Hunter Biden’s laptop or is it!? A lesson in provenance. Opinion
We know nothing about the hot-button issues of the day! The example of the century:
What do we know?
- We know that someone dropped off a laptop at a repair shop, maybe.
- We know it eventually passed the laptop on to Rudy Giuliani, maybe.
- WE know that Giuliani eventually surrendered it to the FBI, maybe.
- We know the FBI possibly tried to prevent it from being made public, maybe.
Does anyone see the problem here? Anyone? Anyone at all?
We don’t know diddly squat!Why? Well, provenance!
Stage 1
First, we do not know whether Hunter Biden owned the particular laptop in question or if he did, whether he dropped it off as assumed. We do not even know if a laptop was even dropped off at that location at all. If not, where did it come from and who created its content?
Stage 2
Even if a laptop was delivered to that location, and the laptop did belong to Hunter Biden, and it was indeed he who delivered it, we have no accounting of what was done to or who may have handled it between the time it was delivered and the next phase of its existence.
Stage 3
If Hunter Biden did drop off a laptop, was it this laptop? If this is Hunter Biden’s laptop, dropped off by Hunter Biden, was it modified by someone before it was given to Giuliani? How many people had their hands on it? Has the hard drive been switched, has deep fake content replaced the previous content, or been added to existing content? How many people added, exchanged, deleted or otherwise altered the content before it was turned over to the absolutely trustworthy Mr. Giuliani?
And after it was placed in the hands of the new curator, how many people had their hands on it, and how many of them modified it, and is it even the possible laptop of the person who possibly delivered it to the computer shop to start with, and if so, who in the new curation crowd could have modified, adjusted, changed, altered, recreated, or otherwise screwed around with it?
I am sure by now you get the point.Stage 4
Before the laptop, whoever's laptop it was, was ever handed over to the actual authorities, there were hundreds, possibly thousands of opportunities for tampering with it or replacing it, or replacing parts of it!
I do not believe there is a court in the land that would not throw out any case based on evidence gleaned from any such device!
The laptop and the election
Now, if the shoe had been on the proverbial other foot, if Donald Jr. or the Kushners had possibly dropped off a laptop showing Trump junior as a coke head, or Jared selling national secrets to The Saudi’s, and that laptop had the same sort of provenance as the one in the tale above, would Republican operatives have wanted it posted on social media days before the last presidential election?
Conclusion:
Provenance, knowing the origin and the chain of ownership must be clear with any important documents or evidence. If it is not, the trustworthiness is in doubt. This is a good lesson for all of us, and particularly the media and social media pundits. It can be applied to many of today’s hot-button issues, including the classified document issue, which now encompasses 3 high ranking individuals from different parties and persuasions. Go forth and apply it!