Law Enforcement FAQ

TEL does not provide expert testimony.

TEL Exhibits are self-authenticating, provided that "valid signature" icon () icon is present, and should not require testimony to be admissible in court. At most, the victim may need to simply testify that they own the Locker.

Whenever a digital signature is displayed, TEL attempts to re-validate the signature data against the Exhibit to which the signature is attached, using the author's public key. TEL then displays one of the following symbols, based on whether or not the signature has been successfully re-validated:

  • - Indicates a successfully re-validated digital signature. The Exhibit was signed by the indicated user at the indicated time, and has not changed since.

  • - Indicates a digital signature that could not be re-validated. The Exhibit may or may not have changed since it was signed. This symbol should be rarely seen, if ever. Law enforcement should request that the author simply re-sign their statement. Exhibits with invalid signatures are still locked, and may not be edited or deleted.

  • - There is no signature present. The exhibit has not been signed and may still be edited or deleted.

For exhibits with signatures, TEL additionally provides the data needed to independantly re-validate the signature using Python (some coding experience required). See here for more details

TEL generates and issues a 512-bit RSA keypair for all users. The user's private key - accessible only to that user via password and two-factor authentication - is used to sign the exhibit, and the public key is used to validate that signature.

TEL digital signatures satisfy the following legal definitions and requirements:

United States

  • "Electronic Signature" under 15 USC 96
  • "Digital Signature" under 21 CFR 11.3 (even though 21 CFR does not apply to TEL).
  • TEL follows all other relevant digital signature requirements under 21 CFR 11 (even though 21 CFR does not apply to TEL)

United Kingdom

  • "Advanced electronic signature" under UK eIDAS Article 26, which is admissible under Article 25

Australia

  • Australia does not define digital signature requirements, however, TEL signatures satisfy various applicable requirements in the Electronic Transactions Act that relate to authentication.

European Union

  • "Advanced electronic signature" under eIDAS Article 26, which is admissible under Article 25.

UTC time is a standardized clock that does not take time zones or daylight savings into consideration.

In police investigations, a precise timeline of events is often necessary. By using UTC time instead of local time, we ensure that there is only ever one possible correct interpretation of the timestamp, regardless of travel, differences in location, local seasonal changes, or other factors.

People in the United States who would prefer to remain anonymous for now.