The collection of electronic data as evidence of crime is an important
responsibility given to law enforcement. The technical constraints of this
task are arguably far less signicant than usability and economic ones,
since police ocers are non-specialists and police departments face signicant budgetary limitations. In this position paper, we consider the
economics of digital evidence recovery . We argue that the incentives of
technology companies, law enforcement agencies and society do not always align, and furthermore that by studying these incentives in dierent
applications we can better understand the eciency and extent to which
digital evidence is gathered.