splatster, while in the US 'innocent until proven guilty' holds, all that is necessary is probable cause to obtain a search warrant that would make proving guilt much easier. In serious money laundering cases, searches/wiretaps/etc have gone on for years prior to the actual indictment. While in the US hacking is still not allowed for obtaining computer records, precedent for offensive information gathering has been set in Germany. Encrypted hard disks provide no defense against that threat vector.

-s