Investigators will use all sorts of sources to get to the bottom of a crime. If you are suspected of any sort of offense, you are probably under the microscope at the moment, being probed for information. You may be facing intimidating interrogations, and police with search warrants may be searching through your personal belongings for clues. It's embarrassing to have your personal property violated, and have investigators use your possessions as evidence against you. Many criminals are aware that they will be inspected carefully and take pains to get rid of all of their tangible evidence.

Yet there's another way that investigators can get the evidence they need- by using your personal information online. Most people aren't aware that each and every term that they ever searched on Google is stored in a server. If a user is signed into their Google account when they are searching for these terms, then the server can pinpoint their query to the exact person who is associated with it. If the person is not signed in, then the company can't label the searcher, but can determine what computer it came from.

All this to say, a criminal who is searching "how-to's" and locations on Google may be found out without ever searching his home or the scene of the crime. All the investigators need to do is locate the search terms associated with a computer and determine what that person was interested in. For example, in the infamous Casey Anthony case, Anthony was reported Google searching how to create chloroform. While she was not declared guilty of murder, the evidence helped prolong the case.

While these Google search queries can help detectives find even the most elusive criminals, they can also present a problem for innocent civilians. Everyone uses internet search engines to locate information online. In fact, we often type things into our search bars that we wouldn't dare ask another human being. A person may have a string of secrets linked with the Google queries and have no idea that these search terms can be located and identified with their searchers. Also, people may research all sorts of questionable things for various purposes.

For example, a student may be doing a paper on terrorism attacks for school. While he is acquiring his information for an innocent purpose, there is a chance that his constant searches may raise an eyebrow with the government. Allegedly, government officials monitor search engine queries to see what the world is searching for- and anything about terrorism can raise an immediate red flag. An innocent college student trying to get an A on a thesis may be under investigation in short order, just because he was looking at too many questionable concepts.

With all of your Google searches up for grabs- people should be incredibly careful what they look up on the internet. If you need information about a questionable subject, then you should look in books or ask someone before logging that search term into your Google account. Often the most dangerous and incriminating terms that can be searched for are "how-to" instructionals on crime tactics. For example, a person who is suspected of murder will be in deeper water if the investigators note that he searched "how to strangle" or "how to shoot a sniper rifle." Even if you are not under any sort of investigation, you should still be careful what you search on the internet. Google executives remind users that they are given a responsibility whenever they search a term on the internet. By querying wisely, you can preserve your privacy.