A photo or video becomes strong digital evidence only when its integrity, date, origin and creation process can be demonstrated.
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Digital evidence is now central to modern disputes. Emails, files, logs, photos and videos make up most of the material submitted to courts. Without a reliable process, a file remains contestable.
A smartphone photo, even with metadata, does not by itself benefit from a presumption of reliability.
For a timestamped photo to gain serious probative value, these conditions must be met.
The file must be protected against tampering through hashing, digital sealing and a durable format.
The timestamp must be electronic, independent and compliant with a trusted framework.
The context, author or device must be traceable back to the capture.
The judge assesses the overall process: capture, sealing, storage and restitution.
Legal value lies in the process used to create the evidence, not in the file alone. The European eIDAS regulation reinforces this logic by framing digital trust services.
Electronic writing has the same probative force as paper writing, provided its author can be identified and its integrity guaranteed. French Civil Code, article 1366
CertiPhoto turns each smartphone capture into timestamped, geolocated and verifiable digital evidence.
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