Why can’t I just use my mobile phone to take damage pictures? They are time and date stamped?

Why can’t I just use my mobile phone to take damage pictures? They are time and date stamped?

The approach suggested is flawed and does not provide irrefutable protection:

  • Not all mobile devices allow the date/time to be physically inserted onto the picture they take. That feature is not part of the default camera app provided by Apple or Android devices.  Other 3rd party apps could be utilized to imprint that date/time on the picture, however, that information can be modified utilizing Photoshop to reflect any desired date/time placing that time stamp in question.

  • If one considers the timestamp of a picture file (JPG, TIFF, BMP, etc.) at the operating system level on a device, it is possible to alter that data, especially as the picture file is transferred between devices, so the irrefutability of that timestamp becomes null. The same is equally true about the Metadata attached to the digital picture as it too can be easily changed by anyone.