Forensic recording of webpages
Is it possible to record a webpage in such a way as to be able
to prove that it is a genuine record of the webpage (on a particular
date)?
It is possible to take a screenshot / screengrab of a webpage, but,
as I understand it, a screenshot is just a digital image, recording the pixels that were on the screen at the time.
So I am wondering if anyone has any insight about how to establish a
provable record of a webpage?
Forensic recording of webpages
Is it possible to record a webpage in such a way as to be able
to prove that it is a genuine record of the webpage (on a particular
date)?
It is possible to take a screenshot / screengrab of a webpage, but,
as I understand it, a screenshot is just a digital image, recording the pixels that were on the screen at the time. So it could be argued that
such a screenshot could be edited, or even entirely forged, in a
programme such as Photoshop, and therefore a screenshot couldn't
be considered proof of anything. (Unless perhaps there is some hidden
code in the screenshot image file.)
I am thinking of the sort of situation whereby a company might advertise
a product on their website, and state that it had certain capabilities. But if turned out that the product didn't actually have the advertised capabilities,
and if a disappointed purchaser wished to make a claim against the
company, the company could surreptitiously amend their webpage to
remove the questionable description of the product's capabilities, and so
the disappointed purchaser would not be able to use a screenshot as
evidence that the company had made any such description of the product's capabilities.
Forensic recording of webpages
Is it possible to record a webpage in such a way as to be able to prove
that it is a genuine record of the webpage (on a particular date)?
It is possible to take a screenshot / screengrab of a webpage, but,
as I understand it, a screenshot is just a digital image, recording the pixels that were on the screen at the time. So it could be argued that
such a screenshot could be edited, or even entirely forged, in a
programme such as Photoshop, and therefore a screenshot couldn't be considered proof of anything. (Unless perhaps there is some hidden code
in the screenshot image file.)
I am thinking of the sort of situation whereby a company might advertise
a product on their website, and state that it had certain capabilities.
But if turned out that the product didn't actually have the advertised capabilities,
and if a disappointed purchaser wished to make a claim against the
company, the company could surreptitiously amend their webpage to remove
the questionable description of the product's capabilities, and so the disappointed purchaser would not be able to use a screenshot as evidence
that the company had made any such description of the product's
capabilities.
Equally, a company could surreptitiously alter their terms & conditions,
as published on their website. Or a news source could remove a
potentially libelous statement from their website.
I had a look at the Wayback Machine / The Internet Archive
-------------------
https://archive.org/legal 'Information Requests 'The Internet Archive's Policy for Responding to Information Requests
'The following sets forth the Internet Archive's policy with regard to requests for documents or other records for use in legal proceedings.
[goes on to specify payments required].'
-------------------
However, Wikipedia says:
------------------- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine#Legal_status
'In Europe, the Wayback Machine could be interpreted as violating
copyright laws. Only the content creator can decide where their content
is published or duplicated, so the Archive would have to delete pages
from its system upon request of the creator.[84] The exclusion policies
for the Wayback Machine may be found in the FAQ section of the site.[85]
[I haven't actually been able to find the exclusion policies so far.]
'Some cases have been brought against the Internet Archive specifically
for its Wayback Machine archiving efforts.'
-------------------
So I am thinking that a record of a webpage from the Internet Archive,
might not be useable proof that it is a genuine record of the webpage,
at least not in the UK.
So I am wondering if anyone has any insight about how to establish a
provable record of a webpage?
Forensic recording of webpages
Is it possible to record a webpage in such a way as to be able
to prove that it is a genuine record of the webpage (on a particular
date)?
It is possible to take a screenshot / screengrab of a webpage, but,
as I understand it, a screenshot is just a digital image, recording the pixels that were on the screen at the time. So it could be argued that
such a screenshot could be edited, or even entirely forged, in a
programme such as Photoshop, and therefore a screenshot couldn't
be considered proof of anything. (Unless perhaps there is some hidden
code in the screenshot image file.)
I am thinking of the sort of situation whereby a company might advertise
a product on their website, and state that it had certain capabilities. But if turned out that the product didn't actually have the advertised capabilities,
and if a disappointed purchaser wished to make a claim against the
company, the company could surreptitiously amend their webpage to
remove the questionable description of the product's capabilities, and so
the disappointed purchaser would not be able to use a screenshot as
evidence that the company had made any such description of the product's capabilities.
Equally, a company could surreptitiously alter their terms & conditions, as published on their website. Or a news source could remove a potentially libelous statement from their website.
I had a look at the Wayback Machine / The Internet Archive
-------------------
https://archive.org/legal
'Information Requests
'The Internet Archive's Policy for Responding to Information Requests
'The following sets forth the Internet Archive's policy with regard to requests
for documents or other records for use in legal proceedings. [goes on to specify payments required].'
-------------------
However, Wikipedia says:
------------------- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine#Legal_status
'In Europe, the Wayback Machine could be interpreted as violating
copyright laws. Only the content creator can decide where their content
is published or duplicated, so the Archive would have to delete pages
from its system upon request of the creator.[84] The exclusion policies
for the Wayback Machine may be found in the FAQ section of the site.[85]
[I haven't actually been able to find the exclusion policies so far.]
'Some cases have been brought against the Internet Archive specifically
for its Wayback Machine archiving efforts.'
-------------------
So I am thinking that a record of a webpage from the Internet Archive,
might not be useable proof that it is a genuine record of the webpage,
at least not in the UK.
So I am wondering if anyone has any insight about how to establish a
provable record of a webpage?
pensive hamster <pensive_hamster@hotmail.co.uk> writes:
Forensic recording of webpages
Is it possible to record a webpage in such a way as to be able
to prove that it is a genuine record of the webpage (on a particular
date)?
It is possible to take a screenshot / screengrab of a webpage, but,
as I understand it, a screenshot is just a digital image, recording the
pixels that were on the screen at the time.
...
So I am wondering if anyone has any insight about how to establish a
provable record of a webpage?
Assuming you want a free service, lots of options here: https://freetsa.org/index_en.php
In particular https://www.freetsa.org/index_en.php#screenshot
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping
and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25052925/does-anyone-know-a-freetrial-timestamp-server-service
Alternatively, in Firefox, "File", "Save Page As", "Web Page Complete"
saves the page.
Zip up the files/directory, then generate the SHA512 sum/hash of the zip
file and post it here. Your post to which I am replying has this header, presumably added by the moderating NNTP server.
Injection-Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:56:53 +0000
pensive hamster <pensive_hamster@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
Forensic recording of webpages
Is it possible to record a webpage in such a way as to be able
to prove that it is a genuine record of the webpage (on a particular
date)?
Do you want to do it for a contemporaneous web page, or one at some date in the past?
Web pages don't have any kind of authenticity mechanism; the HTTPS
connection does (so if you recorded that you can prove it was sent from
their server within certain time parameters) but once it lands on your machine you just have files, with no proof you didn't modify them.
So I am wondering if anyone has any insight about how to establish aYour screenshot will contain meta data and clearly shows origin date and
provable record of a webpage?
if the image has been modified...
It depends on how "provable" you need it to be "establish[ed]" and how
much you are willing to invest to 'establish' that 'proof'.
We had a case where we needed to do precisely what you request here,
(i.e. to adduce a certified copy of a given web-page taken at a fixed
point in time), and we resorted to a third-party solution as we knew it
would work and it had the backup of an organisation for whom this was
their "day job" and upon whom we could depend, and call as a witness, if necessary.
We used a company called "Foxton Forensics" and their product
"PageRecon" [1].
You can read about it here: https://www.foxtonforensics.com/blog/post/capturing-web-pages-as-evidence
On 13 Feb 2024 at 18:24:11 GMT, ""Alan J. Wylie"" <alan@wylie.me.uk> wrote:
In particular https://www.freetsa.org/index_en.php#screenshot
The flaw in all these methods is proving you did not tamper with the
data on the day you downloaded it, before securely recording it.
Roger Hayter <roger@hayter.org> writes:
On 13 Feb 2024 at 18:24:11 GMT, ""Alan J. Wylie"" <alan@wylie.me.uk> wrote:
[much snippage]
In particular https://www.freetsa.org/index_en.php#screenshot
The flaw in all these methods is proving you did not tamper with the
data on the day you downloaded it, before securely recording it.
Not the one quoted above. If the hash anchor doesn't work, scroll down
to the section "URL screenshot online". The third party visits the
website, downloads it, converts it to a PDF and signs that.
Roger Hayter <roger@hayter.org> writes:
On 13 Feb 2024 at 18:24:11 GMT, ""Alan J. Wylie"" <alan@wylie.me.uk>
wrote:
[much snippage]
In particular https://www.freetsa.org/index_en.php#screenshot
The flaw in all these methods is proving you did not tamper with the
data on the day you downloaded it, before securely recording it.
Not the one quoted above. If the hash anchor doesn't work, scroll down
to the section "URL screenshot online". The third party visits the
website, downloads it, converts it to a PDF and signs that.
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