If you are being investigated for a white collar crime, the police may be interested in looking at your computer use and Internet history. These are often technical, financial crimes, so a lot of the evidence may be digital.
For example, maybe you have been accused of embezzling from the company that you work for. The police believe that you altered some of the financial documentation to cover up the embezzlement. They also think that you may have used a search engine to look up information on how to do this, so they want to look at your browsing history.
However, you were using incognito mode on your computer. Does this mean that there is no browsing history for the police to look at in the first place?
It is only hidden locally
This is a fairly common mistake that people make. They think incognito mode means that their activity will leave no trace. But that is not actually how it works.
In reality, incognito mode – or private browsing mode, depending on the browser you are using – just stops the records from being kept locally. So the next person to use the browser on that device would not see your Internet search history.
But that history does still exist. If you were on a company computer, your employer can probably see it. If you were at school, the school’s network administrators can likely see it. Even if you were using a personal device, your Internet service provider (ISP) has records of your search activity and the sites that you visited.
White collar offenses and digital evidence can grow very complex. Be sure you are well aware of your legal rights as you build a defense.
