LockChain: DLT-Based Solution for Preserving and Presenting Digital Legal Evidence

¹Form 5, Pui Kiu College, Shatin, New Territories, HKSAR (China) 
²Form 4, Li Po Chun United World College, Shatin, New Territories, HKSAR (China)
³Form 5, La Salle College, Kowloon, HKSAR (China)

A Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for IBCOL 2023

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

Abstract

This solution proposes LockChain, a decentralized ledger-based system to preserve and manage legal evidence of a digital nature. Currently, the legal evidence process faces issues with trust, transparency, and accessibility over long periods. LockChain aims to address these challenges.

LockChain leverages blockchain and innovative contract technologies to provide an open and tamper-proof system where multiple stakeholders can collaboratively store and regulate access to legal evidence according to procedures. We first develop a robust digital identity system to create a trusted digital identity that is connected to the digital evidence. Legal evidence such as documents, photos, and videos are encrypted and stored securely while linked to a blockchain. Access policies defined through smart contracts determine which authorized parties can decrypt and view the evidence as cases progress.

By utilizing public-key encryption, LockChain ensures that only permitted stakeholders can access evidence while maintaining an immutable record of the chain of custody. This preserves legal evidence securely for scrutiny even decades after collection. LockChain aims to solve trust issues by creating transparency in the evidence-handling process through an open, yet private distributed ledger. This protects evidence integrity and makes the legal process more robust and equitable for all parties.