Materiality of Deletion

“a deeply nested and complex series of subfolders”

Colonel Williams wrote detailed accounts of his crime and meticulously photographed the evidence, compiling the data in what prosecutors called “a deeply nested and complex series of subfolders” on two computer hard drives. – NYTimes.com

This quote could represent the complexity of the story and Williams’ personality as it does the file structure on the recorded medium. It is not clear from media reports whether Williams attempted to erase any documentation on the hard drives or what method investigators used to conduct forensic analysis leading to the presented evidence.

Meticulously recorded documentation hidden by an obscure file system of a hard drive – physically hidden in Williams’ home – illustrates an awareness of the materiality of the electronic record.

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