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Legal Principles of Dig. Investigations
This course discusses advanced legal issues related to the seizure of digital devices. The course will review such laws as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFA), Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA), and Privacy Protection Act (PPA), with particular attention paid to evolving decisional law surrounding the Fourth Amendment and devices. Liaison to other agencies, law of other countries, and international laws will also be examined. Issues related to trial preparation, presentation of digital evidence, use of expert witnesses, and providing testimony will be examined in detail. Special attention will be paid to jurisdictional differences related to digital investigations and cybercrime, particularly as they relate to rules of evidence; e.g., Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) compared with the different state standards based on Frye, Daubert, or other criteria. Students for this course will be expected to have basic familiarity with criminal law and procedure.
Course Overview
DIM-500
Learning Objectives
- When it may be reasonable to propose a postal_codesearch protocolpostal_code to meet anticipated claims that officers have executed a postal_codegeneral warrantpostal_code in violation of the 4th Amendment;
- How to deal efficiently and legally with digital evidence that is protected either by long-recognized privileges such physician- patient and lawyer-client privileges or more recent privileges for journalistic material under the Privacy Protection Act under 42 U.S.C. 200aa;
- How to treat digital evidence that has been obtained illegally through third-party postal_codevigilante hackers;postal_code
- How to analyze and confront 5th Amendment questions that arise when dealing with encryption;
- What circumstances make it likely (or unlikely) that a judge will agree that a search for digital evidence may be conducted pursuant to an exception to the search warrant requirement;
- How courts are attempting resolve legal problems that are arising with increasing frequency because the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), written in 1986, has been out of date for many years;
- How to obtain digital postal_codecontentpostal_code evidence in civil cases under ECPA;
- What must be done to authenticate and admit email evidence and evidence from electronic databases;
- The legal issues that are likely to arise as the role of the computer forensic expert continues to expand (and computer forensic experts come under increased scrutiny).
Framework Connections
The materials within this course focus on the NICE Framework Task, Knowledge, and Skill statements identified within the indicated NICE Framework component(s):
Specialty Areas
- Knowledge Management
- Digital Forensics
- Collection Operations
- Legal Advice and Advocacy
Feedback
If you would like to provide feedback on this course, please e-mail the NICCS team at NICCS@mail.cisa.dhs.gov. Please keep in mind that NICCS does not own this course or accept payment for course entry. If you have questions related to the details of this course, such as cost, prerequisites, how to register, etc., please contact the course training provider directly. You can find course training provider contact information by following the link that says “Visit course page for more information...” on this page.