will Doc Scrubber v1.1 stand up in court???

Discussion in 'SpywareBlaster & Other Forum' started by vortexeric, May 17, 2004.

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  1. vortexeric

    vortexeric Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2004
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    Do you feel that Doc Scrubber v1.1 could be used in court? I have an issue with my landlord that says he mailed (by regular mail) a notice on a certain date. I did not recieve "the letter". After I contacted him he attached "the letter" as a word document (that he says he mailed a print of) to me. I ran Doc Scrubber v1.1 on it and it reported that the document had not been printed since 2002 (I assume that is when the quicken template he used was created). The date of creation agrees with the date he says he sent the letter. I belive that he just set back his computer clock and created the letter the day he emailed the word file to me. According to Doc Scrubber, he didn't bother to print out a copy when the clock was set back. I plan to ask him to U.S. mail it to me again. Then if I have to hire an attorney, I will have him email the word file to my attorney. If Doc Scrubber reports that he printed the document when I asked him to re-mail it we will have proof that he could not of mailed it on the original date (since he did not print it). It is my thought that if I confront him with this type of evidence that he would settle out-of-court. I greatly appreciate any comments you may have.
     
  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    DocScrubber's primary purpose is to clean hidden data out of such documents, but there are probably many other tools that can help you view such data, so this is not unique to DocScrubber. (Indeed, other tools finding such data is the entire reason DocScrubber was developed - to remove that data.)

    Now, that said...

    There is a flaw in your logic above. You are assuming that the only copy of the template he has on his machine is the one he emailed to you. But, you can't know that that is true. What if he works this way... Whenever he needs to generate such a letter, he uses the original template he made in 2002 and generates a new Word document from it adding the custom data (the specific person's name and other info) as required.

    You have no way to know that he simply didn't generate a new copy when you requested an emailed version. Indeed, it is very likely this is the case because it doesn't seem likely that a template made in 2002 has only been used once, for you now in 2004, and never between then and now. But regardless, you have no way to prove that he doesn't have another copy on his PC, which he used when he said he first printed and mailed it to you.

    Talk to your lawyer about all the particulars of such a case, and find out from him/her who has the burdon of proof, etc. None of us here can give you legal advice. Get a professional to help and advise you!
     
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