Online and Still on Patrol
As we move further into the 21st century, we are faced with more and more technological advances. Computers have become a part of our everyday lives, e-mail flows constantly; we turn to the internet for current events, research, movies and even shopping. Government agencies and businesses create an internet presence to be able to reach a more diverse group of people. Families have web sites to announce events and share their latest photos and videos with relatives that may not live so close any more. Something that has become very popular are social networking sites with names like Facebook, Twitter, Xanga and one of the most popular with it’s over 195 million users, MySpace. The list can go on; there are over 300 social networking sites that add thousands of new users every day.
Social networking sites have become global virtual communities; and just like in physical communities you can find people with similar interests, find businesses and… Yes, you can even find a criminal element. What kind of a criminal element you ask? The same kind you find in any community: pedophiles, bunco artists, prostitutes, drug dealers, gang members, terrorists, I think you get the idea. A few LE agencies have even used the information gained from these sites as a starting place for investigations that have led to arrests. Notice I said “starting place”, you’re not going to call out SWAT and take down someone’s door that says they’re a major drug trafficker on their MySpace page (oh, if it were only that simple). You see, that’s one of the attractive things about using the internet… the anonymity of it, you don’t have to be who or what you say you are. Anyone with editing software can alter pictures or videos to help them become their fantasy. Just like information you get from any other source, the information you find online has to be corroborated.
So, you’re watching the bad guys online, did you stop to think that they may be watching you too? There are small programs or “scripts” that can be embedded in an internet site that record information about you, the most basic being your IP address. Your IP address is sort of like a phone number, it’s a unique number that can identify a computer on a network (it looks like this: 192.168.123.456). Like a phone number it can be traced to its origin. Now, if you’re using a computer at work, and haven’t taken any technical security measures to hide your online identity and the bad guys capture your IP address and trace it, you’ve tipped your hand. Don’t be too surprised if what you were watching disappears. If you use your home computer and don’t have any security in place you’re holding the front door open for identity theft. What, you say you don’t keep anything important on your home computer? The first thing a computer hacker looks to take when they are looking at your hard drive is your address book, if you don’t have any identifying information on your computer, they now have the addresses for all of your friends and family, so they can sniff their computers too. How many will they have to go through before they can start buying those plasma TVs? Or maybe they will sell the e-mail addresses to spammers or spread viruses.
Another thing you have to consider when monitoring internet sites for information are those pesky little things that always get in the way with LEOs performing their jobs… That’s right… Laws. Two of the things you should be familiar with are the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Privacy Protection Act. If you’ve worked any cases involving wiretapping, you will already know some of the requirements of these acts. Your state may have statutes you’ll have to comply with as well. It’s always a good idea to have a chat with your favorite prosecutor (they like coffee and doughnuts too) to find out the legal requirements for your jurisdiction.
You can surf the net and find information about criminal activity in your jurisdiction. The information you find must be verified, don’t believe everything you see online. Just like any other evidence, the information you find online has to be collected properly to preserve its integrity. Most importantly, the same way you put on your vest and strap that backup on your ankle, you have to take some extra measures to protect yourself out there in cyberspace.
