Image of a gavel representing Save The Proof's Legal Validity services

Legal Validity of SaveTheProof.com

Why is certifying digital evidence so important?

When dealing with digital evidence, you may encounter multiple problems that you should avoid in order to give legal validity to your evidence:

Internet content can disappear quickly. If you don’t certify the content, you may lose the opportunity to use it as evidence. SaveTheProof allows you to certify the content immediately through a certificate that will endure over time, regardless of whether the content disappears from the Internet.
Screenshots are manipulable. Digital content is easily manipulable; anyone with basic knowledge can modify the content of a digital file, thus losing the reliability you seek and potentially leading to it being inadmissible in court. SaveTheProof enables you to attest that the content appearing in your documents is the same as what has been published, with no possibility of manipulating the content.
Document may be deemed inadmissible in case of a challenge. If a digital document is challenged in a judicial proceeding, a common occurrence when screenshots are provided, the party presenting the evidence is required to prove its authenticity. This can be challenging if the original content has disappeared. SaveTheProof can attest that its digital documents (certificates) issued are authentic, that the content subject to certification existed, and that they are not manipulable.

What does “Legal Validity” mean?

Electronic documents generated by SaveTheProof are considered private documents, in accordance with Article 324 of the Civil Procedure Law. Therefore, they will constitute full proof in a judicial procedure as established by Article 326 of the Civil Procedure Law, provided their authenticity is not challenged (See the section “What to do if a SaveTheProof document is challenged?”)

SaveTheProof generates an electronic document to attest, as an independent and impartial third party, the content of a webpage or file at a specific point in time. This document is signed with an advanced electronic signature with a qualified timestamp in accordance with the European regulation eIDAS. This ensures the authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation of the document generated by SaveTheProof. Additionally, it includes additional technical information (metadata) that strengthens the legal validity of the certificates.

The digital signature

Equivalent to a handwritten signature, the digital signature is linked to the PDF certificate, and its basic functions are:

Uniquely identify the signer, in this case, Full Digital S.L. with CIF B67207845, owner of https://www.savetheproof.com and subdomains.
Ensure the integrity of the signed document, meaning that the signed document is exactly the same as the original and has not been altered or manipulated.

The savetheproof.com platform uses an advanced electronic signature in accordance with the European eIDAS regulation provided by a recognized certification authority: https://www.firmaprofesional.com

Screenshot of the process to digitally sign with the help of Save The Proof

Screenshot of settings when digitally signing with the help of Save The Proof

Qualified timestamp

A timestamp linked to the PDF certificate unequivocally guarantees the date when the certificate was generated. The savetheproof.com platform uses the qualified timestamping service (TSA) in accordance with the eIDAS regulation, provided by: https://www.izenpe.com

Metadata

In addition to the digital signature and timestamp, all documents (certificates) issued by SaveTheProof.com incorporate a set of additional technical information (metadata). The metadata provides greater legal robustness to the certificates and includes information such as:

SaveTheProof server IP from which the capture of the certified website was made.
Browser version used by SaveTheProof for the capture.
Version of the software used by SaveTheProof for the capture process. Identified with their hashes (SHA256), all the software running SaveTheProof is packaged and versioned. This way, if necessary, the competent judicial authority could request Full Digital SL to provide the source code whose compilation would have the HASH indicated in the certificate delivered to the client. This makes SaveTheProof a fully transparent and auditable platform.
Hash (SHA256) of the recorded video in web navigation session certificates with all the movements and actions performed by the user. This MP4 file is timestamped to guarantee the exact capture date.
HAR file with the generated network traffic during the capture in a web navigation session and web page certificates. Thanks to this format, the user can visually and accurately see, using a HAR viewer, all the requests that the browser has sent and received during the capture process. This HAR file is timestamped to guarantee the exact capture date.

Screenshot of metadata in the Google Suite HAR Analyzer toolbox

Does SaveTheProof guarantee the admission of the evidence?

The admission of evidence by the courts doesn’t only depend on the authenticity of the evidence. There are other criteria evaluated by judges to determine what can be introduced in the proceedings, such as whether it is necessary evidence, suitable for resolving the matter, or whether it has been submitted within the corresponding timeframe. However, these criteria depend solely on the expertise or knowledge of the party that has provided them. SaveTheProof can only certify that a certain digital content exists or existed and that its content is as reproduced.

The probative value of the provided certificate will depend solely on the judge, who, along with the rest of the evidence presented, will issue a ruling.

As a guide, you can review the admissibility of evidence with a Digital Signature by Country and its exclusions.

The Tuenti Judgment – Establishing Criteria

On May 19, 2015, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court issued judgment 300/2015, better known as the Tuenti Judgment. In this judgment, criteria were established regarding digital evidence, as, in the words of the judgment itself, this type of evidence “must be approached with all due caution.”

It is worth noting that this caution is due to the ease with which evidence can be manipulated and, therefore, displaying its fragility.

Furthermore, this judgment introduces what is called a reversal of the burden of proof for this type of evidence: “Therefore, challenging the authenticity of any of these conversations, when they are brought to the case through print files, shifts the burden of proof to the party seeking to take advantage of their probative value.”

This implies that whoever has submitted the evidence and aims to prove their version of events, in the event the evidence is challenged, will have to demonstrate the authenticity of the evidence. Additionally, it will require an expert report: “In such a case, it will be essential to conduct an expert examination that identifies the true origin of that communication, the identity of the speakers, and, in short, the integrity of its content.”

In summary, when you submit evidence in court, you must ensure that in case it is challenged, you can demonstrate through an expert report that the evidence is authentic. A screenshot will not allow you to prove this authenticity. In contrast, if you have certified the content through SaveTheProof, any expert can verify that the certified content is authentic since it is electronically signed, timestamped, and includes all the technical information we provide along with the certificate.

What happens if a SaveTheProof document is challenged?

Article 326 of the Civil Procedure Law regarding private documents establishes that when a document is contested, the party presenting it may propose any means of proof to prove its authenticity. The costs and expenses incurred in proving authenticity will be solely borne by the party contesting the evidence.

Savetheproof can attest to:

The document (certificate) issued by SaveTheProof has been electronically signed by Full Digital SL, the holder of the digital certificate used for the signature.
The integrity of the document from the moment it was issued.
The date and time the document was signed, as it includes a qualified timestamp.
Through technical evidence, both the integrity of the document itself and the capture process of its content (Metadata).

As seen, documents generated by SaveTheProof easily allow for proving their authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation. This serves as a deterrent effect when contested by the other party, as it involves facing the costs and expenses of the challenge once its authenticity is established.