Police to Remotely Search Hard Drives

[#1]

Hi All
From the BBC EU to search out cyber criminals - 1 December 2008

Quote

Forces will also take part in "remote searches" and patrol online to track down criminals. The EU said controls were in place to ensure that data protection laws were not breached as this information was gathered and shared.

How on earth is that going to work?  Police being lawfully allowed to install spyware on your PC?  Or 'stop and search' powers for the internet?  And what sort of caffeine crazed idiot would believe you could remotely gather and share data from peoples personal storage systems without risking compromising data protection law?
There's only one firm mad enough to make that claim, and allegedly with the means to do it.
What a load of tripe, or a worring continuation of the bizarre Stalinist logic currently gripping the Government.
Can our politicians really be this stupid?

[#2]

Gary,
This would be funny if it wasn't so near the truth.  Thanks for posting.

[#3]

What is frightening is when they get it wrong and innocent people suffer. I help a lot of old ladies all over 73years and they have all had porn on their pc's and dont know how it got there. People like this could end up getting prosecuted even though they are totally innocent it just takes someone to find a child photo say when they take it in for repair and the next thing they are in court.
 
What is even worse there is a crime unit in Scotland looking into child porn on facparty and they are charging people with lewd and Lascivious behavior for talking to girl under 16 years old.
The problem with it is
One girl of 14 years talked dirty to people saying she was 18 and a pole dancer this is in the msn logs but the lewd and Lascivious behavior in Scotish law has no defense so even though these people believed her to be 18 years old and the evidence there to back it up they are still guilt and can be sent to prison and go on the sex register for 5 years. All they did is talk dirty to her in 2005 if they had had sex with her there is a defense to that in law so they would be ok.
The best bit is this one 14 year girl old was in court with over 200 people she had spoken to (she was not on trial but giving evidence) clearly she is not a victim but a *****.
Another case in Computer Shopper how they grabbed 2000 people for being register on a child porn site a lot were innocent and had their ID stolen but it didnt stop  a lot of them committing suicide over the shame  even the expert whose job is to prove these case was had up as he had child porn on  a pc Well of coarse he did he was doing a report on what was on the hard drive for the defense as he was hired as a expert witness!!

[#4]

Maybe I missed something, but how did youe get from "Forces will also take part in `remote searches` and patrol online to track down criminals." to "Police to Remotely Search Hard Drives ".

[#5]

Having read that article several times there is no mention of hard drive. Wee bit of sensationalism there Gary.
Fighting crime, irrespective of its source, is usually a catch up game. As criminals occupy cyber space the fight to police it has to follow.
Are you suggesting that the law enforcement agencies simply sit back and allow scammers, fraudsters and other offenders to simply carry on without interdiction or detection?
Maybe we should just bin off law inforcement all together.
I acknowledge the various concerns surrounding privacy, but surveillance and proactive policing has been around in many guises forever and must change and adapt to counter the various threats which exist in society. If we ignore it the consequences are dire.

[#6]

As is usual, there are those who will "hype up" any story just to get a reaction..... parallel this one with speed cameras.  Police only take action against those who transgress the law.... your law abiding motorist who respects the speed limits is not subject to his car being stopped for an inspection.... similarly the police will only target "known" criminals due to the tremendous workload in policing ALL crime....  They just haven`t got the manpower to snoop into everyone`s traffic "just in case" they MAY come across some "illegal" doings..... O.K. you say,.... I`m driving along at 29.75 mph in a 30 zone, and a law car comes up behind me, I slow down just a little bit more to be on the safe side, then he puts his blue lights on and indicates for me to pull over.... at the stop, he informs me my brake light isn`t working, and issues me with either a warning or a penalty. then proceeds to check the tyres etc.,    If the light was working o.k    you would not have been stopped....  so if you are not involved with a criminal offence, you are not likely to have the police snooping into your computer......

[#7]

I'd go along with what you say, shutter. But,
There is a perception - and rightly so I believe - that since the police service signed up to the 'stats, performance & targets' culture that pervades society, that they're often going for the 'easy target'. If it's happening in the real world, would it also happen in cyberspace? 

[#8]

Quote from: shutter

your law abiding motorist who respects the speed limits is not subject to his car being stopped for an inspection....

Someone ought to tell our local police force that - They recently set up a massive "stop and search point" on the A303 at Cartgate Roundabout - From what I understand they were stopping and searching a LOT of vehicles - they had the Force Support Unit, Dog Support Unit and search teams and also partner agencies including the UK Borders Agency, Department of Work and Pensions and VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency).
According to the local newspaper they stopped over 5,000 vehicles in a 12 hour period - that's a helluva lot of "non-law-abiding motorists", and also a massive invasion of privacy imo.
B.

[#9]

Also new powers in a draft bill give the police a right to stop and ask for identification, whether suspicion of criminal activity or not.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/3543266/Police-and-immigration-given-powers-to-d...

[#10]

Yes, the new proposals worry me.  I am a law abiding citizen and people say if you have nothing to hide why worry.  But why should I have to prove I am law abiding? It reminds me of the old communist countries where people were routinely stopped and asked for their papers to prove they were 'legal'. 

[#11]

you will have to ask another (hint to Barry) but I think that the polive have to have a reason for stopping a car. i.e.  To much exhaust smoke no seat belt, insecure load, lights. number plates.
in Colchester in the last few weeks the ANPR camera car stopped over a 1000 cars in one day for various offences.

[#12]

the Police are doing the Same checks in Basildon today, was on ITV local news just now.  Reiterated what I said earlier, only stop those with something wrong. Numerous offences detected, two cars seized

[#13]

The thing is that the Police will get Phorm to hack your computer, wen you are surfing the internet.  Phorm is the only company that is dumb enough to do it!   

[#14]

Again that's speculation Gary.
How do you think the security / law enforcement services operated before Phorm came along?
It's not the only way of acheiving the aim and there are much more clever ways of doing that if you have the know how and tools available.

[#15]

Personally, I'm all for a bit of pro-active policing once in a while. I'm a firm believer in the phrase "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."
With regards to Barry's post, I don't think they were just after people with dodgy indicators or bald tires. They go for everything, buses lorries motorcycles.
Those sort of checks are commonplace up and down the A12. What I find funny is that every time they do have a check here, First Group get half their buses pulled off the road