Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!src.honeywell.com!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!quest!digibd!merlyn From: merlyn@digibd.com (Brian Westley (Merlyn LeRoy)) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: "Bad" backups Message-ID: <1990Nov29.164728.504@digibd.com> Date: 29 Nov 90 16:47:28 GMT References: <36371@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1990Nov20.041806.29066@digibd.com> <1990Nov22.123610.27246@eff.org> Organization: DigiBoard Incorporated, St. Louis Park, MN Lines: 31 mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes: >>Old Adage: Never write anything down. >>New Adage: Keep everything in RAM. >>Cops usually remove what they are searching for, and I doubt they >>would give a second thought about turning the computer off & unplugging it. >Actually, this is false. Articles written by dedicated-computer-crime-unit >"experts" like Catherine Conly and John McEwan advise law-enforcement >agents to bust down the doors of computer criminals rather than >knocking and announcing their identity on entry--precisely because of >the possibility that data might be lost of the alleged criminals have >a chance to shut their systems off. This seems to be a difference over theory vs. practice. All the anecdotes about actual confiscation talk about the police impounding & hauling away computers. No-knock break-ins would just push things one level further (dead-man power switches, or something). Besides, it would be trivial (for a Mac, at least) to have a power-down key always active on the keyboard. And there's always the power strip rocker switch. >Good thing they have you to confirm the need for their >no-knock-entry prescriptions. And if I advocated "keep everything in your memory" I'd be confirming brainwashing techniques? Get real. >--Mike --- Merlyn LeRoy