And what is your basis for the statement that "prosecutors as a whole like to ignore" the 4th Amendment? I have worked with prosecutors on a daily basis for the last 11 years and have never ONCE seen them violate the 4th Amendment or encourage it to be done. I *have* seen it happen on the street, however. Either way, that has nothing to do with this. This is talking about a device that is used to gather incriminating information on a Windows-based computer. If that information is obtained in violation of the 4th Amendment, it's going to be thrown out in court regardless of the method used to obtain it.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised about what people claim that they know when they have no first-hand knowledge of how things really work. Instead they rely on vague generalities that "this stuff happens all the time" without being able to point to a specific example.

*Yawn*

Those of us in the computer forensics business don't use COFEE for real cases anyway. It's barely useful as a quick analysis tool for something you don't need to worry about presenting in court (thus completely nullifying the term forensics when talking about it).

Not surprised at all the typical slashdot anti-law enforcement rhetoric in here... especially all of the "innocent people will be saved!" statements. But I *am* a bit surprised that some of the commenters have said what they have. Do this many people really not want truly guilty people caught and prosecuted?

I make my time back by slacking off at least 75% of my time at work.

The key is to *look* busy... and leave the cursor on the minimize icon.

"I've recently ***been fired from my job for telling everyone I'm*** a Linux administrator within the Department of Defense." ... fixed.

Not disagreeing with you at all. However, it's a basic marketing strategy to lower prices to sell more units thereby increasing overall profits. My point is not that they shouldn't be making money off of it... it's that they would sell more units if they lowered the price.

Yeesh... apple is releasing snow leopard for $29 and microsoft is still pricing stuff like this? When will they learn that a lower price will likely increase the number of people willing to pay for it instead of pirating it.

Working my way through college, I realized that I had no desire to be stuck in a cubicle all day long but my passion was still computer science. So I decided to use my skills in something more exciting. IT / CS skills apply in a lot more unconventional fields than you might realize.

I chose to become a forensic computer examiner for a medium-sized law enforcement agency. I get to use my passion in a job that offers lots of excitement as well. What other job can you spend weeks analyzing bits and pieces of a suspect's hard drive and then go kick a door in and make an arrest? To each his own, but this is how I made myself happy in my career.

Yeah it would be great if it were "every man for himself" and everyone made sure to protect themselves. However, that idea went out the window when the internet became main-stream. If everyone that used the internet were tech-savvy enough to protect themselves, this would be a non-issue. So do we need to tell all of the older people, children, and computer-idiots that use the internet that they're just out of luck since they don't understand the complications in using such an open medium? We could, but I don't think that's exactly fair.

To me, it's the equivalent of saying, "OK you're of age to drive on the nation's interstate system. So we're not going to put up any speed limits or signs/signals/regulatory devices. It's every man for himself... good luck."

Unfortunately, educating people isn't going to cut it. And I wish it was. I'm all for putting banks and anything related to finances on a more-secure, separate network. Unfortunately, we can't rely on end-users to protect themselves.