Can digital metadata be used to support a Georgia criminal defense?
Digital metadata, the information associated with electronic files and communications such as timestamps and location data, can play a role in a Georgia criminal defense. Its value depends on what it reliably shows and how it relates to the issues in a case.
Metadata can support a timeline. Information such as when a file was created or modified, or when a communication was sent, can help establish a sequence of events, which may be relevant to questions such as where a person was at a given time. The reliability of that information, and whether it can be independently corroborated, is part of the analysis.
The reliability of metadata is examined. Metadata can be accurate but can also be affected by factors such as device settings or subsequent handling, so whether particular metadata reliably reflects what it appears to show can be relevant. The conditions under which it was generated and preserved matter.
It can both support and undermine evidence. Just as metadata may support a defense, it can also be used to test the prosecution’s evidence, including whether other digital material is consistent with what metadata indicates. Its role can cut in more than one direction.
Using metadata in a defense generally depends on what it reliably establishes and how it connects to the issues in the case. Such information is most useful to a defense when it reliably fixes a time or place that the rest of the evidence cannot dispute, and least useful when its own accuracy is open to question.