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I wonder if you could wipe the disk, like, with Eraser or something, and have it be unfindable by the authorities. . .although they could go to your ISP and find the same stuff, I imagine.
Anyone smart enough to sanitize a drive should know not to use a computer that can be traced back to them.
I guess the guy wasn't smart enough.
Or, perhaps, he didn't understand that cops have also heard about this new-fangled Internet thingee that all the cool kids are into and would be searching for evidence there as well.
It's funny. Back in my mystical days there was a concept bandied about called the Akashic Record, which, it was my understanding was the total record of everything ever done or said in this existence.
In a way, the Internet (now the Bush is premanently back in Texas, can we please stop calling it the Internets? Pretty please?) matches that description. Nothing ever goes away, and, if you have the skill and patience and reach, you can unearth pretty much everything everyone's ever done online, unless such people were VERY careful.
Come on, doesn't anybody watch CSI? Those forensic geeks can find the DNA of great-grandkids you don't even have yet. Let's not even start on computers.
Really, if you commit a felony, what you should do is google stuff like "why am I such a nice and honest guy?"; "Is there a place in today's world for an innocent person as me?"; "feeding the hungry, what can I do to help?"; "Church services in my area"; "how can I donate a kidney to the needy?"
More suggestions along those lines:
"policeman's ball donations"
"prosecuting attorneys, why so sexy?"
"mcgruff take bite out of crime, how to help?"
"soft on crime legislators, secretly gay?"
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