Digital forensics and the issues of identity

Abstract

The issue of what we consider to be the identity of a person has become increasingly complex as we have made ever greater use of the facilities and services that have been made available by developing technologies and the Internet. In the past people normally had one identity, while in the current environment it is acceptable to maintain separate ‘identities’ for different aspects of our on-line interactions.

Proving beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual that is suspected of a crime that is based on the technologies that we increasingly rely on was the actual perpetrator has always been problematic. It is relatively easy to determine the device that was used, but proving that the suspect was the person that used it has always been more difficult.

This paper looks at a range of issues that have affected what we consider to be reasonable proof of identity and a number of the problems that this causes in identifying the perpetrator of a crime.