<story><title>Deleting your browser history could land you in prison</title><url>http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/staff-editorials/13910/sox-browser-history-obstruction-justice/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jpatokal</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not saying I necessarily agree with the prosecution, their tactics or the charges, but this article is sensationalist to the point that you could change the headline to &amp;quot;emptying your trash could land you in prison&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; prosecutors argued that he made a conscious choice to destroy materials he knew could be used in a future investigation.&lt;p&gt;See, that&amp;#x27;s the point here.  If he had happened to have (say) VHS tapes or even handwritten notes of those sessions, and he had thrown them out after the bombing, he could have been slapped with the same charges.  The primary difference here is that emptying your browser history leaves a telltale sign, while chucking out some physical object does not.&lt;p&gt;Also, this article is conveniently omitting the fact that he also pled guilty to three counts of essentially lying to the FBI: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.thedailybeast.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;26&amp;#x2F;the-fbi-is-trying-to-destroy-my-life.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.thedailybeast.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;26&amp;#x2F;the-fbi-is-...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Remember kids, don&amp;#x27;t talk to police.  Ever. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Deleting your browser history could land you in prison</title><url>http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/staff-editorials/13910/sox-browser-history-obstruction-justice/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>blatherard</author><text>This sounds like another &amp;quot;banal-sounding activity that everyone does is suddenly illegal!&amp;quot; misunderstanding. The charge is that someone destroyed potential evidence on their computer with the intent of preventing that evidence from being found by an investigation that they believed was likely.   In the non-digital realm, this is like shredding business records when you suspect you&amp;#x27;re being investigated. Shredding isn&amp;#x27;t illegal, but attempting to obstruct an investigation is, and (IMHO) rightfully so.&lt;p&gt;Which is to say: deleting your browser history &lt;i&gt;as part of an effort to thwart a criminal investigation&lt;/i&gt; could land you in prison.</text></comment>