To answer more specifically, if your step-mom's email messages are sitting on a server (gmail, hotmail, etc.), then don't download them, have them stay there.
In gmail, you can click "go to original" and that will show the pathway the email took to get to the recipient. If you want to do this in a formal fashion before court, I would probably bring in a witness to observe me logging into my email account, going to the message(s) in question and printing out the "go to original" and having a notary stamp that person's statement.
If you want to pay a bit to have the above, you can see if there is tech support at your local college or university (or school) and they can observe the same thing, verify that you didn't tamper with the email message and sign a statement. I would send you to Best Buy, but...? The university/school option might come with a fee. You probably would want to bring your own laptop so said witness does not have access to the email longer than necessary.
If this goes to court, you'd need a special consultant to deal with this verification bs, but paying a tech support person might be no more than $50 (or a Farscape boxed set).
Oh, if it is a university, they probably could have you log into a university computer that gets wiped with every login. That might be the best option. have you log in with your credentials and call up the email and have the tech print the original options.
Also, though you suspect nefarious activity (and it may be that it is)...what if the company is incompetent in cutting and pasting?
the issue would be if there are copies of the message sitting on any third party servers whose contents can be verified as unaltered, I'm guessing.
Good point.
Oh, if it is a university, they probably could have you log into a university computer that gets wiped with every login. That might be the best option. have you log in with your credentials and call up the email and have the tech print the original options.
Oh, possible. Except I don't know how her email is set up.
Also, though you suspect nefarious activity (and it may be that it is)...what if the company is incompetent in cutting and pasting?
I don't really care if it's nefarious or stupid, so long as they admit that their emails were altered. They can use the, "oops, it was a mistake," line. It is absolutely nefarious but probably just in an ass covering way.
I'll pass on the info. I am asking about her system too.
sbcglobal.net that she uses with Mail on her Mac.
I don't know and she won't know.
I can take a look next weekend. Probably pop. I'm 85% sure pop.
How old is the email under question?
Less than a year old? It's about my Dad, so May or later.
If the sent items in Mail are not easily manipulated, she can call for a mobile notary to come to the house, log in, verify, print with full headers and stamp. Where's the flaw in this? It seems like the answer so long as you're willing to pay the mobile notary and she totally is.
I mean, that probably won't work if it goes to court but the whole point of this is to avoid that mess.
All a notary can do is sign that you or your mom is stating that the document is an exact copy. The notary does not actually verify the exactness. Think of a deposition, compelling truthfulness, that is what the notary is doing. If it is found to not be an exact copy, then you are liable for purgery.
