With the continuous development of information technology, especially network technology, the globalization of the Internet has brought human society into a new information age. Because the Internet is not limited by time and region, a completely different way of trading through the Internet came into being. In e-commerce, traditional written documents such as contracts, bills of lading, insurance policies and invoices are replaced by corresponding electronic documents stored in computer storage devices, which is electronic evidence in evidence law. In addition, legal facts involving electronic privacy, network and computer security, intellectual property rights in the network, administrative management and industry management in the network need electronic evidence to identify them to a great extent. Therefore, the study of electronic evidence is not a temporary "show off", it has at least the following significance:

First of all, the study of electronic evidence is helpful to establish the legal order of evidence in the "electronic world" as soon as possible. As we all know, since the 1990s, digital communication networks and computer equipment have made the storage, transmission, statistics and publication of information carriers paperless. However, this revolutionary change of information carrier has also caused many legal problems, among which the evidential ability of electronic materials has become the key link to solve these new substantive legal problems. Many civil, economic, administrative and criminal cases, from cyber privacy and intellectual property infringement cases to electronic contract disputes, online consumer rights protection, online advertising administrative regulation, online and e-commerce crime investigation, all need the strong support of electronic evidence. Therefore, the legislative work of electronic evidence will be based on the research results of electronic evidence.

Secondly, the study of electronic evidence is conducive to the development of evidence theory. In evidence science, the traditional concept of evidence has been greatly impacted by electronic information, not to mention that the form of electronic evidence is completely different from that in the traditional sense, and even the collection, examination and judgment of electronic evidence have new characteristics. Electronic evidence is essentially a group of digital information, which is recorded in magnetic media with different codes of "0" or "1". Due to the serious lack and lag of relevant legislation, electronic evidence is presumed to be documentary evidence or audio-visual materials in China's litigation practice at present, but more and more scholars believe that the particularity of electronic evidence makes it difficult to be covered by documentary evidence or audio-visual materials, so it is urgent for academic circles to conduct in-depth discussions on electronic evidence.

Thirdly, the study of electronic evidence is helpful to eliminate the misunderstanding of electronic evidence in litigation practice. The virtual world constructed by computer and its network is a plane, open and borderless space. In such an environment, it is difficult to ensure the stability, security and reliability of information, so the collection and acceptance of electronic evidence is controversial in litigation practice. The formation of cognitive misunderstandings such as "following the tradition theory", "only notarization theory" and "free collection theory" interferes with the identification of electronic evidence qualification in litigation practice.

In addition, the study of electronic evidence also has a certain impact on the progress of information technology. If the progress of information technology brings electronic evidence into the field of evidence research, the deepening of electronic evidence research will also lead to new thinking on the development direction of computer and its network technology. Many standards such as objectivity, authenticity, relevance, admissibility and non-repudiation of electronic evidence are also urgent problems in the development of information technology. In order to make electronic evidence have the corresponding evidence qualification, ensure the smooth development of network and e-commerce activities and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, information technology support such as password, digital signature, identity verification technology, firewall, disaster recovery, anti-virus and anti-hacker intrusion will continue to increase.

"Information technology has developed rapidly and penetrated into all fields of human society." In this digital age, electronic evidence plays an increasingly important role in the process of finding out the facts of cases, so it is of far-reaching significance to conduct a comprehensive study on the discovery, collection, judgment and use of electronic evidence.