Preserving digital evidence of conflict-related abuse safely means protecting people and preserving proof at the same time. Do not treat a screenshot or downloaded video as a complete record. First assess whether collection could expose a survivor, witness, source, location, device, account, or investigator. Then, with informed agreement where possible, keep an unchanged original and its surrounding context, record where and when it was obtained and who handled it, restrict access, maintain backups that do not create uncontrolled copies, and obtain qualified legal, digital-forensics, and survivor-protection advice when the stakes are high.
This process can make material more useful to an accountability or legal process, but it cannot guarantee admissibility. Requirements differ according to the collector’s role, the people and data involved, the country or countries concerned, the intended recipient, and the applicable law.
What safe preservation actually involves
A responsible preservation process keeps more than the visible image, recording, message, or document. It preserves provenance and context: what the item is, where it came from, when and how it was collected, who handled it, what changes were made, where it was stored, and who received it. Those records allow a later reviewer to assess authenticity and reliability instead of having to trust an unexplained file.
The Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations is the principal professional framework for open-source work. It was published by the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, on December 2, 2020. A United Nations Digital Library catalogue record lists an 87-page edition with ISBNs 9789211542332 and 9789210053433 in a 2022 publication record. The different dates describe a publication launch and a catalogue edition, not two competing protocols.
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The protocol’s central lesson is that safety is part of evidence handling. Online investigation can create digital, physical, and psychosocial risks for investigators, witnesses, victims, and first responders. Michelle Bachelet, then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the protocol this way: “Technology can help us see the distant, the obscured, and the unimaginable — and serve as concrete proof of violations of human rights and international law. In an era of widespread misinformation and disinformation, the Protocol gains even more importance. This new tool is, ultimately, about protecting human rights and advancing justice.”
| Preservation objective | What it requires in practice |
|---|---|
| Protect people | Assess risks before collection, obtain informed agreement where feasible, minimize identifying data, and control access. |
| Protect the original | Keep an unchanged source file or device state where feasible; distinguish it from working, translated, enhanced, or redacted copies. |
| Preserve context | Record the source, surrounding conversation or page, displayed date and time, account details, URL or location, and collection method. |
| Show handling history | Maintain an item identifier, collection record, storage history, access log, and edit trail. |
| Support later assessment | Retain relevant metadata, document transformations, and examine authenticity, source, location, and time rather than assuming the file proves its own caption. |
| Limit exposure | Use need-to-know access, controlled transfers, carefully managed backups, and no public circulation merely because a file has been preserved. |
These practices improve traceability; they do not by themselves establish that a file is genuine or legally admissible.
Make safety the first decision, not an afterthought
Before opening, downloading, copying, or requesting material, consider how the act could change the risk to everyone connected with it. A seemingly harmless action can trigger a notification, reveal a survivor’s account, expose a location in metadata, place a copy on a synchronised device, or alert an alleged perpetrator that someone is collecting evidence.
Run a short threat assessment
| Who or what could be harmed | Questions to ask before collection |
|---|---|
| Survivor or witness | Could the material identify them, their family, current location, community, or account? Could publication or transfer expose them to retaliation, stigma, or renewed trauma? |
| Source or first responder | Could downloading, messaging, or logging in reveal the source’s identity, device, network, or relationship to the material? |
| Collector | Could the device, account, search history, or stored files be seized, hacked, inspected at a border, or seen by someone sharing the device? |
| Location and other people | Do images, embedded data, background landmarks, voices, uniforms, licence plates, or timestamps reveal a protected place or another person? |
| Future users | Could an uncontrolled copy be forwarded, indexed, altered, or used outside the purpose for which it was supplied? |
Include digital, physical, and psychosocial consequences. The Berkeley Protocol calls for professional, legal, ethical, and safety planning; the 2025 Murad Code practitioner guide makes the same pre-emptive approach especially important when open-source work may encounter information about conflict-related sexual violence.
Use a stop-and-seek-help rule
Pause collection and seek qualified, trusted advice when any of the following is true:
- The person who supplied the material does not understand who may receive it, why it is needed, or what risks cannot be reversed.
- Collection would require accessing another person’s account, bypassing a security control, impersonating someone, or obtaining data by deception.
- The file is intimate, graphic, or identifying and there is no clear, safe purpose and protection plan.
- Keeping the material on the available device could endanger a survivor, witness, family member, or collector.
- You cannot identify a secure recipient, a lawful basis for handling, or a way to document custody without exposing people.
- The material may be evidence of sexual violence and you lack survivor-centred protection expertise.
Do not contact an alleged perpetrator to test a claim, provoke a response, or obtain a “better” copy. That can create danger and contaminate later accounts.
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Clarify your role, purpose, and legal setting
The safest method depends on whether you are a person who encountered a file, a survivor or witness, a journalist, a civil-society worker, a lawyer, or a trained investigator. The same technical action can be appropriate for one role and dangerous or unlawful for another.
Questions to answer before collecting
- What decision will the material support? Examples include an urgent protection referral, a newsroom verification process, a civil-society report, a legal consultation, or a formal investigation.
- Who is authorized to receive it? Identify a specific organization or professional, not an undefined audience or an open link.
- Which law and process apply? Consider where the collector, source, survivor, device, server, and intended legal forum are located. Privacy, interception, data-protection, evidence, and reporting rules can differ.
- What is the minimum necessary material? Collecting every file or every message can increase exposure without improving the decision.
- What does the source want? Discuss confidentiality, anonymity, retention, withdrawal, and limits that cannot be reversed after a transfer or legal disclosure.
The UN Digital Library summary of the Berkeley Protocol notes that the legal framework and the investigation goal affect collection choices and the evidentiary threshold. Neither a general internet guide nor a preservation log replaces jurisdiction-specific advice.
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Consent is a process, not a single checkbox. Explain, in a language and format the person can understand, what you want to collect, why, who may see it, where it may be stored, how long it may be retained, and what risks remain even after safeguards. Explain that withdrawal may not be possible after material has been submitted to a court, regulator, or other recipient.
A person may agree to documentation but not to publication, or to a restricted legal transfer but not to sharing with journalists. Record those boundaries separately. Do not make access to medical, financial, immigration, housing, or other assistance conditional on supplying evidence. Give the person time to ask questions and, where appropriate, access to an independent support or protection professional.
When a person cannot safely consent, do not assume that public availability equals permission. Seek advice from a trusted specialist who understands the relevant law, power imbalance, trauma, and protection risks. Avoid collecting intimate images or detailed testimony simply because they might be useful later.
Prepare a documented collection plan
A written plan prevents rushed decisions and gives a later reviewer a clear explanation of what happened. It can be short, but it should be completed before routine collection begins.
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- Name the responsible person and backup. Record who makes collection decisions, who can approve access, and how a handover will occur if that person becomes unavailable.
- Define scope. State the alleged event, date range, geographic scope, source types, and the minimum material needed. Exclude unrelated personal data.
- Set risk controls. Decide how to protect source identity, survivor preferences, devices, accounts, locations, and staff. Include a plan for device loss, seizure, compromise, or accidental disclosure.
- Choose a collection method. Use the least intrusive lawful method that preserves the needed context. Do not access accounts or systems without authorization.
- Create an item numbering scheme. Give each original a stable identifier before making working copies or redactions.
- Prepare logging templates. Make fields for collection time, time zone, collector, source, method, file name, format, visible context, metadata, storage location, and every later access or transfer.
- Define retention and deletion rules. Decide when a copy will be deleted, who can authorize deletion, and how deletion will be recorded without destroying a required original.
- Identify specialist contacts. Have legal, digital-forensics, language, trauma, and physical-protection advice available before a high-risk collection begins.
Minimum collection record
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Item identifier | A unique number or code that remains attached to the item and all its working copies. |
| Source and provenance | How the item was encountered, the displayed account or sender, URL or physical source, and any known chain before collection. |
| Date and time | The collector’s local time and time zone, plus any date or time displayed by the platform or device. Note uncertainty. |
| Collection method | Device and application used, whether the item was downloaded, exported, photographed, or otherwise captured, and any interruption or error. |
| Context | Surrounding messages, page text, comments, captions, replies, file names, and other information needed to interpret the item. |
| Metadata | Relevant original metadata and whether it was retained, stripped, converted, or not available. |
| People involved | Collector, source contact, reviewer, recipient, and each handover, using protected identifiers where necessary. |
| Storage and access | Repository or device, access permissions, backup location, access events, edits, exports, and transfers. |
| Risk and consent notes | Known threats, agreed restrictions, redactions, and the specialist advice governing handling. |
Capture material while preserving its context
Use the original file or source state where feasible, and create a separate working copy for viewing, translation, transcription, enhancement, or redaction. Never overwrite the original with an edited version. If a platform only permits a screenshot or screen recording, label it as a contextual capture and record exactly what was visible and what could not be captured.
Web pages and social-media posts
- Record the full address as displayed, the account or page name, visible publication time, your collection time and time zone, and the surrounding text or comments that give the item meaning.
- Capture enough of the page to show whether the item was an original post, a repost, a quotation, or a reply. Note if the page was inaccessible, edited, deleted, restricted, or loading incompletely.
- Where lawful and safe, retain the native downloadable file as well as a separate contextual capture. Do not rely on a cropped image that removes the account, date, caption, or conversation.
- Do not repeatedly visit or interact with a high-risk account merely to obtain more material. Repeated views can expose the collector or alter the source’s awareness.
Messages and documents
- Preserve the conversation around a relevant message rather than an isolated sentence. Record sender and recipient identifiers as presented, displayed dates and times, attachments, edits, deletions, and sequence.
- Keep the original document format when possible. Record the file name, size, visible author or organization, creation or modification information, and any conversion used to make it readable.
- Do not forward intimate or identifying material to personal accounts, group chats, or unapproved services. A forwarding action can create copies and notifications that the source did not anticipate.
Audio, video, and imagery
Retain the original media and document whether it was downloaded directly, exported from an application, screen-recorded, compressed, translated, or edited. Note missing frames, muted sound, overlays, watermarks, captions, cuts, and visible indicators of reposting. Keep a working copy for analysis and make all alterations traceable.
The 2024 imagery guide for judges and fact-finders identifies source, authenticity, metadata, location, and time as matters that later evaluators may examine. An image does not prove its own caption. Assess who first supplied it, whether the file has been altered or repeatedly recompressed, what the metadata does and does not show, and whether the claimed location and time are consistent with other reliable information. Public collectors should not present a tentative geolocation or date as an established fact; trained investigators can decide what corroboration is appropriate.
Metadata: preserve, but do not overread
Retain relevant original metadata where feasible and record any process that strips or changes it. Metadata can contain useful information about a file or device, but its presence, absence, or apparent value does not independently prove who created the material, where an event occurred, or when it happened. A platform may rewrite timestamps or remove fields during upload, download, or conversion. Document those limitations instead of silently treating metadata as conclusive.
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A chain of custody is the chronological account of an item’s possession and handling. It should allow an authorized reviewer to see when an item entered the collection, who accessed it, what was done, where it was stored, and why each transfer occurred.
Separate originals, working copies, and disclosure copies
- Original: The source file or preserved source state, kept unchanged where feasible and subject to the most restrictive access.
- Working copy: A duplicate used for viewing, translation, transcription, analysis, or technical examination. Record every transformation.
- Redacted or disclosure copy: A version prepared for a defined recipient after removing unnecessary identifiers or sensitive content. Keep the reason and approver for each redaction.
For rigorous criminal chain-of-custody work, the 2017 International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict describes an item-level evidence package supporting authenticity. It also recommends access logs and edit trails. The protocol was updated in March 2017 and has been used by practitioners in multiple regions; that institutional use does not guarantee acceptance in a particular court.
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Log every handling event
For each access, export, edit, review, backup, or transfer, record the date and time, person, purpose, item identifier, action, destination, and any resulting copy. If an error occurs, do not erase the history; add a corrective entry explaining what happened. Restrict the ability to alter logs and review them for unexplained access.
Where a trained digital-forensics team is involved, follow its validated imaging and integrity-check procedures. Do not improvise a technical method and then describe it as a forensic guarantee. A meticulous log cannot repair an original that was overwritten or a disclosure that exposed a survivor.
Choose storage by risk and intended use
No single storage product, cloud setting, encryption option, or device configuration is safe for every conflict environment. Select an arrangement by examining access control, tamper evidence, audit logging, edit history, backup and recovery, preservation of context and metadata, exposure to survivors and collectors, and fit with the intended legal or accountability process.
| Arrangement | Potential value | Questions and risks |
|---|---|---|
| Single working device | Fast and simple for an initial, short-lived review. | Loss, seizure, malware, shared-device access, automatic synchronisation, and accidental deletion can destroy or expose material. It is rarely an adequate long-term repository. |
| Controlled organizational repository | Can provide defined user roles, access records, edit history, backups, and a documented handover process. | Verify who administers it, where data and backups are located, how compromised accounts are handled, and whether logs can be altered. Do not grant broad access for convenience. |
| Separate backup under the same controls | Supports recovery after device failure or corruption. | A backup is another copy and another exposure point. Record its location, permissions, retention, and restoration tests; avoid uncontrolled personal or automatic copies. |
| Offline or physically separated copy | Can reduce exposure to an online compromise when maintained by trained staff. | Physical seizure, loss, environmental damage, weak access records, and poor restoration procedures remain risks. Physical separation is not proof of tamper resistance. |
| Public or broadly shared link | Easy to distribute. | It offers little control over copying, downloading, indexing, or onward sharing and can identify survivors, witnesses, or locations. Do not use it as a preservation method for sensitive material. |
| Transfer to a defined legal or accountability partner | May place the material with people equipped to apply evidentiary and protection procedures. | Confirm recipient identity, authority, security practices, consent limits, transfer records, and what happens to the source after receipt. |
Access should be limited to people with a defined need. Backups should be deliberate rather than automatic, changes and access should be traceable, and storage should be evaluated for tampering and exposure. Ask a qualified security or digital-forensics professional to adapt controls to the actual threat environment.
Transfer material without creating a new danger
- Verify the recipient independently. Use a trusted contact path, confirm the person’s role, and ensure the recipient knows the consent and access restrictions.
- Agree on the package. Decide which original, contextual record, metadata, log, and redacted copy are needed. Do not send unrelated personal data.
- Explain the transfer to the source. State who will receive it, why, what future disclosures may be required, and what cannot be recalled.
- Record the handover. Log date, time zone, sender, recipient, item identifiers, method, and confirmation of receipt. Keep the transfer record with the item’s evidence package.
- Confirm post-transfer handling. Ask how the recipient will restrict access, preserve the original, create backups, and respond to a suspected compromise.
Do not use an unapproved personal email account, open group chat, public file link, or ordinary social-media post merely because it is convenient. The right transfer method depends on the threat model and the recipient’s established procedures; no universal setting is established as safe for every conflict situation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Publication and public-interest sharing are separate decisions
Preserving material for a protected investigation does not authorize publication. Before a newsroom, organization, or campaign releases anything, conduct a separate harm review:
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- Is publication necessary to serve a clearly stated public-interest purpose?
- Can the purpose be met with a description, blurred image, still frame, transcript, or independently verified summary?
- Could faces, voices, clothing, landmarks, usernames, timestamps, shadows, or file metadata identify a survivor, witness, family member, or safe location?
- Has the person’s informed preference been sought without promising confidentiality that cannot be kept?
- Could publication trigger retaliation, stigma, doxxing, retraumatization, or interference with an investigation?
- Have legal counsel and a protection specialist reviewed the plan in the relevant jurisdictions?
Never publish or circulate intimate or identifying material simply to ensure that it is “saved.” Public availability can multiply harm and make later protection impossible.
Extra care for conflict-related sexual violence
Sexual-violence material can expose survivors to exceptional stigma, retaliation, family harm, and psychological distress. The International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict, updated in March 2017, provides specialized documentation and storage context. The 2025 Murad Code guide focuses on open-source practitioners who may encounter such information and emphasizes advance consideration of legal, ethical, human-rights, and practical issues.
Apply a higher protection threshold
- Do not seek graphic detail when the decision can be made without it.
- Do not ask a survivor to resend an intimate file to improve image quality or completeness unless a qualified specialist has determined that it is necessary and safe.
- Keep identity, location, and identifying background details separate from analytical notes where feasible, with access limited to the people who need them.
- Use trauma-informed interviewing and avoid repeated requests for the same account by multiple staff members.
- Record the survivor’s restrictions on retention, sharing, and publication, and explain limits imposed by legal processes.
- Ask a trained protection professional before transferring material across borders or to an unfamiliar organization.
Practitioners’ use of a protocol is not a promise that a court or authority will accept every item. The intended forum, local law, consent, and the quality of the handling record remain decisive.
If you are not a trained investigator
You encountered material online
- Do not engage with the suspected perpetrator or repost the material.
- Note the visible source, date, time zone, and context without collecting more than necessary.
- Consider your own device and account safety before downloading anything.
- Contact a trusted human-rights organization, journalist with established safeguarding procedures, lawyer, or relevant protection service. Explain what you have and what risks you see.
- Follow the recipient’s instructions rather than improvising a public archive.
You are a survivor, witness, or first responder
Your safety and choice come first. You do not have to surrender a device or intimate file to prove that an event occurred. Ask a trusted specialist what can be preserved, what support is available, and who may access it. If you decide to share, agree on purpose, confidentiality, retention, and publication limits before sending anything.
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Use an approved organizational plan, risk assessment, access register, and referral pathway. Separate reporting, verification, legal disclosure, and publication decisions. Ensure that freelancers, translators, photographers, and technical contractors understand the same restrictions.
You are a lawyer or formal investigator
Map the applicable rules before collection, including privacy, interception, disclosure, cross-border transfer, and expert-evidence requirements. Coordinate with trained digital-forensics personnel and survivor-protection specialists. Treat open-source material as one component of an evidentiary record, not as self-authenticating proof.
Common preservation failures and safer fixes
| Failure | Why it causes trouble | Safer response |
|---|---|---|
| Saving only a cropped screenshot | It may omit source, date, caption, conversation, or signs of reposting. | Keep the original file where feasible and a contextual capture with a written collection record. |
| Editing the only copy | Later reviewers cannot tell what was original and what was changed. | Protect an unchanged original and perform edits only on a labeled working copy. |
| Assuming metadata proves the claim | Platforms and conversions can alter or remove fields; metadata may be incomplete or false. | Preserve it, document transformations, and assess it alongside source, location, time, and other context. |
| Creating uncontrolled backups | Each extra copy increases exposure and makes deletion or access control harder. | Plan backups, record their locations and permissions, and test recovery under the same safeguards. |
| Sharing through a public link | Recipients can copy, index, download, or identify people and places. | Use a verified, need-to-know recipient and a documented transfer process. |
| Collecting before discussing consent | The source may face risks they did not understand or accept. | Explain purpose, audience, retention, and irreversible risks before collection whenever safety permits. |
| Repeatedly contacting a survivor | It can retraumatize the person and create inconsistent or pressured accounts. | Coordinate through a trained, survivor-centred practitioner and minimize interviews. |
| Overstating a location or date | An uncertain inference can be repeated as fact and damage credibility or safety. | Label uncertainty and seek qualified corroboration. |
| Keeping no access history | A later recipient cannot determine who handled or altered the item. | Maintain access logs, edit trails, and an item-level evidence package where rigorous custody is required. |
When to bring in specialist help
Seek jurisdiction-specific legal guidance when the material may be submitted to a court, regulator, truth-seeking body, or international mechanism; when people or servers cross borders; when privacy or interception rules may apply; or when disclosure could create legal jeopardy.
Seek trained digital-forensics support when the original device may need preservation, files are encrypted or damaged, authenticity is disputed, metadata is central, or a strict criminal chain of custody is expected. Seek survivor-protection and psychosocial expertise when the material concerns sexual violence, minors, trafficking, detention, or an active threat. These specialists can help choose a proportionate method without turning every reader into an investigator.
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The practical boundary is simple: preserve only what you can protect, document every significant decision, and stop when collection itself creates an unacceptable risk. The Berkeley Protocol, the 2017 sexual-violence documentation protocol, the 2024 imagery guidance, and the 2025 Murad Code guide provide frameworks; the safe application still depends on the people, place, purpose, and law involved.
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