Re: Disk wiping -- An alternate approach?

[Rohit Patnaik <quanticle () gmail com>]

A few phrases and "surprising" patterns are a lot more suspicious than a
hard drive full of zeroes, especially if there's evidence that other data
has been overwritten or erased.  If you present a hard drive full of zeroes
or random numbers, there's nothing to charge you with.  If most of your data
is random gibberish but there are a few telling phrases here and there, then
there might be enough for the prosecution to bring charges, even if they
aren't able to get a conviction.

Remember, "innocent until proven guilty" is nice in theory, but not so nice
in practice.  While you're under investigation, the prosecution can do many
things to disrupt your business and personal life.  The best thing to do if
there's any question is to simply clam up and sit still until you get to
speak with a lawyer.  Remember, prosecutors are judged on their conviction
rate, not on their accuracy rate.  They have no incentive to look for
exonerating evidence - that's your responsibility.  They'll only look for
evidence that'll prove you guilty.  As such, its best to leave nothing at
all that would arouse suspicion, especially if you've done nothing wrong in
the first place.

--Rohit Patnaik

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Bipin Gautam <bipin.gautam () gmail com>wrote:

> Ok, i extract wikipedia in my computer... then latter delete the
> html... @hdd level the place is marked freespace. then i copy a few
> videos, write a few emails and by then if most of the things gets
> deleted and by bad luck if any such content is left unoverwritten
> partially producing "questionable" and "surprising" patterns
> UNKNOWINGLY of just a few phrases, then basically someone is screwed
> just like that, even without GUILT ?!
>
> So, copying dictionary, webpages, encyclopaedia, research paper etc in
> your computer can really be harmful sometimes !!!?
>
> Anything on the internet if its a webpage can land on anyones computer
> while browsing, searching online, following links and with a lot of
> coincidences etc AND NOT NECESSARILY whatever text chunks found in
> your hdd is content OF YOUR OWN. YOU READ TO BLOGS OF PEOPLE, VISIT
> FORUMS, joke around in FD etc....... (get the idea) and it can be
> saved in disk cache and IF be leftover in disk as broken chunks of
> texts you are screwed ? How does law see all that.............
>
> So, if a "questionable" content is found it doesnt mean the laptop
> owner is responsible for it. We even keep on skipping text while
> reading in forums online and anyone can say anything online and it can
> land in your hdd as TROJAN HORSE of OPINIONS to screw you latter in
> life !!!?
>
> Think about it?
>
>
> Maybe then Alice/chatterbox run through the free/slack/etc... space of
> your harddisk idea is better?
>
> It would be intellectual uphill challenge for the EXAMINERS given that
> someone may have to shift 1 terabyte of data (how many bytes?:) mostly
> by HUMAN RESOURCE in hope for a ___ in the haystack..........
>
> bty, how many BOOKS is that? :P
> -bipin
>
> [1] http://alice.pandorabots.com/
>
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