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Computer science and technology is developing so fast that no one can predict exactly what new technology might be developed in the near future, and the development of computer law can hardly keep up with the developing computer technology. The wide spread application of computers in business has created new situations that no existing laws are adequate to cope with. In the following cases, computer generated information was used as evidence but was not all accepted by the court.
A man received some treatment at a hospital but refused to pay the hospital bill because he claimed the figures were not correct. The hospital sued the man. As proof of the amount owed to it, the hospital offered in evidence a computer printout of the services rendered to the defendant and the amounts owed for them. Hospital employees testified that information as to amounts owed by patients in the hospital were stored in a computer as part of a regular business routine. The man objected to the admission of the computer printout as evidence on the ground that there was not a proper comparison checking of original slips showing services rendered against the computer printout.
The court decided that the computer printout was admissible as evidence when it was shown that the entries were made with proper equipment in a regular courses of business. The objection that there was not a sufficient checking of the printout did not make the printout inadmissible. It was up to the jury to decide how much weight or importance should be attached to computer printout.
In order to make it possible to admit evidence protected by computer, the law of evidence of the United States has changed greatly. According to the new rule, computer printouts of business records stored on electronic computing equipment are admissible in evidence if relevant to the material, without the necessity of identifying, locating, and producing as witnesses the individuals who made the entries in the regular course of business, if it is shown that the electronic computing equipment is recognized as standard equipment, the entries are made in the regular course of business at or reasonably near the time of the happening of the event recorded, and the foundation testimony satisfies the court the sources of information, method and time of preparation were such as to indicate its trustworthiness and justify its admission.
52. The man refused to pay the hospital bill because he claimed .
A) the hospital overcharged him
B) he couldn’t afford the money
C) the computer printout offered by the hospital was not consistent with original slips
D) the hospital couldn’t show any proof for the amount of money he should pay
53. The court’s final decision is .
A) the man must pay the bill
B) the computer printout was not admissible
C) the hospital failed for lack of evidence
D) not mentioned in the passage
54. According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A) The computer printout was not in keeping with the service rendered.
B) The computer printout was in keeping with the service rendered
C) The computer printout was checked to compare it with the service rendered
D) The computer printout was not checked to compare it with the service rendered
55. In order to make the computer evidence admissible, the United States .
A) has completely changed the law of evidence
B) has begun to draw up the law of evidence
C) has abolished the law of evidence
D) has revised the law of evidence
56. The best title for this passage is .
A) The Computer Evidence
B) The Law of Evidence
C) The Computer and the Law of Evidence
D) A Case on Computer
