Re: The evil of Windows Options


"PeteM" <Bozo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:I0k2MLAUDi+GFwR2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Notice that in the following story a *computer forensics* expert witness
is asked for his opinion on whether certain files are concerned with
radical islamic politics. He also claims that a file in the Windows
Options folder must have been put there for concealment.


[htp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6968663.stm]
[slightly edited by pm]
Video footage of Osama Bin Laden urging Jihad against the West was found
on the laptop computer of a man accused of terror charges, his trial has
heard.
Computer expert Michael Dickson, 42, told the High Court in Glasgow he
found the files "hidden" on a laptop seized from student Mohammed Atif
Siddique.
The computer was taken from Mr Siddique as he prepared to fly from
Glasgow Airport to Pakistan in April last year.
Mr Siddique, 21, denies five charges under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Mr Dickson, a forensics analyst with the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit,
told the court that he had made a copy of the hard drive of the laptop
and examined it.
He said the material was placed in a Windows folder where it would be
difficult for anyone who did not know anything about computers to find.
When he opened the folder he found videos, pictures and sound files
which he agreed with prosecutor Brian McConnachie QC "seemed to be
concerned with radical Islamic politics".

This evidence should have been struck off. First of all, the so-call
"expert" does not define what he means by "Windows folder". Maybe he did,
maybe he said to the Judge "these folders are for Windows O/S only". Does he
mean C:\Windows, C:\WinNT, C:\Program Files etc?
Second, anyone can place files in any folder including the stanard Windows
ones.

The video proclaimed "victory for the mujahideen" and showed images of
Osama Bin Laden followed by the Twin Towers in New York exploding after
the attacks of September 2001.
It also showed images of world leaders including US president George
Bush, former UK prime minister Tony Blair and the president of Pakistan
branded as "criminals", followed by photographs of injured Muslim babies
and adults.
When Mr Dickson was asked by Mr McConnachie: "Why would someone put
documents into windows options?", he replied: "In my opinion to hide
it."

Exactly, in his opinion. There isn't one shred of scientific evidence that
backs up his "opinion". Remember the doctor and the "shaken baby syndrome
opinion"?
I've put bmp files, wav files and other files in some of the standard
Windows folders by mistake. Does that make me a terrorist?

Earlier in his evidence, Mr Dickson said useful evidence may have been
destroyed when the laptop was switched on by a Special Branch detective
before being passed to analysts, against standard police procedure.

The first rule of computer forensics is to clone the hard drive first using
a sector-by-sector copying tool (which logs exactly what is done and by who,
like Helix Forensics software). The defendants lawyers should have got the
Judge to strike off this comment as the evidence is now in question.

Mr Siddique was arrested at his family home in Alva, Clackmannanshire,
in a police operation on 13 April 2006, eight days after the computer
was seized.
He has been accused of possessing suspicious terrorism-related items
including CDs and videos of weapons use, guerrilla tactics and bomb-
making.
He has also been accused of collecting terrorist-related information,
setting up websites showing how to make and use weapons and explosives,
and circulating inflammatory terrorist publications.

--
PeteM

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