Secret threat or files from messengers

You, probably, noticed that some messengers for displaying videos first download them to your device and save to the folder that is specified in the settings. For example, this is how Telegram works on desktop operating systems, saving all videos to the Telegram Desktop folder created in Downloads by default.

Users who get used to YouTube and social networks are often surprised to find watched videos in their Telegram downloads folder. Telegram really works differently, completely downloading the video to your hard drive and then playing it from there.

I'm not talking about the files that you download in Telegram, they are in the same folder as the videos you watched.

I hope you understand that any watched illegal content, which is widely presented in Telegram, will be saved on your device and if the device falls into the hands of law enforcement agencies, it may lead to undesirable consequences.

The problem is that you can even immediately quit browsing the content or you do not browse it at all and certainly do not intend to keep it. Yes, we do not live in China, where the forensic analysis, according to the media, is being carried out already on the streets in the order of routine inspection. But at customs, the requirement to issue a password, or, as it is called fashionably, digital inspection can occur in a number of democratic countries, for example in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

In some countries, for example in the UK, a refusal to issue a password may be considered by the court as an admission of guilt and incur punishment up to a prison term.

We have already talked about the threat of planting digital evidence, but in this case, the user themself downloads content that violates the law. So you can let the interlocutor down by planting the forbidden videos to the one, which after downloading will remain on their device.

I see two solutions to this problem, each of them has its pros and cons.

Change file saving settings

Telegram users can solve the problem of saving viewed videos by changing the storage location of files to a temporary folder. It will be created during the session, after which files will be deleted.

This is a temporary folder, and it is not stored in RAM, so in some circumstances it remains possible to recover deleted files using special forensic software. But as far as I know, if the content is deleted, the responsibility for storage is not provided.

This is a solution that I recommend to a wide range of people. To do this, go to Settings> Advanced Settings> Path to Save, and there select "Temporary folder (create for the duration of the session)."

After changing the folder for saving data, do not forget to clear your Telegram Desktop folder in “Downloads”, where all downloaded files and videos used to be saved before.

Configure automatic folder cleaning

We will teach you this in the chapter on data deletion. You can customize the script, which, according to a predetermined schedule, will launch and clear the desired folder. Moreover, algorithms will be used that are recommended by experts for deleting data without the possibility of further recovery.