So, I have a question about privacy and online activity. If someone clicked on illegal links while using Tor and a VPN, with mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, and then did a data scrub, should they be worried that the FBI or police will just show up to arrest them? This has happened more than once, but nothing was downloaded or shared, just viewing. Is it something that needs to be reported or claimed? How illegal is this really? Just want to make sure I’m not missing something here.
Hey, yeah that’s a bit sketchy, but usually, if it was just watching illegal stuff and not downloading, it’s less risky. Still, it depends on what was viewed. If it was something super serious, like child pornography, the cops could be after you.
@Addison
Yikes, that’s scary. How long would someone have to worry about this? If they stopped, is it something that could be investigated for months or years?
Sidney said:
@Addison
Yikes, that’s scary. How long would someone have to worry about this? If they stopped, is it something that could be investigated for months or years?
If it was serious, law enforcement could be monitoring for a few months, but it really varies. I’ve heard 3-4 months, but after that, it’s less likely unless you’re actively flagged again.
As long as they never visit those sites again, they should be fine. If law enforcement contacts them, they just need to refuse to talk until they get a lawyer. The VPN might delay things but won’t fully protect them.
@Haru
Wait, so they could still get into trouble even if they used a VPN? I thought that would hide everything.
Bay said:
@Haru
Wait, so they could still get into trouble even if they used a VPN? I thought that would hide everything.
Yeah, the VPN helps, but law enforcement can still track stuff with techniques like trojan viruses on sketchy websites. It’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game.
So what happens if someone gets raided? Like if they didn’t have any illegal content but clicked on the wrong link, would they be in big trouble?
NomadNerd said:
So what happens if someone gets raided? Like if they didn’t have any illegal content but clicked on the wrong link, would they be in big trouble?
If they didn’t download anything, it could be hard to defend in court. If the cops get data from a trojan horse, it’s tough to argue it wasn’t them. But a good lawyer might help.
How unlucky would someone have to be for this to go down? Like they just clicked on the wrong link and everything went downhill from there?
Harlem said:
How unlucky would someone have to be for this to go down? Like they just clicked on the wrong link and everything went downhill from there?
Yeah, that’s the nightmare scenario. It’s a tough one to predict with AI and all the tracking going on these days. But I guess, it could happen if they just happened to click the wrong link at the wrong time.
I’m a bit lost… so if they used a VPN and mobile data, they might still get caught by the cops because of a trojan horse? That’s wild .
Shan said:
I’m a bit lost… so if they used a VPN and mobile data, they might still get caught by the cops because of a trojan horse? That’s wild!
Yeah, exactly. The VPN helps with anonymity, but not 100%. Trojans can still leak data back to the cops. It’s pretty crazy how tech is making things harder to get away with.