Thursday, June 30, 2005

It never goes away

The explainer on deleting files from your computer:

When you delete a file, all you’ve really done is tell the computer that it can reuse the clusters assigned to that file for something new. The data in those clusters remains intact, until the computer reassigns and overwrites those chunks of disk space with new files. Experts say that the original data can remain intact for weeks or months, depending on the particulars of the system.

...

But even if you do wipe your disk successfully-and overwrite each of your deleted files-traces of the original data remain. Writing to a magnetic disk is not as precise as one might think; when you overwrite a file, the new version doesn’t completely cover up the old. The leftover data can be read out with certain imaging techniques, like magnetic-force microscopy and magnetic-force scanning tunneling microscopy. Computer forensics experts say it’s possible to recover data beneath dozens of layers of overwriting, and privacy fanatics talk about wiping their disks up to 35 times over to be absolutely safe.

I wonder. Computer forensics seems like a black hole to me. Where are the Barry Sheck and Peter Neufelds of the computer forensics world? Those who look for innocence, not just guilt.

I hear a lot of people being found guilty for what’s on their computer, but I’m also aware that machines are shared, and that things go on on computers that the user has little or no understanding of. There’s url spoofing and spoofing attacks and adware and spyware and…

Again, I’m just a wee bit wary of certainty; reasonable doubt is a good thing.

Google Earth

Cool:

Google Earth’s true special sauce is the way it allows users to create markers for just about any venue or location, write a note describing it and then share it with the application’s entire user base.

Try it.

Spain & Canada support marriage

Crooks and Liars has the video and text of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in support of the Civil Marriage Act:

Martin: I rise today in support of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law.

It passed the House of Commons and is expected to become law by the end of July.

And in Spain:

Spain’s parliament today approved legislation allowing gays and lesbians to marry, becoming the fourth country in which same-sex unions are legal.

Spanish lawmakers voted 187-147 in favor of a bill legalizing same-sex marriages, following the Netherlands and Belgium. In Canada, where nine of 13 regions allow the unions, the House of Commons yesterday passed a bill extending the right nationwide.

Gay marriage strengthens all marriage.

UPDATE: James Joyner quotes AP:

...Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero noted this in debate before the vote. “We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality,” he told the chamber.

And comments, “I suspect he’s right.”