Light's Search History Death Note

Question

Why didn't L ever look at Light Yagami's Search history? Or why didn't the show ever address the fact that Light was looking up these criminals minutes before they died? That would trigger at least some sort of data traffic algorithm either set up by L or the Japanese government. So it seems to me that if any of these characters are as intelligent as the show makes them out to be they would've thought to look at his search history.

Don't tell me he probable cleared it or used an incognito tab because

1. Even if he cleared it his IP is registered on all of the Wikipedia and news sites for the criminals he researched and
2. They didn't state he used an incognito tab in the show so you can't assume that is the case.
3. ALSO Incognito doesn't even stop you from being tracked completely.

I swear this entire show is resolved by looking at his computers footprint. Also Given L literally lives on a laptop in the beginning of his character development, you'd think he'd know enough about computers and web traffic to realize how easy it would be to find "Kira".

Answer 1

Primarily opinionated question the way its phrased. However Light did rational this in several moments when he planned to hide his notebook.

He followed a line of thought that even if someone found the notebook, he could easily say he was researching the deaths for his planning to follow his father in law enforcement. Same can be said for his Internet or browser history.

Even if you can pinpoint Light searching for criminals before their deaths, it doesn't conclusively prove that he is indeed Kira and not some over enthusiastic student that just wants to research criminals. Remember Light doesn't immediately kills criminals but spreads them out randomly and kills on average similar number of people. While he may be researching more of them.

The show is all about the main detectives L, M and N somehow intuitively guessing that Light is Kira but conclusively proving he is indeed Kira is what makes the story interesting!

Finally, as I've said before multiple times. When you watch a fictional story you've to accept that the author might've tried his best to stop plot holes, but at the end of the day they will exist. The death note and shinigami don't exist. Overthinking things and creating plotholes will reduce the enjoyment of the genre. You've to assume some things that the author does and listen to the story he/she wants to tell

Cheers~

Answer 2

1. Most of the criminals Light executed were shown in the news. He saw many of them in TV or at the street and it explicitly says that he memorizes their names and faces
2. Using VPN makes it possible to truely hide your online activity. Even if the attacker (L, police, whoever) had bugging devices at the exact LAN cable directly connected to Light's PC one could only confirm that there was an activity
3. We are talking about a story from 2006 when "big data" wasn't even close to be as mighty as it is today so L could not just filter the internet for an IP at the Kanto region that has been active just before the killing started
4. When L bugs Light's house we see Light killing people using a hidden TV (in his chips) and L observing him during the process so it is safe to say that L DID check if Light nows the names and faces of all that were to die and that he confirmed that it was not the case.