Try as I might to avoid otherwise, I got sucked into the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial vortex yesterday when I walked by the TV with the trial on (my wife was watching it, I swear!) and I saw a “metadata expert” testifying about Amber Heard photo metadata.
For the record, I’m not taking any sides in this case, except to say (based on what I’ve read and heard) there’s been plenty of evidence to make both Amber and Johnny look bad. As Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
But I did take notice of the analysis of the Amber Heard photo metadata where the expert (Norbert Neumeister – great name for a forensic expert, BTW) was reviewing the Exchangeable image file (EXIF) format of the photos showing evidence of bruising. As Neumeister observed in his testimony (captured here by Law & Crime Network and illustrated above), the software associated with the first photo of bruising on her face shows “Photos 3.0” – a photo editing software program – instead of the iOS version associated with the iPhone 6. This indicates the photo was edited.
That doesn’t mean the bruise didn’t happen, just that the photo can’t be authenticated as originally taken from the iPhone. Again, I’m not taking sides here, just pointing out a forensic analysis.
Back in 2020, Craig Ball wrote a terrific post about EXIF metadata titled The Metadata Vanishes (which I covered here), which discusses the EXIF data in more detail, including what to do and not do when looking to preserve that data when copying or transmitting photos with EXIF data. Great stuff! And important to fully understand the story about EXIF data.
An eDiscovery professional seeing “metadata expert” on the screen is like a dog seeing a squirrel in the yard – I had to stop and check it out. Life imitates…forensics and eDiscovery!
So, what do you think? Were you interested in the Amber Heard photo metadata discussion as well? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
Image Copyright © Law & Crime Network
Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the authors and speakers themselves, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.
Seems like “Photos” refers to Apple Software that comes with any MacBook, right? Might just be that people have different habits/processes of dealing with their photos, and going through Apple Photos for photos having been shot on an iPhone is one such process. Does Apple Photos change EXIF data upon opening the file? Certainly possible. The only thing this says it that Apple software was used, which may not be surprising assuming use of an iPhone. EXIF analysis is a rather useless IMHO, considering forensic analysis could determine whether a photo was actually edited (not just openend in some software). Had they presented photos with and without “Photos 3.0” in them would lead me to believe that some could have been edited, but otherwise, it may just be how those photos were taken off the iPhone, in absence of knowledge of any other way to do that.
[…] Amber Heard Photo Metadata and the Depp-Heard Trial: eDiscovery Trends: Hey, with so many people watching the trial (including my lovely wife Paige, who tipped me off to this story), did you think I was going to miss the opportunity to cover an eDiscovery angle about it? I’m building an audience here! 😉 And I repeat, I’m not taking sides. […]
[…] Adli tıp, meta veriler veya diğer e-Keşif ile ilgili konular veya hatta UPC kodlarını anlama, daha iyi PowerPoint sunumları oluşturma ve Zoom toplantılarına katılma gibi şeyler olsun, Craig her zaman öğreniyor gibi görünüyor. Bir ürüne dalacak ve onu derecelendirecek Google Nokta Tespiti muhtemelen öncelikle nasıl çalıştığıyla ilgilendiğinden. Ya da bir anlayış geliştirmek görüntülerdeki meta verilerhangi çok önemli hale geldi son dikkate değer vaka. […]
[…] it’s been the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial or the Alex Jones/Sandy Hook trial, or other recent high-profile cases, eDiscovery drama has been […]
[…] that is). It’s now a central theme of stories in the headlines. Whether it’s Alex Jones, the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial, the January 6th capitol insurrection or the “Wagatha Christie” scandal across the pond, […]
[…] Amber Heard Photo Metadata and the Depp-Heard Trial: eDiscovery Trends – This post on May 26 illustrated how eDiscovery was often “ripped from the headlines” (as I […]