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A law that was allegedly passed in response to corporate accounting scandals like Enron's and Worldcom's is now being used far outside of its original intentions:
A lot of Internet users delete their browser history and clear their cache and cookies.
It's just one of those things you do — some more often than others — if you own and use a computer.
"If you don't clear this information, it's there for someone to come along and retrieve — either by sitting down at your computer or remotely if you visit vicious websites or get a virus," said a Patrol Tech expert.
But the recent Boston Marathon bombing trial has brought to light a law, ratified in 2002, that could land you with a federal charge of obstructing justice for — wait for it — clearing your browser history.
Techdirt points out some of the serious problems with this chilling precedent:
In a hypothetical posed recently (containing a real-world example), finding yourself in possession of child pornography poses a serious dilemma. Possession is a crime, but so is destruction of evidence. Sarbanes-Oxley demands the preservation of evidence in "foreseeable" investigations, and child porn possession is one of those crimes no law enforcement agency ignores.
The article over at Dailykos covers the relevant section of the law, along with other details:
Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
The spirit of this law seems to be just another way to criminalize spoliation, but like too many laws in the post-9/11 world its written overly broad and rarely, if ever, used for its stated purpose. It scares me to see that simply performing maintenance on your computer, or worse being the victim of a CP-rickroll, will land you in prison no matter what you do. Is there anything we can do to stop this creeping totalitarianism, or is the police state already so entrenched that the only option left is to abandon ship?
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Friday June 12 2015, @01:07AM
Fallacy: false equivalence.
The fact is, CP is treated differently than just about anything else. Mere possession is illegal, no matter how you got it, and it's become a boogeyman even worse than terrorism somehow. However, stumbling across a dead body (even in your own house) is not illegal by itself.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday June 12 2015, @01:30AM
Are you saying that everyone who has reported CP they saw while browsing the web has been sent to jail?
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @02:19AM
There have been cases of persons reporting CP with evidence being tried and found guilty of possession of CP. The moral of the story is "never talk to the cops."
The point of "zero tolerance" is so that everyone gets there chance to spend time in jail. It's the American way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @02:27AM
All computers you own, including all removable media and stuff like cell phones, will be carted off as evidence. You might get it back with only minor damage after a few years have passed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by lentilla on Friday June 12 2015, @02:39AM
The conversation will never go "Excuse me, Officer, but I came across some C.P. whilst browsing, would you look into it?" No, it will never happen like that. What will happen is that you will suddenly be under the microscope.
It is not out of the realm of possibility that your computer will be seized. In a way that's understandable - secure the evidence until it is known what we are dealing with. Once they have your computer it is likely that they will scan it. I've seen some odd things turn up in browser caches (as in, "wtf? where ever did that come from?") so I wouldn't like to take a gamble with somebody who has a axe to grind. (Remember that law enforcement generally assumes that everyone who isn't wearing a badge is a criminal. That makes sense, because the citizens they deal with are usually the naughty ones.) As the sages say "give me six megabytes committed by the most honest of web browsers, and I shall find a reason to 'rm -rf *'".
I imagine I'd personally be in a for a world of hurt. You see, my computer isn't "normal" (no Windows, and not even a Mac), so I must be hiding something. Right? Full disk encryption is even more of a red flag.
The only (reasonably) safe way to report C.P. is through your lawyer. Even then, it's still a dicey proposition. It's the kind of thing that is best reported anonymously. Of course not everybody feels like dropping a couple of hundred bucks to report something.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by CirclesInSand on Friday June 12 2015, @02:08PM
(Remember that law enforcement generally assumes that everyone who isn't wearing a badge is a criminal. That makes sense, because the citizens they deal with are usually the naughty ones.)
Would you trust the competence of a doctor who thinks that everyone they meet is sick?