Developments in social media evidence: To authenticate or not to authenticate

http://socialnetworkingnews.org/developments-in-social-media-evidence-to-authenticate-or-not-to-authenticate/

Social media has become a pervasive form of evidence, usually in the form of printouts. In many cases, social media appears to have been accepted as evidence with nary a comment from the court about admissibility, nor even an objection. However, the number of cases where the authenticity of proffered social media has been challenged and rejected may be on the rise. Lawyers eyeing social media as a potentially key piece of electronically stored information (ESI) are watching these evidentiary developments carefully.

The saga of Griffin v. State of Maryland turns out to have been foreshadowing of the way the law is developing. It clearly states the way circumstantial evidence has been used to argue for admissibility of social media, as well as why its authenticity may be open to question. In Griffin, an appellate court affirmed a conviction of second-degree murder and sentence of 30 years for murder based on finding no clear error by the trial court in admitting a printed page from MySpace into evidence

Source: www.insidecounsel.com

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