Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms IT email help needed

I'm hoping somebody on here might have some expert knowledge relating to proof of emails being sent and received.

Somebody is trying to prove by sending me a report from their server/web host that an email was delivered to one of our email accounts and the report shows it as having been "successfully delivered" to the email account.

The person who claims to have sent the email is a "Data Scientist Consultant". My question is, could somebody with that knowledge produce a fake report to "prove" the email was sent and delivered?

I need to demonstrate there is possible doubt and that it is not 100% certain that it was sent and delivered as we believe it was never received by us. Is there a reference point anybody is aware of that could support an opinion?

As ever, appreciate any help.

Sorry not me Roger.
I will have a sniff among some friends.
There are companies that do this for a fee but it is usually a doozy.

Can you give me a clue as to who hosts your email (1-2-1, Google etc)
Also what client do you use to collect your email (outlook, web browser)

It makes a difference.

Thanks Alistair. This particular email account was hosted via MrSite and into Outlook 2013 desktop version.

Sorry can't help Rog but I'm sure an expert could replicate such a report. I'm sure others on here will know.
Presume you've checked all you spam/trash/deleted folders and checked via your internet provider rather than you email app?
Lastly can't the sender simply resend the document ?
Hope you're coping with life sans Mog...
Regards

Thanks Brian. I'm suspecting that is the case and just need to prove that it is not 100% guaranteed that the report is true.

We're in dispute with the person who claims to have sent it - we claim we hadn't received it.

Missing the Mog terribly, keep looking at the empty space in the garage but it has to be for now.

Roger

All (I think) email servers produce data on an email received which can be viewed by the sender if they select that option. They typically also show some or all of the intermediate router information.
This information is normally held in a log on the receiving mail server. You can configure how long the data is retained for if you have control of that server.
If that data is still available depends on how your server is configured. For example on my Business email server (which I effectively rent) I can access all the logs and they are configured as "loop storage" for logs, so how long the data is retained depends on the number of email I get.
I could pay more and get more storage.

If you are using a large email supplier (BT, Google etc) then I suspect the logs for each email are not kept very long and you would probably need a court order to see them (none of that would apply to GCHQ, as they seem to get all the "Meta Data").

Back to your question, My view is that you can easily produce a fake "email delivery report" even showing the recipient's IP address. If the sender's email provider can produce a report then most courts would accept that, if the report only came from the sender then it is not a proof but a court might accept it (as a balance of probability) unless you have some evidence to suggest otherwise.

I have experienced cases where a Post Office "proof of postage" was taken by the Judge as evidence of delivery!

If the sender is saying they have a "delivered" status only and not a "delivered and read" status then that could mean the email was delivered but never read (or went to spam). But not having an email "delivered and read" status does not mean the email was not read, only that the recipient may have decided not to acknowledge it was read.

I am assuming that this has some legal significance.

The fact of the proof of delivery from a server does not constitute a proof of reception. The only thing that can be a proof of reception is a reply from the receiver. This may be a simple reciept requested by the sender or further correspondence. The exchange of emails can obviously constitute a proof of reception but the mere sending of an email and the fact that the sender's server may have a record of delivery does not actually prove that the email was delivered to the intended recipient.

PS. Italy has introduced a certified email system that has legal validity. All businesses are obliged to have such an email account.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_email

Thanks Clock. How would I distinguish between a report from the sender compared to one from thesender's email provider?

Peter, you're correct, it is a legal matter. I like your response, thank you.

Eric bakes good cakes...we could put a file in....