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tathra writes:

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?