Digital Forensics applied to the Social Sciences
After watching the Ted Talk video given by a digital forensics investigator, it was interesting to think about what social aspects can apply to the job. The speaker, Davin Teo, was an accountant by education, however, he slowly made his way into the IT field and then eventually into digital forensics. As digital forensics is a technical field, it also uses a social science lens to help discover possible evidence. Investigators use relativism to understand how human behaviors affect technological systems. They use objectivity to sustain from forming their own opinions, so it does not affect the investigation and instead rely on empirical evidence. Parsimony is used to help investigators convey to governing courts the processes of technical systems in easy-to-understand terms. Digital forensic investigators also are mindful to be ethically neutral in their examinations by addressing underlying ethical principles that are culturally accepted. They also examine the determinism of the crime they are investigating by asking questions such as: what caused this event to happen? Was it motivated by money, power, or revenge? What is accidental? And if so, what were the contributing factors that led to this accident? These social principles that are discussed above are applied in this field of work to help provide another layer of examination to extract clarity on different technical events that occur. It’s important for digital forensic investigators to not only apply a technical view during an investigation but also employ a social science analysis as well.