If you are facing criminal charges, the police may want to search your computer. Perhaps they believe that your search history or your browsing history will provide evidence in the case. If they get a search warrant, they can search your computer, your phone or another electronic device. They can also do this if you give them consent.
Many people use private browser settings, such as incognito mode. This way, the computer doesn’t store their browsing history or a list of the sites that they visited. It doesn’t even store the search terms and keywords that they typed in. Does this mean that it would be impossible for the police to find the evidence they’re looking for?
Local storage
The thing to remember about incognito mode is that it only affects local storage options. Your computer itself will not save your searches and browsing history within the web browser. If you close the tabs, everything is deleted so that the next person to open a tab does not see your activity and cannot look up those records.
But this is much different than saying that the records don’t exist. They do, and they are likely stored by your Internet service provider. The ISP can still give the police records of searches that you performed and sites that you visited. Using incognito mode won’t change this because it just affects local storage on the device.
Electronic evidence can complicate your case, and it is growing more and more common in the modern era, where people are frequently online. Be sure you know what defense options you have.
