¶ … search and seizure of computers in a criminal case. The paper discuses both the challenges and the instruments and approaches needed in gathering evidence from computers. Gathering Evidence

Computer evidence is similar to most other kinds of evidence in several ways. Computer evidence is not that different from the evidence to be collected from a car impounded after a car-chase or the scene of crime in a murder case, in the sense that just like any other form of evidence, it ought to have been legally obtained, if it is to be admitted in court (Oppenheimer, n.d). For one, I will first have to get a search warrant before taking any computer evidence. In civil cases, there has to be consideration for procedures and policies. Many companies have their own incident-report plans that ought to be followed. The state and federal laws that are concerned with search and seizure also ought to be adhered to (Oppenheimer, n.d). In both criminal and civil cases, several conditions should be adhered to in the acquisition of evidence:

It must be legally obtained: the instructions in the incident-report guidelines and the search warrant ought to be adhered to.

Complete: all evidences should be collected even those that, I as an investigator,...

This is especially true for computer evidences that can be easily altered or modified in some ways.
Authentic: the evidence must be the real thing and not a copy or a fake.

Believable: the judge must be able to understand the evidence. It must be explained in such a way that they understand it.

The next step, after knowing the above stated principles of search and seizure, I as the investigator, must also recognize the computer evidence that am going to collect. There are many different types of computer technologies that one can use to store data, including; scanners/printers/copiers that buffer files, servers, wireless access points, routers, GPSs, PDAs, digital cameras, video recorders, iPods, VOIP phones, smartphones, floppy disks, flash disks, DVDs and CDs, external hard drives and computers (Oppenheimer, n.d).

The next step requires the use of a digital camera. The camera is utilized to document the scene by taking photos of: the overall scene, the condition of the computer technology, all the…