Unwise — Search History of Murder Methods

nonprofiteer writes "Mark Jensen's home computer revealed Internet searches for botulism, poisoning, pipe bombs and mercury fulminate. A website was visited that explained how to reverse the polarity of a swimming pool — the Jensens had a pool — by switching the wires around, likening the result to the 4th of July. The State pointed out the absence of Internet searches on topics like separation, divorce, child custody or marital property. Julie Jensen died as a result of ethylene glycol in her system, an ingredient found in antifreeze. On the morning of her death, someone attempted to 'double-delete' (apparently unsuccessfully) the computer's browsing history, which included a search for 'ethylene glycol poisoning.'" What if searches for devious, undetectable methods of murder were in everyone's history?

Comments

Re:Huh?

[demonbug]

What if searches for devious, undetectable methods of murder were in everyone's history?

If I'm not mistaken, you're condoning the murder of his wife?

Wow, talk about missing the point...
How was what he said in any way condoning murder? Pointing out that there are any number of reasons someone might have rather incriminating things in their search/browser history doesn't translate to condoning murder. Nor does it suggest that it was unusual, unfair, or an invasion of privacy to look at the suspect's search history in this context. It merely points out that going the other direction - finding something "suspicious" in someone's search history does not mean they are up to no good (also shows how easy it might be to poison someone's results if you were trying to frame them).

Really; you somehow read into his comment that he somehow condones murder? Utterly bizarre.

Re:timothy...

[dgatwood]

You know, I'd hate to think what the police would think if they dug into my browsing history. As somebody who is currently writing a trilogy of sci-fi novels that involve the military (the Earth military), in the past couple of months, I've searched for:

• Information about famous plane crashes
• Various law enforcement techniques
• Thermal imaging cameras
• Cyanide gas diffusion rates (to find out how much gas someone would have to use to kill someone in a small room)
• How to use detcord to blow a door off its hinges (to found out how one would do this when breaching a building)
• The advantages and disadvantages of various types of automatic and semiautomatic firearms
• Firefighter operations mode on an elevator (to take absolute control of one)
• Nuclear fusion and theoretical yield (propulsion)
• Physiological effects of a vacuum on the human body
• VoIP adapters and remote phone line access

In short, my searches would make me look like the sort of person who you'd expect to find holed up in a compound in flyover country, which is downright hilarious since I've never even owned a gun.

The point is that the evidence described in this story, although it sounds bad, is circumstantial, and could possibly occur innocently. More imprtantly, the Slashdot summary doesn't tell the whole story. There was other evidence in addition to this. Although the browser history might have contributed to a conviction, it was not the sole reason for the conviction.