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Careful What You Write

Citizen

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Fairfax Co., VA
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From time to time somebody will post something unwise. Until now I've not really been able to cite a source for how poorly-considered words written on the Internet can be used against you. Here is something from somebody ina position to know: Massad Ayoob writing in Backwoods Home Magazine.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob105.html

SNIP

....Last issue Dave Duffy also told you the story of Matt Bandy and some pretty scary stuff about computer security that you REALLY need to know. He and the experts whom he sources know a whole lot more about that than I, but I can add one thing to that discussion: I’m in my 34th year as a sworn police officer, my 19th as a certified “police prosecutor,” and I know for a fact that we DO have the technology to pull things out of your hard drive that you thought were deleted. We DO have the right to ask you, under penalty of perjury, whether you post on any Internet forum, and under what name, and we DO have the power to subpoena any posts via your IP from the Internet hosts, who under law have no choice but to “give you up.” Don’t let the seeming anonymity of the Internet delude you: when things get serious, you won’t be anonymous anymore.

The entire article is a good read. In fact there are a number of columns chock full of interesting information if youback up to thehomepage and find the link.
 

BobCav

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No longer in Alexandria, Egypt
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Yep, I knew some computer forensics guys who could recreate what was on a HD at almost any point in the past, even if files were erased and the drive was formatted.

It's all ONES and ZEROES and they have super sensitive gear that can now detect how many times a bit has been "flipped" from a ONE to a ZERO and vice-versa.

There is no true anonymity on the net, everything is tied and traceable to your IP address/computer, your ISP and your account with them.
 

VAopencarry

Regular Member
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May 9, 2006
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Berryville-ish, VA
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OK, well I knew they had the technology but do not get the point of your post. Don't confess to murder on the internet? Why do I or other law abiding citizens need to worry about what can be found on my hard drive?
 

IanB

Regular Member
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Jul 18, 2006
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Location
Northern VA
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That's why I use buckshot to erase sensitive information on hard drives.
 

Shovelhead

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Apr 12, 2007
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315
Location
NO VA, ,
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That's why I use buckshot to erase sensitive information on hard drives.
Same here..........:dude:
 

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Hawkflyer

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Even an off hand joke can be used in court against you.

I actually saw this in a murder trial. The guy posted his plan to dispatch USDA meat inspectors and how he planed to grind them into sausage and sell them in his store.

That internet posting was used as evidence of premeditation in his subsequent trial for murdering three meat inspectors months later in his factory.

You can even be prosecuted if you click to a site you find in google and it downloads a few child porn fingernails onto your system. That constitutes possession as they stay in you cache folder.

You gota be careful.

Regards
 

openryan

State Researcher
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
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, Indiana, USA
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Shouldn't all of these be common sense/knowledge.

Unless it is a public computer, YOU should know what you download and type, anything you do you should be held accountable for, know the consequences for your actions.
 

openryan

State Researcher
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Location
, Indiana, USA
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I think another problem why things like this happen and it can relate to a lot of other things is TV.

Some people are so warped and engrossed in some of these shows and movies that they begin to get their information from them and do not take the time out to verify for themselves.
 

Tomahawk

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VAopencarry wrote:
OK, well I knew they had the technology but do not get the point of your post. Don't confess to murder on the internet? Why do I or other law abiding citizens need to worry about what can be found on my hard drive?


That's the old "if you're not doing anything wrong, what are you hiding" argument, and it's wrong for the same reason. You may think you're "law-abiding" but the law can change without your knowledge, and you don't know the law by heart anyway. Joking is not a crime in my mind, for instance, but that doesn't mean it's not against the law. You also may not know what's on your hard drive.
You can even be prosecuted if you click to a site you find in google and it downloads a few child porn fingernails onto your system. That constitutes possession as they stay in you cache folder.
That's a good point, and it's difficult to guard against. When you hit the search button on google you have no idea what's coming your way. Another example of laws written to satisfy hysterical people, I guess, since there is no criminal intent or perhaps even knowledge of what's on your HD.
 

IanB

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That's why LEO and Citizen keep all their searches restricted to "animal porn".
 

Tomahawk

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I think what is needed is a self-destruct device for your hard drive like in the old Mission Impossible show. It could be voice-activated so that when someone kicks in your door you just yell, "Okay. That's it!" and it burns up.
 

AbNo

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As an interesting side note, you should also be careful if you use a wireless router. Particularly without setting a WEP or WPA passcode to it.

"War driving", as it is called, or using other people's unsecured wireless routers without their knowledge or permission is, while somewhat rare, still a somewhat known practice.

Granted, most war drivers are just doing so for the sake of being able to say "Wow, I have internet here.", essentially having a little "geekgasm" for lack of a better term. However, like any tool, people can use it with malice.

I also remember reading a story a year or so ago about someone that used an unsecure wireless network in the middle of a traffic ticket case to prove he couldn't have been guilty. So again, good uses, bad uses.
 

Hawkflyer

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Tomahawk wrote:
I think what is needed is a self-destruct device for your hard drive like in the old Mission Impossible show. It could be voice-activated so that when someone kicks in your door you just yell, "Okay. That's it!" and it burns up.

LOL - Inside joke, but funny none the less.:lol:
 

ilbob

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, Illinois, USA
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Hawkflyer wrote:
Even an off hand joke can be used in court against you.

I actually saw this in a murder trial. The guy posted his plan to dispatch USDA meat inspectors and how he planed to grind them into sausage and sell them in his store.

That internet posting was used as evidence of premeditation in his subsequent trial for murdering three meat inspectors months later in his factory.
Did he do it? If so, it might well have been legitimate evidence of premeditation, rather than an off hand joke.
 

IanB

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While I don't consider this "war driving", if I have my WiFi enabled PDA on the road, and I need info on the fly I have no shame about finding an open router to retrieve information I need.

My router at home not only uses WPA-PSK-TKIP, the passphrase was randomly generated charactars. See here: http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/

Example: CrunUwAWAt4ecacrebr8st_T2UKUFuB?@R#x5+r$quChUSuZEFrAg24EnAHe&uWr
 

AbNo

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nakedshoplifter wrote:
While I don't consider this "war driving", if I have my WiFi enabled PDA on the road, and I need info on the fly I have no shame about finding an open router to retrieve information I need.

Well, Wardriving isn't typically for malice, it's mostly due to boredom.

I've actually suggested it to an IT geek buddy of mine a few times.

And for some 'net addicts, being able to get a fix (even on a PDA, as you said) without having to go home can be quite helpful.
 

Hawkflyer

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ilbob wrote:
...snip

Did he do it? If so, it might well have been legitimate evidence of premeditation, rather than an off hand joke.

Sure did, and he did it on video. Sentenced to death, but died of "natural causes" before they could give him the needle.
 
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