CNET Article on Browsers and Law Enforcement Provokes Debate
by Judith Dinowitz
CNET reporter Joris Evers wrote about a class where private investigators were taught some of the differences between Internet Explorer and other 'alternative' browsers in terms of file storage and related issues. Not knowing these details could make it harder for a PI to investigate crimes that occur on the Internet. Reading the CNET article, I wondered if the instructor who gave the class, Glenn Lewis, really did say that IE "hides nothing from police and other investigators who examine PCs to discover which sites the user has visited." Is it the way Internet Explorer stores its files that makes things easier for investigators, or simply the fact that investigators are so much more familiar with where IE keeps its browser cache, cookie files and history, and know how to read those files? How much of this article is the intent of the instructor and how much is the interpretation of the writer? Evers sets this up as an indictment of these 'alternative' browsers, who don't follow the 'standard' of Internet Explorer, but Lewis, who taught the class, might simply have been saying that investigators are finding it hard to keep up with the rapidly changing browser scene. The goal of the class was to teach these differences between browsers, so that investigators would find it easier to do their jobs. After all, they're not programmers, but to follow the digital trail, they've got to know a lot of technical detail that we all take for granted.
The folks at Slashdot made fun of Evers' article and the idea that a simple change in file location could throw off an investigation. But rather than jump on the writer here, I'd prefer to discuss the idea of standards in web browsers. Does a web browser's popularity mean that it must set a standard for where files are stored and how cookies and other data formats are created, written and read? Before Internet Explorer was popular, Netscape was the most used browser. If we follow the logic, at that point, Netscape's file format should have been the standard, and all other web browsers would have had to follow it. Who creates the standards here -- the people who use the browser or the people who create the browser?
Well, here's the truth: There never were standards when it came to web browsers. Microsoft, Mozilla and the others can't even come to an agreement on standards in CSS, as we can see with the differences between Microsoft's box model and the box model agreed to by all of the other browsers. How, then, can we expect these companies to agree where there files should be stored? Indeed, such decisions are the perogative of the browser manufacturer, who is trying to create a usable product and doesn't really care whether his file format helps law enforcement officers track down criminals.
This article gave me mixed feelings about the current state of law enforcement. It's good to see a class that teaches the technical detail that these detectives need to stay on top of cybercrime. On the other hand, the fact that such a class is needed makes me wonder whether the current crop of investigators are up to par.
Alternative Browsers Pose Challenge for Cybersleuths (CNET, August 31, 2005)
Alternative Browsers Impede Investigations (Slashdot, September 1, 2005)
