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Comment by h4ch1 | Hacker News Reader

A very naive idea but why can't people just delete their data, put their drives in the washing machine and just hand over the computer and be like whoops it's broken?

If ever I'm the subject of a lawsuit that'd require me to turn in my computer, I'd scrub it to oblivion at the slightest intimation of what's happening.

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Because that is illegal and the courts will be very sceptical about your claim that your drive just happened to break at such a convenient time.

not a lawyer, but how is it illegal if I do it before I am served with any sort of orders for discovery? I can just wipe my desktop, in a perfectly usable state, with some random applications installed.

It looks like it can be:

"a number of courts have issued rulings imposing a duty to preserve before litigation begins if a party knows of the existence of a potential claim and can identify relevant evidence."

https://corporate.findlaw.com/litigation-disputes/delete-at-...

Existence of a possible claim. Isnt that always possible, for everyone, always, for any action?

yeah that's what I am confused about, sounds like a gray area, I don't know if me doing something I know is legal could set me up for lawsuits a year down the line so am I supposed to hoard data in the wait of being sued someday lest my data maintenance tic be used against me?

If I know I am doing something illegal then yeah the case against me could be stronger, but what about people who don't

I interpret that as knowing that a particular claim is possible and reasonably likely.

It is technically illegal, but even politicians are doing it with 0 repercussions

https://www.politico.eu/article/wiped-phone-puts-von-der-ley...

that's a bad use of "even" - the elite get away with all sorts of things normal people do not.

Probably should be, "Especially".

Yes, but that is not trying to block a court and it was done six months before the data was requested.

Being punished for either destroying evidence or contempt of court. Neither will be fun for you.

the semantics matter here though, in the absence of the existence of a lawsuit or any sort of legal proceedings is my data classified as "evidence"?

No it's not. No-one has claimed it is. The parent of this whole thread is "If ever I'm the subject of a lawsuit that'd require me to turn in my computer, I'd scrub it to oblivion at the slightest intimation of what's happening."

'So if I was being sued, I'd destroy evidence.' is a great way for the court to give you the hardest of times, and potentially jail time.

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