Question about getting computer seized

If the worst case scenario happened and my computer happened to be seized, what should be cleaned out of it? I have a bunch of pirated software/music. Would I need to remove it? Could they do anything about it? I am also using Tor on a flash drive on my Win7 PC, which obviously is some pretty shit opsec. I read somewhere recently that it's a bad idea because Tor drops files in a temp location. How would I go about removing them? I sound like a big worry worm, which I am, but I always like to be safe when an order is coming.


Comments


[4 Points] sapiophile:

Why not just use Tails and not have to worry?


[3 Points] Jay-__:

Why not just encrypt the whole HDD?


[3 Points] uEbrjuZxTDEwVhqS:

It's unlikely that they would do anything about, or even notice or care, if you had pirated software or music if your computer was seized in a drug bust. Not sure how they would tell it was "pirated" anyway.

Also I'm pretty sure they can only use stuff that is related to a search warrant, i.e., if it is a search warrant for drugs, then .mp3 files aren't relevant to the search, unless you have files like "how to buy illegal drugs on the Internet.mp3" or something.

There are several programs out there that can permanently delete (wipe) unused space from your hard drive. So, delete all temp files, then remove with a wipe program.


[3 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] DancingWindAway:

They will build a case against you with everything they can, so yeah hide all that pirated stuff. Best would be to get a external HDD and encrypt it.

Yes they will know that you used Tor, but as far as I know Tor does not safe cookies or browser history. And the fact that you use Tor they can see anyway because you don't use a VPN or SOCK5.

Honestly, it would be the easiest solution to just encrypt your whole HDD, but this will make your HDD considerably slower which will be noticeable if you play video games or compile code.

But srsly why would you use the dnm with that kind of shitty OpSec ? Seems like you have jail-wish.


[1 Points] Phexord:

All the information would be stored on your HDD and RAM. So an easy fix to this would be to encrypt your files and make them unreadable. You could manually remove the temp files by finding the path then clearing them or you could write a BASH script to automatically do it for you


[1 Points] None:

If you have the chance to clean house before it happens then wipe your HDD/USB drives with a random pass erase. Take no chances.


[1 Points] None:

[removed]


[1 Points] valuum:

damn my shit got removed... stupid. Anyways what I was saying was that I got my shit seized back before TOR came out for dealing online. The state police didn't find shit, literally all they asked me about was AIM conversations. I had cookies, history, logins to all my sites on that computer and they didn't find them. Might be different now a days though.


[0 Points] Phexord:

You could use Linux which would prevent 90% of the IT law enforcement from being able to search your shit