"Why the 'F does the page have to reload when I hit the back button"

Because a lot of web pages (including slashdot) are served with HTTP headers that tell the browser not to cache them, and the browser follows that directive. Yes, it's annoying. I use tabs for that reason too.

At The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, print and delivery amount to 65 percent of the paper's fixed expenses, Bronfin said.
Electronic newspaper reader has look of the real thing (New York Times)

I don't know about the USA, but in France, all major ISPs provide their customers with "boxes" that can not only act as a modem/router/wireless access point, but also provide phone service over IP, IPTV, and sometimes include a hard drive for PVR functionality; mine can even act as a FTP server (that's an advertised functionality), with either the included hard drive or even a USB flash drive plugged into the box.

Anyone worth their salt knows that, right? Anyway, I don't expect the police to be fully aware of the latest advances in consumer hardware, so I don't think it's completely illegitimate for them to seize anything that looks related to computing equipement.