[Closed] Browsing history and retrieving it if a device is 'lost'

Almost deffinatley

If he was Incognito (I don't think he was as she found a link in the history) or if he wasn't logged in at all?

Depends on whether the images found their way to the phone via a browser rather than file transfer, direct messaging etc.

(I don't think he was as she found a link in the history)

Ah, well thats different then

or if he wasn't logged in at all?

Then maybe via his ISP (I presume Theresa May is making them keep records now) of course with a phone its a matter of whether the connection is via data or broadband and who's broadband you're connect via at the time.

Something like that would probably come from the other end.
History is left in a lot of places

He isn't a particularly bright so hopefully he hasn't covered his tracks very well.

Where are we up to with the Snooper's Charter then?

Not sure if the police can legally demand someone's browsing history (yet).

Probably the easiest way, if they have genuine concerns, would be to gain a warrant and go and get his home computer/laptop/ipad to have a closer look. If he's a serious offender it's unlikely to be just one link on one device.

Apparently she saw a link in his history a couple of weeks ago which he claimed was an accident but then searched on his phone and found several hundred explicit images of children. They are (were) a young couple with little money as they had just moved in together so I am not sure if they would have any other devices that he would have access to (although I don't know this for certain).

A lot depends also on whether the link is something that has been searched for, clicked on (purposely or otherwise) and whether the link was what it claimed to be when it was clicked - or is the result of spam/viruses redirects or pop-ups.

Given this sites history of occasionally bumping users out to unsavoury destinations its not out of the question that the owner didn't intent to visit a page in their history - and someone not intentionally hiding your tracks perhaps points towards that a little.

EDIT - sorry - that was a cross posting

Given what you've just said, I'd be going directly to the plod without passing Go.

It's not trivial, but it's often possible to recover deleted images if he's tried to cover his tracks. If they go and feel his collar without him being tipped off first then I'd hope it's unlikely that he'd manage to "lose" his phone in that time.

Agreed - I am surprised they didn't go straight away (she has known since the weekend and he knows that she knows).

I am pinning my hopes over his stupidity and he won't have had the knowledge of how to delete things.

If you are using Google and you aren't incognito (sounds like he wasn't because she saw it in history) then it centrally stores your history from all your devices. Just access the history in a browser and all the devices are listed there. Very useful feature.

But it's a bit shocking from the OP 🙁

That's what I am hoping.

And yes it is - not wanting to think the worst just yet and wait until I have heard actual facts rather the things she has told someone else that has then been passed on to me.

And also, given my stated opinion on other threads about this topic, it will be interesting* to see how I deal with this as the story unfolds, given I have two 8 yer old daughters that he has had access to.

*Not in a good way, but the right word escaped me

Update - apparently the phone (a Samsung) has now been handed in to the police however it has been factory reset. Will any of the old data/images still be retrievable?

Will any of the old data/images still be retrievable?

Will any of the old data/images still be retrievable?

Depends on the type of factory reset Samsung does. And it'll cost a bit of money. Solid state memory is difficult and expensive to recover data from (again, depends on the type of factory reset Samsung does. If it just marks the space as able to be over written, then it's all still there.)

It would be easier to get his records from his ISP or check his other devices. You'd only do data recovery on a surefire extreme case I think.

If he's that dumb his tracks will be everywhere. Dumb enough to carry around that sh*t on your phone strikes me to think he's not really covering his digital tracks all that well.

You've got to think that if he is using google to access that kind of crap then the technology is there for google to autodetect and gather evidence for sending on to the police automatically.

I know it's a slippery slope, big brother watching you etc. But for crimes against children who could complain.

Agree with all the above - we are hoping he is too dim to know exactly what to do to clear his tracks - the issue first came to light when a particular search was found in his browsing history which he claimed was an accident, but his partner was suspicious and looked for (and found) more proof of what he was looking at and downloading. Unfortunately she didn't take the phone there and then to the police but I put that down to her being in a pretty bad state of shock and not really knowing what to do.