Indelible evidence

WE CAN only imagine the look on Bill Gates’s face when he learned that
four-year-old personal files were to be used as evidence against him in the US
government’s antitrust case against Microsoft. But it could have been anyone.
Who hasn’t kept files, labelled them private, kept them in a fairly secure place
and considered the matter closed? But it gets worse. Even if you delete data,
whether it’s a lengthy document or just a few remarks in an e-mail, those
forgotten words could come back to haunt you. Amid warnings that deleted data
poses a threat, New Scientist has…