Can photos lie?

ALMOST all lawyers and insurance claims handlers use marine surveyors and consultants at one time or another. They are the eyes and ears of litigators and claims handlers. Their reports are often the only evidence of what actually happened. So it is no surprise that principals ask surveyors for swift reporting and, above all, for good photographs of the scene. And therein lies a dilemma.

The quickest way to get photos and send them somewhere else is to harness the power of IT. A digital camera, linked to a PC and a mobile phone, can put a colour photo on a far-flung desk within minutes of it being taken. The dilemma arises, for the surveyor, because it is expensive to buy high-quality digital cameras and transmitting equipment and, for the lawyer, because digital photos are very, very easy to manipulate and alter.

The surveyor cannot get away with cheap equipment, because low-resolution digital cameras still underperform ordinary print film and give unacceptable definition. The lawyer or claims handler needs to be able to see what is going on, and needs to see it quickly, but also needs some evidence which will stand up in a court or tribunal. What is the answer?

The commonsense view was summed up recently by Larry Montgomery, a well-known US surveyor. He said, "The camera never lies, but liars can take photographs." Put another way, whatever medium you choose to get information about the situation on the ground to the claims process and, ultimately, to the court, you are dependent on the integrity of the surveyor on the spot. So the first answer to what appears to be a technical and legal question is really a human one. Choosing the right person will always be more important than choosing the right equipment.

Fine, but having an honest person on site shouldn't mean forgoing the advantages of speed that IT can deliver. In a recent survey of the market for surveyors, published in The Maritime Consultant & Surveyor magazine, almost all respondents said they could accept reports by e-mail. But less than half said surveyors used it frequently. There were a lot of people who wanted e-mail to be used for preliminary reporting, but who wanted a hard copy at the end. Ian Hislop, of the TT Club, was typical. "We can accept e-mail, but I am more comfortable with a hard copy. I have never been offered an e-mail report."

Several replies mentioned problems of compatibility. There were complaints about the size of files generated. But overall the feeling was that more and more surveyors will use electronic means to transmit reports.

Lessons? In the short term, e-mail can speed up the sending of interim reports, which are largely text-based. Surveyors can save themselves a lot of time and money by using e-mail, cutting down on phone and fax bills. But the technology for sending full reports by e-mail is still not widespread.

If lawyers and claims handlers have to take twenty minutes to download a file, then another half-hour to print out the photos, they will not thank the surveyor for sending the report by e-mail. But if you work regularly with someone, it is well worth investigating the extent to which you can use e-mail and the internet for reports.

Some surveyors do this all the time, and include both text and photos in reports which their principals can access in seconds, rather than waiting for a courier. But hard copies, with signatures, are still the mainstay of the business, and will be for some time.

Fine for e-mail, which is simply a quick way of moving text. TMCS magazine also asked users of surveyors if they accepted digital photography in their reports?

Oddly enough, the responses to this question did not match the answers given above. And two different offices of ABS which had responded to the questionnaire gave conflicting answers. One does, the other doesn't. A supplementary should be, "How do you know?" because a digital photo can be processed as a simple print and included in the hard copy and will appear just like any other photo.

Marsh + McLennan was adamant and consistent. It doesn't want e-mail reports and it doesn't want digital photography. It probably didn't want to move from quill pens to biros either. Charles Taylor & Co, from the P&I sector, which is so often considered old-fashioned and conservative, is equally adamant, but in the opposite direction. It wants reports on e-mail, and it accepts digital photography.

Between those simple positions lie a number of mixed replies. Many people want e-mail for text, but don't want digital photography in reports. Others simply say, quite honestly, that they feel more comfortable with hard copy photos. Overall, about thirty per cent of replies reported a flat 'no' to digital photos, thirty per cent or more were a flat 'yes', and the rest were hesitant.

Lessons? Digital is the way forward. Within a very short time it has come from nothing to taking up over a third of the market. In the future it will take over completely, as principals realise they can handle material more simply. But it does depend on the speed with which PCs are replaced.

New PCs can handle big photo files, but anything which is two years old or more struggles. New digital cameras give acceptable pictures, but anything which is two years old is dotty. And the better the quality of the picture, the bigger the digital file, which in turn means that a bigger and better PC is needed to handle it, and a better modem or ISDN connection to send and receive it, and a better printer to reproduce it. But, believe me, the speed of take-up is astonishing, and there is no geographic bias which says only the US or only some countries are using it. Everywhere, people are migrating to digital technology.

• If you haven't got a digital camera, and a PC and modem and printer capable of handling its output, you will need to budget for one soon.
• Don't use digital unless you have agreed with your client on its use.
• There are as yet no legal precedents on the use of digital photography. But as commonsense tells you, it is simply a mater of verification. Ordinary prints can be manipulated almost as simply as digital material.