----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Waller" Subject: Re: Effort Made To Restore Photography's Credibility
> It all boils down to the credeability of the one who took the image. > When I've testified in product litigation trials, a main point in the > presentation of my inspection images was that I took the images & they are a > true & accurate dipiction of what I saw on the day of my inspection. > The images are only as credeable as the testifier. Therein lies the real problem though. With digital images so very easy to alter compared to a film image, all it takes is a less than honest expert testifier who has an agenda of his own to ruin someone's life. If you are a testifier for the prosecution, the pressure to come up with evidence that supports the case must be extraordinary, and I would be willing to bet that expert witnesses who don't support a prosecutors predisposed view of the case won't be asked to testify all that often, which has a negative impact on the bottom line of the witness. It is made worse by prosecutors who feel they need to get convictions rather than conduct fair trials. The legal system is now more political process than due process, with the bludgeoning hand of the state often more criminal than the criminals themselves, and expert testifiers often just part of a charade designed to get people convicted of crimes they didn't commit, and generally not rich enough to take on the bottomless well of resources that the prosecution has at his disposal. As an example, Canada is having kittens at the moment over a forensic pathologist who's innacurate, misleading incompetant or dishonest, depending on your point of view, testimonies over several decades has ruined the lives of a number of innocent people, and whose credibility remained unquestioned for decades as well. The last person who should be trusted as a credible witness is a person who is being paid by the prosecution. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
