How did the DEA read my E-mail?

[goheavygo]

I got arrested. The DEA seized my computers.
I did a 'disk cleanup' and 'defrag' before they took my computers.
They found incriminating E-mails and internet forms. They claim it was in the Temporary Internet Files on my PC.
How can I be sure shit is off my computer.. like this post?
(I'm using hushmail).

 

[beginrjuice]

from what I understand about computers, when you delete somethign it isnt really removed from the hard drive, just kind of put aside, and labeled as free space so that it can be written over. You never know when it does finally get written over and no longer exists on your hard drive. Once more, because its magnetic media, there are still traces of the previous information underneath the new stuff. I hear they can recover data that has been written over as many as 10 times. Ive seen software products that claim to elimate files from you harddrive by writing over the information with junk data a hundred times or so. I believe the software was called Burn It.

 

[f4209211]

from what I understand about computers, when you delete somethign it isnt really removed from the hard drive, just kind of put aside, and labeled as free space so that it can be written over. You never know when it does finally get written over and no longer exists on your hard drive. Once more, because its magnetic media, there are still traces of the previous information underneath the new stuff. I hear they can recover data that has been written over as many as 10 times. Ive seen software products that claim to elimate files from you harddrive by writing over the information with junk data a hundred times or so. I believe the software was called Burn It. Who knows by writing this Im probably gonna get on some FBI list, Big Brother is closer then ever...

You can say that again. Who says we're living in a free country. You can't go to a fuckin pharmacy and buy syringes anymore in my town and that is no shit

 

[baza]

I use Window Washer, I paid for it. You can also set how many times you want to write over the files.
Can you give us more information on your arrest?
Second, what exactly did they say when they told you they found stuff on your computer, and how exactly did they say it?
Did they say, you are [email protected] becasue the site is on your hard drive, and the user name was also stored?

 

[baza]

Also, did they say they read your email? I don't think your emails would be listed in your temp. files... I may be wrong though. I thought only the site would be listed, the main URL. Maybe they are just trying to trick you?

 

[cccp]

defrag won't do shit. as for the disk clean up, I guess that might do something, but not much either. You also need to delete cookies that are stored somewhere on your computer, sometimes from more than one folder. And again, all the info will still be on your hard drive, and DEA will be able to recover it.


Be safe, bros

 

[Baby Gorilla]

BS....

1. I doubt they found anything in your temp folder. If Hushmail was THAT FLAWED, nobody would use it. If stuff stay there, it's something that needs to be fixed.

2. When you "sanitize" your system....delete all files you need to delete. Go to the temp folder and delete everything, tell IE/Netscape to clear the cache memory (it's faster than doing it manually...don't worry, you'll check to be sure later), go to Temp Internet Files and dump everything. Empty the trash and delete the "protected files" if you run Norton.

3. After you dump files, defrag the system (helps some). Then run something that should erradicate the info. Norton has WipeInfo. It should do the job. You could use the program to delete specific files or to clear the free space. Defraging first speeds it up. However, this isn't fast. I have a 20 GB HD, and to do the free space takes over 8 hours. You have to shut down everything or every interrupting disk write will restart the process.

When all is said and done, I don't know what protection you even have. If the man want's to spend the $$$, they will send out your HD to be recovered by an expert who will find most stuff that should be erradicated. It's all a question of seriousness of the charge and expense they want to spend.

 

[goliath.jr]

Harddrives are made up of several layers. When you delete or format something it does not completely erase all layers. So even if you were to format your drive, then lay it on top of a magnet they would still be able to recover some if not most of the data.

 

[nice6pac]

re-fromat put on windows 98 re-format put on xp or windows 2,000, the different fat structres (filea llcoation table) shold render you okay, or just runa magnet across teh fuckgin thing and break it in half and burn it but thats an extreme

 

[Ulter]

goliath.jr Is exactly right. Even removing the partition and beating it with a hammer will not protect you. If you need to get rid of the information then you need to remove the drive and get dispose of it.