Digital evidence is very important to some criminal cases. With certain types of internet sex crimes, for example, the police may want to see a log of websites a person has visited or files that they have shared. For other types of crimes, such as drug manufacturing or financial fraud, they may use digital evidence to see if the person researched that activity in advance.
One mistake that people make when considering their internet usage is to assume that private browsing or incognito browsing mode will hide all of this activity. But the reality is that this is just a local feature. If someone is using a private browsing mode, a list of websites they visited will not be stored locally on their device, but that does not mean the evidence ceases to exist entirely.
Other potential sources
There are many other sources where this information can still be gathered by the authorities. For instance, if someone was on a work network or a network at a college or university, the network administrator can still see their online activity, even in private browsing mode.
In other cases, an internet service provider may have access to records of someone’s browsing history, even if they are not stored on their physical device. Similarly, if the person used any websites or apps, the companies that control those tech properties may have digital evidence that the police can get with a subpoena, such as records of messages the person sent, files they transferred, sites they visited or searches that they conducted.
If you are facing criminal charges and digital evidence is going to be a major component, it is important for you to know how this works and all of the legal defense options at your disposal.
