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“Also, did police search Anthony's computer? Although computer searches were done in this era (if I recall correctly), digital forensics wouldn't really be defined as a field until later that year after 9/11, so I don't know if the circumstances surrounding Anthony's disappearance would've legally justified a search of his computer. If one had been done, we might know who he was talking to online, but I doubt a search happened because it's never been mentioned. Then again, would AIM, Craigslist, Yahoo! Messenger, etc. have kept records of chats, or did they just not bother because there was no need/ability?”
In high profile cases or juristictions with good resources I think certainly these venues would be considered even back then. But at that point it would likely be a case by case basis featuring concepts of probable cause or assumption of value of bothering. Important to keep in mind that 2001 was several years before ideas like Brandon’s Law… so if a healthy adult man just disappeared, there were often likely to be delays or limits to what resources they would invest in trying to locate that person if there wasn’t obvious indication or evidence of foul play.
In reality, lots of young adventurous adults really do walk away from their life, or drop out of sight for periods of time. Brandon’s Law is arguably very important precedent to motivate investment in trying to locate someone when circumstances contradict a blanket idea of going off and “sowing one’s wild oats”, and before it, the attitude of attention to men’s disappearances was definitely insufficient.
I get the idea that Anthony came from a healthy family, even if not super prominent, so I would say there is a fair chance they at least tried to look into online activities at some point, but who knows how effective that would have been in this case and time period. The patriot act around 2004 likely simplified this kind of endeavor, and then of course with time remote data keeping for social media became more reliable, but in 2001 a lot of info might still be partially limited to the device itself.
“Also, did police search Anthony's computer? Although computer searches were done in this era (if I recall correctly), digital forensics wouldn't really be defined as a field until later that year after 9/11, so I don't know if the circumstances surrounding Anthony's disappearance would've legally justified a search of his computer. If one had been done, we might know who he was talking to online, but I doubt a search happened because it's never been mentioned. Then again, would AIM, Craigslist, Yahoo! Messenger, etc. have kept records of chats, or did they just not bother because there was no need/ability?”
In high profile cases or juristictions with good resources I think certainly these venues would be considered even back then. But at that point it would likely be a case by case basis featuring concepts of probable cause or assumption of value of bothering. Important to keep in mind that 2001 was several years before ideas like Brandon’s Law… so if a healthy adult man just disappeared, there were often likely to be delays or limits to what resources they would invest in trying to locate that person if there wasn’t obvious indication or evidence of foul play.
In reality, lots of young adventurous adults really do walk away from their life, or drop out of sight for periods of time. Brandon’s Law is arguably very important precedent to motivate investment in trying to locate someone when circumstances contradict a blanket idea of going off and “sowing one’s wild oats”, and before it, the attitude of attention to men’s disappearances was definitely insufficient.
I get the idea that Anthony came from a healthy family, even if not super prominent, so I would say there is a fair chance they at least tried to look into online activities at some point, but who knows how effective that would have been in this case and time period. The patriot act around 2004 likely simplified this kind of endeavor, and then of course with time remote data keeping for social media became more reliable, but in 2001 a lot of info might still be partially limited to the device itself.
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