One of the first places the police may want to look if they suspect you of a crime is your cellphone or your laptop. Police constantly look for information on these devices to help them secure convictions.
Knowing this is half the battle. Yet many people who want to do everything they can to prevent the police from seeing what they have been doing on the internet still get caught for one simple reason. They misunderstand what private browsing (known as incognito mode on some systems) actually means.
It does not prevent a record of activity
If you search, look at a site or engage in a forum while using a private or incognito mode, all you are doing is making sure that if someone picks up your device after you have closed the private window, that person won’t be able to see what you were looking at on the device itself.
The police will take another route to access this information. They can ask a court to subpoena your internet provider or the company that owns the browser (yes, they even subpoena Google) and ask them to hand over copies of your activity.
Remember, you don’t have to have committed a crime to come under police suspicion. If you come under investigation and fear some of your internet activity could work against you or be taken out of context, don’t waste time. Get guidance from an experienced criminal defense attorney who understands how these things work.
