Nefarious potential of technology on legal system highlighted by experts

Dr Mary Aiken expressed concerns over the use of technology-based evidence at a legal conference organised by the Bar Council over the weekend, The Irish Times reports.

“I get very worried when I see convictions based on cell tower pings and mobile phone text messages when both of these are eminently hackable,” she said at the conference on defamation and other legal issues held in Malaga, Spain.

Barrister and former Just Minister Michal McDowell said text messages can be created and implanted on people’s phones, as well as false videos and photos.

He said: “Suddenly, a lot of our preconceptions about what was impossible to prove or disprove, or things on which it was safe to rely, have suddenly evaporated before our eyes.”

Mr McDowell added that tech companies had leaned on the Government during Dr Aiken’s successful campaign to have the digital age of consent set at 16.

“Sometimes I think the nation state is dissolving but international capitalism, international money power, is driving a lot of what is happening,” he said.