Federal Rule of Evidence 902 amendments took effect on December 1, 2017.
Kelly Twigger reviews the reactions to FRE 902, allowing self-authentication of ESI. Kelly quotes Craig Ball’s must-have’s for the affidavit certifying the collection:
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The corpus of data copied from the electronic device, storage medium, or file is clearly and unequivocally identified;
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The witness verifying the hash value is qualified and experienced in the calculation of a hash value;
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The tool and methodology employed to calculate the hash is known by the witness to be reliable;
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The witness attests that the hash values matched using the verified tool/methodology; and
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The hash value is disclosed (to facilitate independent verification). This last may not be an essential element, but I deem it good practice. Read more about Rule 902 here.
