A friend's teenage daughter is among a large group of girls in her school accused of sending a nasty message on Sarahah. It is an app that allows anonymous messages to be sent. Having read about it, it is a terrible, terrible idea. As you can imagine it is an cyber bullying investigation. Her parent's are not computer literate and they have come to me for help. She says that she had downloaded the app about 2 months ago as it was the rage at that time but deleted it the day after. The message was only sent last week. They are asking if there is anyway they can show that the app was indeed uninstalled a couple of months ago. Being an android user, I have no clue.
Thanks friends.
I know you can see apps that have been downloaded and which ones are currently installed and which have been removed but I can’t see anyway of getting info on dates/times etc.
Maybe going over previous back ups might give an indication of when it was last one the phone, I’m haven’t had much experience with this so maybe some else could help on that front?
I believe it is impossible for a user to prove without any doubt.
If she backs up her phone regularly on her computer (not iCloud) and if that computer is a Mac, she can establish that after a certain date she did not have it through a phone backup in Time Machine.
But it is also possible to delete an app from the phone (after a manual backup) and still be able to retrieve it in iTunes without having to go back to the App Store...
The best defence is to wave 2 fingers and ask them to prove that at least the App was on her phone on the day the message was sent. And even if it was (and whilst having a 12yo daughter I am extremely vigilant about cyber bullying both ways), I would not accept that she stood accused of something as nasty unless they had solid evidence. Because if not THAT would be bullying.
Last edited by Saint-Just; 29th October 2017 at 07:39.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I'm not aware of a facility (available to a layman) which would stand a grownups scrutiny, never mind cyber bulling investigation (assuming plod is involved) to prove when an app was deleted or last time used.
I am ready to stand corrected though.
To complicate things further, from what I gather, one can also post a comment by logging in on the app website without need for the app itself.
My advise to your friends daughter would be to think very carefully before making further statements of her account of the events as if proverbial hits the fan it would be very easy to find out when and how often she was using the app or was on that website alongside may other things.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I appreciate these investigations are run somewhat differently but I'd be fairly sure the onus is on the investigators to prove she did it rather than the girl to prove she didn't?
No idea about that particular app, but many messaging apps, once you reinstall them, then the previous messaging history becomes available.
So if she reinstalls the app, it may show all previous messages sent along with the date they were sent.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
As maybe hinted at, stand in front of the investigator and reinstall a backup from a week ago, if th eprogram was there then it will show in the reinstall.
With respect, if it is a school investigation, I don't think this is should be about cyber forensics. A friend had a bad experience of a school getting carried away with a CSI style investigation into cyber bullying that was completely flawed and created a lot of distress all round. Sarahah is anonymous so unless the victim of the bullying has something solid to accuse your friend's daughter as an individual with, then nothing can be proven. She should absolutely not be under any obligation to 'prove' this by sharing her private data, backups etc.
Separately, I suggest her parents have a long conversation with her about whether or not she is hanging around with a group who like bullying other girls. You don't need to be computer literate for that. If she is, then she should come clean to the victim and apologise.
Couldn't agree more - especially the last part! (Would like to think that has/Will happen anyway as a parent - surely that's 101.)Originally Posted by alfat33
Sent from my SM-G950F using TZ-UK mobile app
Hadn’t heard of this app before and I honestly can’t believe the stupidity of the developers. It seems to be marketed at teens with the sole aim that they can criticise eachother, allegedly this will improve friendships. Unbelievable that anyone in this day and age would think that this was a good idea and it should have been fairly obvious that the main use of the app would be bullying.
No idea how you can prove who sent the message but it does show the importance of parental controls. All app downloads that my daughter wants get sent to me for approval and this will carry on until she is paying for her phone herself.
ICYMI the app developer is from Saudi Arabia, and the app was quietly harvesting phone book contacts until recently.
Good parenting means that you are aware of what your children are up to IRL and online.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Thank you everyone. All very useful advice indeed. It is very difficult being a teenager these days especially with all these irresponsible apps. I will have a look at her backups to see if there is any useful information we can gather from it.
Bit harsh. Kids will work around this quite easily I imagine. The app sounds disgraceful, there is no other use for it other than how they are using it. It must leave a footprint though. If needed it would be possible to find something I'm sure. I'm dreading what will be about when my kids grow up
Are you a parent?
How old are your kids?
When you were a kid, were your parents aware of everything you got up to?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
A very good app for every would be terrorist to take instructions and motivation.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
If you go to the App Store on the iPhone, click on updates and then "not on this phone" you can see what apps were installed and deleted in chronological order but that's about it.
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