How much trouble will your computer get you in?

[muse]

In this hypothetical scenario (RAR!) your computer has been taken in by law enforcement as part of an ongoing investigation. They now have access to everything on your computer; all the data on the hard drives, your browser cache & history, search history, and any email & social media accounts that are logged in or have saved passwords in the browser.

With the data they have at their disposal, how much trouble will you be in and can you explain your way out of it?

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Well, I'm screwed. My debit card info is on there.

[muse]

Let's assume ethical law enforcement. They're not going to make purchases on your credit/debit cards or forward embarrassing social media photos to your employers.

[aerius]

They're really going to enjoy viewing my porn collection. They'll probably think I'm a massive pervert based on how much porn I have along with my search history, and there's gonna be some questions on why I'm looking up age of consent laws. I'll have some explaining to do, but I should be in the clear since there isn't anything illegal on my computer or the sites I visit.

[Elheru Aran]

I'm in much the same position as aerius, minus probably a lot less adult content on my computer than his. There's some sensitive personal information (tax returns and such) but otherwise, I see no reason to assume I'd actually get into trouble for anything with the police.

[aerius]

My wife just reminded me that I need to add Russian mail order brides, Thai ladyboys, underground fights, and foreign tax shelters to my search history. Yeah, fuck. I'm not sure I can explain my way out of this one if the cops want to be difficult about it.

[Broomstick]

Not much - I look into a wide variety of topics, but no porn, mostly I just hang out on message boards and argue a lot about stuff. Frankly, I expect whoever goes through my computer would wind up pretty bored. Unless they like my attempts at writing science fiction.

Oh, wait - there was that stint as a beta-reader for some tentacle porn... but honestly that's the worst. Nothing illegal or even shady.

[His Divine Shadow]

I don't know, I have a lot of pirated kids shows I store on a Plex server so the kids can watch them on TV. Audiobooks as well. Don't got any porn on my computer, what's the point in 2019.

I guess my windows 7 copy is pirated, and some pirated adobe software too.

[Tribble]

In this hypothetical scenario (RAR!) your computer has been taken in by law enforcement as part of an ongoing investigation. They now have access to everything on your computer; all the data on the hard drives, your browser cache & history, search history, and any email & social media accounts that are logged in or have saved passwords in the browser.

With the data they have at their disposal, how much trouble will you be in and can you explain your way out of it?

You do know you are basically asking us if we have anything illegal (or evidence of illegal activities) on our computers on a publicly viewable forum, right?

[His Divine Shadow]

yeah but I am lying about everytihng I post.

[K. A. Pital]

Who is a police mole?

[Tribble]

yeah but I am lying about everytihng I post.

That could be equally incriminating if your computer was searched and illegal stuff was found, at least in the court system where I live.

Either the OP is incredibly retarded for not thinking this through or the OP is a police mole. Take your pick.

Edit: could be both I suppose - a retarded police officer who decided to post this as a blatent phishing expedition.

[Tribble]

Double post

[Gandalf]

When teaching at university, I used to use the following series of questions;

"How many of you have seen Breaking Bad?"
*hands go up*
"How many googled how to make crystal meth?"
*most hands stay up*

I then explained how governments can already see most of what happens online.

[RogueIce]

Edit: could be both I suppose - a retarded police officer who decided to post this as a blatent phishing expedition.

Hello there, fellow cool kids! Who knows where to get the good drugs at? I love smoking that marijuana! Send me an address, please!

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Let's assume ethical law enforcement. They're not going to make purchases on your credit/debit cards or forward embarrassing social media photos to your employers.

In that case, no trouble at all, unless they want to hassle me over my feminist, anti-Trump, anti-bigoted, anti-knucklehead posts on Facebook.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Who is a police mole?

In my experience, it's generally the first person who asks that question.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

yeah but I am lying about everytihng I post.

That could be equally incriminating if your computer was searched and illegal stuff was found, at least in the court system where I live.

Either the OP is incredibly retarded for not thinking this through or the OP is a police mole. Take your pick.

Edit: could be both I suppose - a retarded police officer who decided to post this as a blatent phishing expedition.

Except muse appears harmless enough.

[His Divine Shadow]

yeah but I am lying about everytihng I post.

That could be equally incriminating if your computer was searched and illegal stuff was found, at least in the court system where I live.

Either the OP is incredibly retarded for not thinking this through or the OP is a police mole. Take your pick.

Edit: could be both I suppose - a retarded police officer who decided to post this as a blatent phishing expedition.

tbh I don't think anyone here cares.

[Raw Shark]

Anybody who lays enough pressure on you guys can tell the pigs whatever there is to know about me. Armed and irresponsible drunk? Check. Long history of crime? Check. Massive crush on random Canadian who asks random shit...

[Solauren]

Here's what I see:

Cop's look at my computer
Cops look at me and call me a geek

Cops asks if my marriage is fake, as no one with that many [item list] on his computer possibly has time for a relationship
RPG books
Copies of websites that went offline
Minecraft mods

Cops ask me what the hell [language list] is, and why I have to run it in DosBOX
Pascal, Modula-2
Cobol
Turing

Cops ask me why I have 9 year old software on my computer, when replacement copies are less then $200 now a days.

Cops ask me what the hell a BBS is, and why I have 'Doors' for it.

Cops look at me, and agree I have a thing for women with 36D - 42F cups

Cops also wonder how I manage to pay the mortgage and bills paying for all that crap.

[phred]

Fraud/extortion records, pics from my stint as a serial killer... you know, the usual stuff