Theory 086/Law & Forensic Science
Evidence Integrity Is Chain Length
The claim
Digital evidence integrity assurance is set by the length of the unbroken hash chain rather than by the strength of the hash.
01The mechanism
A strong hash protects each link; the assurance of the whole depends on how many links are unbroken from acquisition to court.
02Predictions
- P1Admissibility risk should track chain length.
- P2Stronger hashes should not fix gaps.
03Refutation
Integrity tracking hash strength would remove the chain term.