Scouring for the Original

Nudes and Monkeys.

About a decade ago, a popular female celebrity was victimized by a scandal involving photographs of her allegedly half-nude, topless self at a party. Her fans came to her defense, screaming "The photographs are fake!" To prove their point, they took the photographs, replaced the celebrity's head with a monkey's face, and reposted them online. Almost anything in electronic form can be modified with shocking ease. So the question is pertinent, "How do I know that what I am seeing is the original?" Today, we will examine legal criteria for original electronic documents. We will answer the question, "How do I get the courts to treat an electronic document as an original?"

Electronic Documents

An electronic document is simply a document in electronic form. It’s a document stored, retrieved, processed, and viewed through electronic means. A detailed legal definition is available here. The glossary page contains technical definitions for readers interested in fine-print legal accuracy.

Why Isn't a “Copy” Good Enough?

To enforce a legal right recognized in an electronic document (like a contract in electonic form), the courts will want the original. Also, I think you will agree with me that nothing beats knowing you have the real thing. It gives you peace of mind.

The Acid Test

In countries that follow UN standards, such as the Philippines, the acid test is proof of retained integrity. First, you must provide reasonable assurance that the information in the document has remained untampered from the time its final form was generated. Second, if the law requires that the information in the electronic document be presented, a readable output must be provided.

In sum, you must prove integrity and provide a readable output. The output may be on a monitor or projector. As trivia, the Philippine Supreme Court issued rules that ironically allow printouts of these documents to be considered originals. (What’s electronic or original about a printout? Ask the Justices.) These requirements are paraphrased from the E-Commerce Law and the model law prescribed by UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International Trade Law).

Problems

Reasonable assurance of integrity, and output that can be read. Sound easy enough? Maybe in theory. Unfortunately, courts are not always pragmatic, neither are they predictable. We will need to wait for enough specific examples of "reasonable assurance of integrity" to get a clear picture of what the courts want. In the meantime, many companies trust third-party "warehouses" that will safely store documents, and testify to their integrity if the need arises.

Coming Soon

How do I know if a photo is fake? What is a watermark? How can I use it to protect my electronic photographs? All these and more on Techno-Mumbo-Jumbo!

Anatomy of (this) Blog

Greetings.

In a few days, Techno-Mumbo-Jumbo! will begin a series of discussions on current ICT issues. Before all of this begins, I'd like to offer a quick introduction to ICT as a field.

ICT (Information and Communications Technology) is a catch-all phrase for a slew of technologies used to gather, store, transmit, process, and analyze information. ICT's influence spans legal, economic, and socio-cultural spheres. In fact, ICT has found its way to national policies, stock markets, educational institutions, and even romantic agendas. Business in modern countries now have to “storefront” online to stay competitive, governments provide service via the internet, and would-be lovers can “window-shop” online for their perfect mates.

It's becoming clear that in the next few years, ICT's prominence and necessity will only increase. As it does, so will the need for people to keep abreast of ICT issues. The aim of this blog is to bring practical information to you on relevant ICT issues, and facilitate discussion amongst its readers. Our first featured topic will be, “THE REAL THING: WHEN IS AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT ORIGINAL?” The post will be up in a day or two, so I do hope you take the time to check it out. If you wish to be notified by email when each new topic is available, just post your address in a comment.

Cheers!

Lawrence Aritao

Greetings!

Welcome to TechnoMumboJumbo!, an ICT-related blog created and maintained by Lawrence Aritao.

A note on the url:
ondokea means "to grow" or "to make progress," in the Swahili language.

Cheers,

Lawrence Aritao