after he was exonerated by cellphone records. Read Article The digital evidence is out there to save more lives, but defense teams may not be as educated as the prosecution, who have access to state labs, as to what to look for, where to look for, and how to obtain all the necessary digital evidence needed to prevent or exonerate wrongful convictions. #innocenceproject #wrongfulconvictions #publicdefender #digitalevidence #digitalinnocence For further information see: Digital Evidence Case Assessment Method and Digital Evidence Innocence Initiative White Paper

Digital Innocence: Google Timeline Location Data

Google Timeline, launched in 2015, is a feature that contains location history and can establish that a user was located at a particular place and time. Google Timeline is a potential source of exculpatory evidence for criminal defense cases and wrongful conviction cases.  Google collects location data from a user’s mobile device if they have a Google account and location services are enabled. This data is captured even while the device is idle.  Android users are prompted to set up a Google account upon activation of their new mobile device and Apple iPhone users can also add a Gmail account to their device.  This location data could exist since the creation of the account.  Per Google, this information is derived from GPS data, cell site/cell tower information, and Wi-Fi access points. Google collects this data whenever one of their services is activated and/or whenever there is an event on the mobile device such as a phone call, text messages, internet access, or email access. Google information can also contain Gmail, photos and videos, search history, contacts, applications, other connected devices, Google Voice and Google Wallet. Google’s Timeline feature allows criminal defense attorneys and investigators to obtain detailed information about where someone has been – down to the longitude and latitude – over the course of YEARS. Additional information found here Digital Evidence Case Assessment Method White Paper and here IRIS LLC Digital Evidence Toolbox: Location Data  

Digital Innocence: Data Recovery from Third-Party Mobile Applications

Finding New Evidence from Third-Party Mobile Apps with the Latest Technology At the beginning of 2019, the Google Play store had approximately 2,100,000 applications for Android and the iTunes store had almost 1,800,000 apps for Apple devices.  While most of the applications installed by the device manufacturer are supported for analysis by forensic software, many of the third-party applications are not.  Exculpatory evidence could be contained in these third-party mobile apps. Commonly used third-party applications such as free texting apps or navigation apps can be a great source of information, but are not always supported by forensic tools for analysis.  There is a time lag as to when the forensic software can decode these applications, if ever.  However, advanced analysis methods and new digital forensic technology to access and examine third-party applications are created every day.  Applying this technology to older cases may uncover new digital evidence. Additional information here Digital Evidence Case Assessment Method White Paper or here IRIS LLC Digital Evidence Toolbox-Location Data

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