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Video-enabled flash drive “spy” pen expert

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(@mclaess)
Posts: 2
New Member
Topic starter
 

Greetings

I am a California attorney representing a client who is accused of unlawful video/audio taping by use of a small video-enabled flash drive “spy” pen.

I am in need of an expert with generally accepted credentials who can examine the device and its contents (including any meta-data), to determine if any tampering occurred to the device or its contents, opine on its general functionality and testify as to his or her findings.

If this activity falls within your expertise, please send a CV and rate sheet to me by return email to mike.claessens@licenseadvocates.com.

Best regards,
Mike Claessens

 
Posted : 16/06/2011 11:01 pm
binarybod
(@binarybod)
Posts: 272
Reputable Member
 

Mike,

Generally speaking (sorry, read 'almost exclusively') I work for the prosecution side so you can take my comments with a liberal pinch of salt if you wish…

This kind of device is going to have some kind of operating system on it in order to activate, interpret and encode the flash video which is a plus. However, the device will probably have no security on it (like a password or such). Therefore you are in the same position I am when trying to prove usage of a computer by a suspect - generally I can prove usage at a particular time but in no way can I (usually) prove whose posterior occupied the seat and whose fingers were on the keyboard. Usually I refer this information to the investigating officer who, in the face of no admission must show that there was sufficient opportunity for the suspect to have been using it at the material time and minimise(sic - UK spelling) the opportunity for anyone else to have been using it. In UK courts if we can't show this beyond all reasonable doubt then the case fails.

I would contend that you are in a similar situation. The pen will probably have no specialised log-in and therefore anyone can use it (a helpful position for your client). However, it could just as easily be your client who accessed the device at any one time (not so helpful).

My point is this… anyone who tells you that they can examine the device and clear your client is probably giving you a load of flim-flam. At best you are going to get a bunch of access times that you can then put to your client to see if they have a concrete alibi

HTH

Paul

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 12:13 am
(@mclaess)
Posts: 2
New Member
Topic starter
 

I appreciate the good comments and tips. My client's biggest issue is pen functionality. We contend that the pen was triggered accidentally; the prosecution thinks it was deliberate. Thoughts?

I get that you work for the prosecution. My partners and I were all prosecutors before going into private practice. Did you ever consider doing some defense work in the U.S.? If your CV is translatable to a California Court, you could get a trip to L.A. Feel free to drop me more detail on your experience to mike.claessens@licenseadvocates.com.

Also, I just returned from a vist to your beautiful country. After a couple of weeks in Devon, I'm not sure why my ancestors ever migrated.

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 1:19 am
(@miket065)
Posts: 187
Estimable Member
 

The last pen-cam I examined had a simple button on the top to start the recording. It could have easily been "accidentally" started by a simple button press. Of course, the defendant capturing himself in the video secreting it in the women's bathroom didn't help his case.

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 8:38 am
(@xennith)
Posts: 177
Estimable Member
 

I'm sure that the contents of the video itself would prove that it was an accidental triggering far better than whatever you can recover from the metadata.

Just show the jury the video and I'm sure they'll agree that your client must have slipped or something.

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 12:36 pm
(@pragmatopian)
Posts: 154
Estimable Member
 

My client's biggest issue is pen functionality. We contend that the pen was triggered accidentally; the prosecution thinks it was deliberate. Thoughts?

I don't think that's something that a computer forensic expert is going to be able to help you with from the point of view of the information captured by the camera there's unlikely to be anything technically to distinguish a deliberate triggering from an accidental triggering.

I'd focus on the design of the device; particularly the ease with which it could be triggered accidentally, which I expect a jury should be competent to assess without the assistance of expert evidence. Obviously if the content on the device or any witnesses would support your client's account then that may be helpful too.

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 12:42 pm
binarybod
(@binarybod)
Posts: 272
Reputable Member
 

I don't think that's something that a computer forensic expert is going to be able to help you with from the point of view of the information captured by the camera there's unlikely to be anything technically to distinguish a deliberate triggering from an accidental triggering.

I'd focus on the design of the device; particularly the ease with which it could be triggered accidentally, which I expect a jury should be competent to assess without the assistance of expert evidence. Obviously if the content on the device or any witnesses would support your client's account then that may be helpful too.

I think that is where I was coming from too. Much as I'm flattered by the offer of a jolly to California, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to add anything constructive.

Paul

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 4:35 pm
(@billethridge)
Posts: 12
Active Member
 

I do often work for defendants in criminal cases, most of my work is civil, but I would have to add my voice to the above. The devices I have seen of this type would not render themselves open to any type of technical defense. They have no data that would show who user was, or if the recording was user initiated. In this case I am afraid content would be all you have. If content shows signs of deliberate recording..well.. if it was accidental you would have a random video.

 
Posted : 17/06/2011 6:10 pm
jhup
 jhup
(@jhup)
Posts: 1442
Noble Member
 

You maybe better off, as others have implied, with someone who is a mechanical engineer - how much pressure required to trigger recording, how easy it is to trigger because of button location, etc…

 
Posted : 18/06/2011 1:31 am
(@armresl)
Posts: 1011
Noble Member
 

I personally would focus on the first few seconds of the tape and have them enhanced, both audio and video for any shadows, background noise, or anything which would indicate activity that could help the claims of the case.

Someone could testify to the file being whole and not fragmented, that the file is the only file on the system, not 1 file 30 seconds of another file and then another long file. You can examine the file for stop markers to see that the file is one long file. At any point where you think the file may have been stopped, it's back to taking that few seconds before and after to look for a hand to hit the button, any shadows, or voices which help give away the background.

 
Posted : 19/07/2011 10:09 am
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