screenshots as evidence in court

Online evidence is increasingly being used in litigation. According to Part 3 of Art. 75 of the APC RF, art. 71 of the Code of Civil Procedure, documents that were obtained using electronic devices are written evidence and can be applied in court. I propose to figure out how to provide the court with digital evidence.

Nowadays, publications in electronic media, messages from instant messengers and social networks are often used in court proceedings as evidence. Photos and videos can be useful for confirming facts in court:

  • if a person is threatened or slandered;

  • in the case of an actual contractual relationship;

  • in the process of litigation with the tax authorities due to the accrual of a fine for late submission of mandatory reporting, if the delay occurred due to a failure of computer equipment;

  • in disputes with companies that provide services on the Web, in particular, advertising, creation and promotion of sites, etc .;

  • in other situations when the evidence is on the Internet.

The use of screenshots as evidence in civil, administrative and criminal cases is constantly growing. So, the corresponding changes were made to the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation (Article 71), the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (Article 75), the Administrative Code (Article 70), the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (Articles 81, 84).

Network evidence in court

The court believes the evidence from the Internet, but there are nuances here. If you just print out the correspondence between the plaintiff and the defendant and bring such a paper to the court, it may not be considered. There is a high probability of document forgery using a graphic editor. Therefore, it is better for the court to certify the printout with a notary, although this is not a mandatory requirement. In this case, the screenshot will be drawn up in the form of a protocol of examination of the material evidence by a notary.

How to make a screenshot correctly

If you do not have the opportunity to certify the screenshot with a notary, a correctly drawn up screen will still be accepted for consideration in court. Learn how to arrange such a document correctly:

  1. Do not use a photo of the monitor screen taken with a digital device. The screen is photographed using the prt sc key. Then you need to paste the image from the clipboard into a graphics editor;

  2. Save the file in JPEG, PNG, GIF format with at least 16-bit color resolution, do not compress or crop it. All information from the screen must be present on the picture;

  3. Print the screenshot and write the date and time, place, your details and signature on it by hand;

  4. Check that the screenshot clearly shows the headers, browser string, site URL and other technical information that allows you to identify the software in which the document was opened;

  5. If the screenshot contains information in a foreign language, an official translation into Russian is required;

  6. Save the screenshot on your hard drive or flash drive: in several copies on different media.

Screenshot certification procedure by a notary

To certify screenshots in a notary’s office, it is not enough just to open the site and find the desired page or show the correspondence in the messenger, and then put a seal on the printout. The process is somewhat more complicated.

Before certification, the notary must give a full calculation of the source, technical information: protocols, IP, etc. A specialist of a notary office can obtain the required technical information about the site manually or through a special software product that automatically collects information about the Internet resource.

When the notary has managed to collect the necessary information, he draws up a protocol of the examination of the web page, which reflects its full content, indicates the technical parameters of the server operation, the time and place of the examination, the testimony of the interviewed persons, etc. the specified source, the notary appoints an examination and receives an expert opinion. As a result, you become the owner of a screenshot certified by a notary, along with technical data on the site from which it was taken. Such a paper will undoubtedly be an argument for the court.

Screenshot as evidence: features

As a rule, courts refuse to accept a screenshot as evidence only because of incorrect design. It is necessary to correctly process the document and provide it on tangible media. The carriers are a paper inspection protocol and an electronic record (flash card, CD-ROM).

What conditions must be met:

  • the data in the screenshot must confirm or deny the circumstances that are directly related to the dispute;

  • the screenshot should contain the date and time of its creation;

  • it is necessary to establish the source – to confirm that the information was posted on a page owned by the respondent.

If you have a notarized screenshot, then such a document is accepted in court without any additional research. The screenshot will be reviewed along with the rest of the case file. The costs incurred for notary fees can be recovered from the losing party.

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