Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Jersey
AIM Chat Logs
Can personal chat logs be used against someone in a case where they say somethign was distributed. Also, are there any privacy acts that protect my right to my chat logs.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: AIM Chat Logs
I am not certain what a personal chat log is. If you are referring to a record of your internet chats maintained by a internet provider that is one situation. If you are talking about some record on your personal computer that is another matter.
You might give me a call.
Gary Moore, Esquire
Hackensack, New Jersey
www.garymooreattorneyatlaw.com
Re: AIM Chat Logs
Since you mentioned distribution, it sounds like you have some child porn charges. Computer crime is one of my big focus areas and I have been studying computer crime for 15 years. It also sounds like you don't have a good attorney since he would know that if the file was sent via AOL, there is a good chance that the image was captured by the AOL on screen upload which is a program most people don't know about. Furthermore, if an image or some other file was distributed, there should be ways to prove that outside of chat logs. I would also have to see the statements, but I think there are hearsay exceptions that would allow it. Now we just need to authenticate that these statements were made by you. That all depends on where they came from: someone's computer, AOL itself, or if it was just printed out. If there is no way to authenticate it, then anyone could have just opened up MS word and typed that stuff.
I suggest you get an attorney that knows about computer forensics and computer crime. Call me at 732/247/3340 to discuss your issues. My initial consultations are always free.