DeVrie's piece, called "You Can Be Prosecuted for Clearing Your Browser History," appears to have struck a chord around the web.
After all, who among us hasn't intentionally cleared our own browser history for one reason or another? Some of us even have our computers set to do this automatically as a form of maintenance.
https://twitter.com/wfaler/status/606965251230298112
Thousands of social media users have proclaimed that deleting your browser history could land you in court over the past couple of days as tech blogs and news outlets riff on The Nation's piece.
Others argue that it's not that simple, however.
As the law states, "Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies" a document "with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence" an investigation is subject to penalties.
If one doesn't know they're deleting something that could be of use to investigators, can they still face legal trouble?
According to DeVries, possibly.
Sarah Palin's email hacker charged under same law
"Prosecutors are able to apply the law broadly because they do not have to show that the person deleting evidence knew there was an investigation underway," she wrote. "In other words, a person could theoretically be charged under Sarbanes-Oxley for deleting her dealer's number from her phone even if she were unaware that the feds were getting a search warrant to find her marijuana. The application of the law to digital data has been particularly far-reaching because this type of information is so easy to delete."
An example she provides is that of David Kernell, a University of Tennessee student who was convicted under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2010 for deleting evidence that he had accessed Sarah Palin's email account (using publicly available information.)
Changing Palin's Yahoo password to "popcorn" landed Kernell a misdemeanour charge of "unauthorized access to a protected computer," while clearing his own browser history and other information that may have made it easier for federal investigators to find him resulted in a felony obstruction of justice charge
History can be cleared in its entirety, or item by item in Google Chrome — the browser cited in the grand jury indictment against Matanov
While he could have faced 20 years under the Sabanes-Oxley Act, A U.S.Appeals Court judge sentenced the 20-year-old student to one year and one day in prison.
"When [the cleaning of his computer] occurred, Kernell wasn't under investigation," wrote TechDirt's Tim Cushing of the case. "At best, it could only be assumed that an investigation would result once the hacking attempt was discovered."
He continued that, under Sabanes-Oxley, "U.S. citizens are almost expected to hold onto everything, just in case... and if you've 'destroyed' any data prior to the examination of your electronic devices, you could face felony charges for performing simple computer maintenance."
Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Hanni Fakhoury agreed, telling The Nation that the U.S. government wants and believes it deserves access to all online data for policing purposes.
After all, who among us hasn't intentionally cleared our own browser history for one reason or another? Some of us even have our computers set to do this automatically as a form of maintenance.
https://twitter.com/wfaler/status/606965251230298112
Thousands of social media users have proclaimed that deleting your browser history could land you in court over the past couple of days as tech blogs and news outlets riff on The Nation's piece.
Others argue that it's not that simple, however.
As the law states, "Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies" a document "with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence" an investigation is subject to penalties.
If one doesn't know they're deleting something that could be of use to investigators, can they still face legal trouble?
According to DeVries, possibly.
Sarah Palin's email hacker charged under same law
"Prosecutors are able to apply the law broadly because they do not have to show that the person deleting evidence knew there was an investigation underway," she wrote. "In other words, a person could theoretically be charged under Sarbanes-Oxley for deleting her dealer's number from her phone even if she were unaware that the feds were getting a search warrant to find her marijuana. The application of the law to digital data has been particularly far-reaching because this type of information is so easy to delete."
An example she provides is that of David Kernell, a University of Tennessee student who was convicted under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2010 for deleting evidence that he had accessed Sarah Palin's email account (using publicly available information.)
Changing Palin's Yahoo password to "popcorn" landed Kernell a misdemeanour charge of "unauthorized access to a protected computer," while clearing his own browser history and other information that may have made it easier for federal investigators to find him resulted in a felony obstruction of justice charge
History can be cleared in its entirety, or item by item in Google Chrome — the browser cited in the grand jury indictment against Matanov
While he could have faced 20 years under the Sabanes-Oxley Act, A U.S.Appeals Court judge sentenced the 20-year-old student to one year and one day in prison.
"When [the cleaning of his computer] occurred, Kernell wasn't under investigation," wrote TechDirt's Tim Cushing of the case. "At best, it could only be assumed that an investigation would result once the hacking attempt was discovered."
He continued that, under Sabanes-Oxley, "U.S. citizens are almost expected to hold onto everything, just in case... and if you've 'destroyed' any data prior to the examination of your electronic devices, you could face felony charges for performing simple computer maintenance."
Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Hanni Fakhoury agreed, telling The Nation that the U.S. government wants and believes it deserves access to all online data for policing purposes.