I n computers, being safe can sometimes lead to being sorry, as Oliver L. North discovered in the Iran-contra investigation during the Reagan administration, when incriminating files he thought had been deleted were later resurrected from network backup tapes. One of the ways investigators can peer into the private lives of their subjects is to peer into their computers. What they are able to find, and the ease with which they can find it, may prompt computer users to re-evaluate their practices. Word processing software, Web browsing software and email have become integral to communication, both professional and personal. As a result, many people have files on their hard disks that they wish to keep private, like love letters, confidential business documents or financial data. Moreover, many have sensitive, confidential and potentially embarrassing files in their computers that they don’t even know are there, either because they think the files
