End of grant announcement: the Toolkit is now MVP!
The Toolkit enters beta software status. Here's how we'll be moving forward.
There we are: September 2021. The grant that funded the first iteration of the Toolkit has run out. Paradoxically, it feels that momentum is starting to build behind the idea and its potential spin-offs. Such is life!
Here’s where we are after a few months of development. As always, to get in touch: basile@digitalevidencetoolkit.org
We aim for the Toolkit to be the plastic sealed bag in which evidence is deposited, and which is then kept under watch in an evidence room, where each access is tracked and reported in a log.
In practice, this is what it means:
One click to preserve:
The Toolkit offers a one-click research tool preserving digital evidence through the web browser. The one-button browser extension delivers content to the self-hosted micro-service. No waiting, no series of things to click on. More time spent researching.
Future-proof archives and authenticity proof:
The Toolkit preserves a copy of the material as well as the proof of its authenticity. Future-proof offline copies are created, and their digital signatures immediately added to a remote immutable ledger. All the material is identified by SHA256, a U.S. federal government cryptography standard.
Your archive is yours: browse, annotate, export:
The Toolkit facilitates browsing the archive thus created, its annotation and metadata enrichment, as well as the export of working copies. All access and additions are added to the immutable log, accounted for, and replayable at will.
Lookup-and-prove: reverse verification of the custody
The Toolkit provides a “lookup-and-prove” mechanism demonstrating proper chain of custody of the material, for the case where a trove of documents has to be cross-checked against the Toolkit’s proof mechanisms.
Going forward
We’re working on a number of partnerships that aim to validate some of our assumptions.
From initial user interviews and contact with practitioners, we’ll now be working on two parallel tracks: the collaboration on collective datasets/cases, and the interoperability with other document management systems.
We’ll be offering assistance to pro bono law firms and vulnerable groups, including single victims self-documenting their troubles.
Useful links
 | A guest post by
|