Legal validity of SaveTheProof.com
What is SaveTheProof ?
SaveTheProof is an online platform that allows its users to certify the content of any web page (public or private) and any other file. The website can be a social network, a video, your private banking area, a company’s website, a forum, …
We currently live in a time where our daily life revolves around the mobile phone, computer, tablet … The way we interact with people has included an electronic component that seems impossible to get rid of. We expose ourselves to the world on social networks, we look for partners in mobile dating apps, we buy, we sell, we play …
Technology has allowed any of us to publish content on the Internet whic is accessible in milliseconds on the other side of the planet. That versatility and immediacy has allowed people to get the best, but also the worst. If we add to this that the Internet is a volatile medium, we find ourselves in an environment where, almost with the same ease, the content that is published can be modified or even deleted, and often without leaving a trace.
Savetheproof aims to provide certainty and security by allowing its users to certify instantly, easily and, above all, with legal validity, the content of web pages and files.
Why is it so important to certify digital evidence?
When we must make use of digital evidence we can find multiple problems that we should avoid in order to give them legal validity:
- Content on the internet can disappear quickly. If we do not certify the content, we will have lost the opportunity to use the evidence. SaveTheProof allows us to certify the content immediately through a certificate that will last over time regardless of whether the content disappears off the internet.
- Screenshots are manipulable. The digital content is easily manipulated, anyone with basic knowledge can modify the content of a digital file, thus losing the reliability we seek and may be inadmissible in court. SaveTheProof allows us to prove that the content that appears in our documents is the same as what was originally published, without the possibility of manipulating the content.
- Inadmissibility of the document in case of challenge. If a digital document is contested in a judicial procedure, a common fact when screenshots are provided, the person who provides the proof is the one who must prove its authenticity, and it will hardly be possible if the original content has disappeared. SaveTheProof can certify that its digital documents (certificates) issued are authentic, that the content object of the certification existed and that they are not manipulable.
What does "legally valid" mean?
The electronic documents generated by SaveTheProof are considered private documents, in accordance with article 324 of the Civil Procedure Law and, therefore, will be fully admissible in a judicial procedure as established in article 326 of the Civil Procedure Law, as long as its authenticity is not contested (See section “What to do if a SaveTheProof document is contested?”)
SaveTheProof generates an electronic document in order to accredit, as an independent and impartial third party, the content of a web page or a file at a certain point in time. The respective document is signed by means of an advanced electronic signature with qualified time stamp according to the European regulation eIDAS. This ensures the authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation of the document generated by SaveTheProof. In addition, additional technical information (metadata) is included which reinforces the legal validity of the certificates..
The digital signature
Equivalent to the manual signature, the digital signature is linked to the PDF certificate and its basic functions are:
- To Identify the signer unequivocally, in this case Full Digital S.L. with CIF B67207845 and owner of https://www.savetheproof.com and subdomains.
- To ensure the integrity of the signed document, that is, that the signed document is exactly the same as the original and that it has not been altered or manipulated.
The savetheproof.com platform uses an advanced electronic signature in accordance with the European eIDAS regulation offered by a recognized certification authority: https://www.firmaprofesional.com
Time stamp
A time stamp is linked to the PDF certificate which unequivocally guarantees the date when the certificate was generated. The savetheproof.com platform uses the time stamping service (TSA) recognised by the eIDAS regulation and offered by: https://www.izenpe.com
Metadata
In addition to the digital signature and time stamping, all documents (certificates) issued by SaveTheProof.com incorporate a set of additional technical information (metadata). This metadata gives the certificate an enhanced legal robustness and includes:
- SaveTheProof server IP from which the website object of the certification was captured.
- Version of the browser used to capture by SaveTheProof.
- Version of the software used by SaveTheProof in charge of the capture process. All of the software run by SaveTheProof is packaged and versioned and can be identified with its hashes (SHA256). This way, if necessary, the competent judicial authority could request the Full Digital SL which will include the code of the source and the relevant compilation of files with the HASH in the certificate provided to the client. This makes SaveTheProof a fully transparent and auditable platform.
- The hash (SHA256) of the video recorded on the web browser sessions with certification of all of the movements and actions performed by the user.
- File in HAR format with the network traffic generated during the capture in web browsing session certificates and web page. Thanks to this format, the user can see graphically and in detail through a HAR viewer, all the requests that the browser has sent and received during the capture process. This HAR file is time-stamped to guarantee the exact date of capture.
Does SaveTheProof guarantee the admission of the evidence?
The admission of evidence by the courts does not only depend on the authenticity of the evidence. There are other criteria evaluated by the judges to determine what can be introduced in the procedure, such as that considered necessary evidence, which is suitable for the resolution of the matter or that it has been presented in the corresponding period, but such criteria solely depends on the expertise or knowledge of the party that contributed it. SaveTheProof can only certify that a certain digital content exists or existed and the respective content is the one that is reproduced.
The probative value of the certificate provided will depend solely and exclusively on the judge who, together with the rest of the proof obtained, will give his ruling.
Tuenti judgment - Setting criteria
On May 19, 2015, judgment 300/2015, better known as the Tuenti Sentence, was delivered by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. In the respective judgement, the criteria in relation to digital evidence was established and it states that such type of evidence “must be approached with all precautions.”
It must be said that this caution is due to the ease with which the evidence can be manipulated and therefore the fragility of such.
The judgement also refers to this type of evidence, what we call a reversal of the burden of proof: “Hence, the challenge to the authenticity of any of these conversations, when they are contributed to the case by means of print files, shifts the burden of the evidence towards those who intend to take advantage of their evidential suitability. “
This implies that the one who has provided the evidence, and intends to demonstrate their version of the facts, in the event that the evidence is contested, will have to demonstrate that the evidence is authentic. In addition, it will also require an expert report: “In such a case, it will be essential to obtain an expert evidence that identifies the true origin of that communication, the identity of the interlocutors and, finally, the integrity of its content.”
In summary, when we provide evidence in court, we must be sure that in the event that it is challenged, we will be able to demonstrate through expert evidence that the evidence is authentic. A screenshot will not allow us to prove such authenticity, but on the contrary, if we have certified the content through SaveTheProof, any expert will be able to verify that the certificate is authentic, since it is signed electronically, with a time stamp and with all the technical information that we provide along with the certificate.
What happens if a SaveTheProof document is challenged?
Article 326 of the Civil Procedure Law in relation to private documents establishes that, when a document is challenged, the party that has proposed it may propose any means of proof to prove its authenticity. The costs and expenses involved in proving the authenticity will be borne exclusively by the party that has challenged the evidence..
SaveTheProof can accredit:
- That the document (certificate) issued by SaveTheproof has been electronically signed by Full Digital SL, owner of the digital certificate of business seal used for the signature.
- The integrity of the document generated from the moment it was issued.
- The date and time the document was signed, as a qualified time stamp is included.
- Through technical evidence, both the integrity of the document itself and the process of capturing its content (Metadata).
As we have seen, the documents generated by SaveTheProof, allow to easily prove their authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation. This way, a dissuasive effect is achieved when challenged by the other party, since it means having to bear the costs and expenses of the challenge once its authenticity is proven.