[syhprum (OP)]

In the extremely unlikely event that I wanted to view pictures of children involved in sexual activities or instructions on how to make bombs that could kill Americans is there any way I could do this so that when the police smashed their way in at 3am and took my computer they could find no evidence of this.

[RD]

Apparently they use someone else's computer ...

Talk about horrifying: A growing trend in the computer malware world involves viruses and other exploits that turn your PC into an unwitting haven for child pornography.

For hackers, it makes perfect sense to hijack other people's computers to do their dirty work for them. Even a hint of underage pornography on a computer can lead to serious consequences for those caught with it, so why not just infect someone else's machine and store your illegal stash there

http://tech.yahoo.com

 [:0]

So more than your bank account is at stake if you don't keep your computer virus-free.

BTW the old bill need not break down your door, they just get need to get past your firewall ...

the need for ... law enforcement agencies to be able to conduct online searches of suspects' hard drives using Trojan Horse spyware,

http://gizmodo.com

[LeeE]

In the extremely unlikely event that I wanted to view pictures of children involved in sexual activities or instructions on how to make bombs that could kill Americans is there any way I could do this so that when the police smashed their way in at 3am and took my computer they could find no evidence of this.

It is impossible to answer questions like this without running the risk of being accused of encouraging people to commit crimes, or aiding & abetting them in doing so.

[syhprum (OP)]

My interest is of course purely academic, but I appreciate the problem of trying to discuss these matters.
One could of course encrypt all the files but I am sure it would not take interrogators long to 'coax' the passwords from me.
I had similar problems when I tried to discuss the cost of weapons grade U235 on another forum.
The idea of using Trojans to store the files on other computers seems a good idea provided one is completely amoral but I wonder to what degree it is untraceable.
The main purpose of this post was to provoke discussion as to what degree of privacy and anonymity the use of cloud computing and similar techniques would provide, reading thru the posts on the subject it seems very little!.
I am reminded of our wartime efforts to keep the development of the cavity magnetron from the Germans despite the fitting of explosive charges into the radar sets supposedly to destroy them it was not long before Siemens were producing copies.