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Or leaving the .docx file was intentional and by opening it, the guy triggered a hidden payload which installs malware which the police use to monitor him.

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If they had his hardware for a year I don't think they would need him to trigger a hidden payload.

Its to allow them to continue monitoring his activities going forward, without the need for annoying warrants and physical searches.

I think the point is that they could have just installed the malware since they had physical possession for an entire year.

And the counterpoint is that he'd obviously got a new computer and any further surveillance would benefit from access to that one.

That's a good point. I was assuming the old hard drive was loaded on old equipment but that's not necessarily the case.

Why would you ever spin those drives up again? I'd sledgehammer them just to make sure.

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