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1) He was arrogant and thought that they would never get that close to him. or He thought that keeping notes offline in an analog format would be safer than kee

1) He was arrogant and thought that they would never get that close to him. or He thought that keeping notes offline in an analog format would be safer than keeping digital copies. Also consider that for all the Trade Craft Bin Laden practiced to stay hidden. He was sloppy when it came to the computer drives and notes he kept in his house.

XorNot 13y ago
There's an observation from the FBI that applies to people caught for child pornography: it turns out that usually most of them have disk encryption software installed, but don't actually use it (i.e. you find a whole bunch of unencrypted stuff that's still completely illegal just in a folder somewhere). The main thing to remember about crime is that it's not rational - the risk/reward payoff is absurdly lopsided, so to some extent every step of the way you have to engage in little fictions to convince yourself you won't ever get caught - because if you took stringent precautions, you'd have to acknowledge that if you ever need to use them it probably still means you're going to jail for some amount of time.
saalweachter 13y ago
There's a certain commonality there. It didn't matter whether any of Bin Laden's hard drives were encrypted; he was dead when we found him and he knew it. Likewise, from a practical stand point once the Feds came knocking at DPR's front door the jig was up. While the extra evidence will no doubt add a couple of nails to the coffin when this finally goes to trial, chances were that if he was tracked down at all, there would be enough evidence to convict him on that paper trail alone. Chances are this is just the standard "it's a lot harder to commit a perfect crime than you think it is." But it might also not be irrational to focus exclusively on not getting caught, and not worry so hard about all the extra evidence that will be scooped up with you.
- ericcumbee 13y ago
  very true
- comrh 13y ago
  "But it might also not be irrational to focus exclusively on not getting caught, and not worry so hard about all the extra evidence that will be scooped up with you." - The Walter White Crime Strategy

XorNot 13y ago

There's an observation from the FBI that applies to people caught for child pornography: it turns out that usually most of them have disk encryption software installed, but don't actually use it (i.e. you find a whole bunch of unencrypted stuff that's still completely illegal just in a folder somewhere). The main thing to remember about crime is that it's not rational - the risk/reward payoff is absurdly lopsided, so to some extent every step of the way you have to engage in little fictions to convince yourself you won't ever get caught - because if you took stringent precautions, you'd have to acknowledge that if you ever need to use them it probably still means you're going to jail for some amount of time.

saalweachter 13y ago

There's a certain commonality there. It didn't matter whether any of Bin Laden's hard drives were encrypted; he was dead when we found him and he knew it. Likewise, from a practical stand point once the Feds came knocking at DPR's front door the jig was up. While the extra evidence will no doubt add a couple of nails to the coffin when this finally goes to trial, chances were that if he was tracked down at all, there would be enough evidence to convict him on that paper trail alone. Chances are this is just the standard "it's a lot harder to commit a perfect crime than you think it is." But it might also not be irrational to focus exclusively on not getting caught, and not worry so hard about all the extra evidence that will be scooped up with you.

ericcumbee 13y ago
very true
comrh 13y ago
"But it might also not be irrational to focus exclusively on not getting caught, and not worry so hard about all the extra evidence that will be scooped up with you." - The Walter White Crime Strategy