And this is supposed to make us more sympathetic, not less sympathetic, to law enforcement's need for more data:
As digital evidence increases in importance, authorities seize anything that can hold data. This includes computers, CDs, USB keys, MP3 players, cell phones and game consoles, Jim Christy, a director of the U.S. Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, said in a presentation at the Black Hat DC Briefings & Training event here.
"This is everything that you got and gave for Christmas," Christy said. In one case, investigators found child pornography on a modified Xbox, he said. "The challenge is that with digital proliferation, the data volume is tremendous these days."
A single terabyte of data equals about 8,333 old-fashioned, five-drawer file cabinets filled with papers. "That's an awful lot for an examiner to go through," Christy said.
Remember this the next time that you hear an argument for data retention. The same people whose software is so primitive that they often have a hard time handling a single criminal's personal electronics are the ones who say that preserving the log files on your activity at your ISP for years is absolutely essential to getting the evidence they need to prosecute criminals and of course, stop terrorists. If the DC3 has this sort of problem, one can only imagine how bad the problem must be at an agency like the FBI or a local or state agency which would likely have far, far fewer resources than a major federal agency.
Another interesting facet of this argument is that they don't even know what they're looking for or where they're looking for it. That's why they seize so many devices and so much storage media. I'm surprised that the judiciary hasn't started nailing them hard for that. I guess I don't understand why none of the companies out there that have sell forensics software haven't made reliable software for scanning volumes for certain types of files. It shouldn't be that hard for them to scan for the common file formats.
Don't let the 1TB number be taken too seriousl, either. 1TB is, at this point, well outside the bounds for most people. We're getting there, but most of that is still going to be free space. Law enforcement does not deserve the pity of having to scan multiple TB of actual data at this point.
I don't have your mind set when it comes to the police force, thankfully :)(Wondering what happened to you, to make you believe so unfavourably towards these officials..)
Until a crime has been resolved, anything/everything needs to be carefully looked through.
My opinion, my thoughts, la, la, la...
I'm a believer yeah, yeah, yeah!
It comes from growing up around law enforcement, seeing other cops behave as bad or worse as the stories I heard growing up, and then learning from history. You'd be amazed at how much information there is that can be abused here. I think you also underestimate the ability of many American cops to turn things like this personal and use the data for their own ends. One of our problems here is the military police (MP) mentality combined with the macho tough guy attitude.
I see.
I see "it" differently.
Thanks.