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Cracking down on crime in a cellular era
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By Chris Oakes International Herald Tribune
MONDAY,OCTOBER 31,2005
When soccer fans rioted in Rotterdam last April - this time
targeting the police, not just rival fans - they might have expected
a fierce chase. There was no way to foresee, however, the unique
wireless wrinkle used in the pursuit by prosecutors determined to
round up as many of the offenders as possible.
After the initial phase of the investigation left many of more than
200 suspects on the loose, the Dutch authorities turned to a kind of
cellular door-to-door search - mass text messaging in search of
criminal information.
The cellular-era tactic has appeared in a growing number of cities
since early last year, as the police seek to turn cellphones into
direct lines to potential witnesses.
"We were really determined to arrest everybody involved," said
Jeichien Degraaff, spokeswoman for the Rotterdam public prosecutor's
office.
The clash was a uniquely bloody event for the department, with 50
officers badly hurt, according to Degraaff. Approximately 40 people
were arrested on the scene.
Video images taken by the police during the melee were used to add
250 suspects, Degraaff said. Permission to show the image grabs on
Dutch television and a police Web site was granted by the
authorities.
Unsatisfied with the results of those efforts, prosecutors decided
to try using SMS for the first time in search of more witnesses.
Investigators sent the SMS to 17,000 cellular subscribers, telling
recipients that their phones were known to have been near the riot
and to call the police with any information. The numbers were
obtained from regional mobile carriers, whose records showed which
phones were present in the riot area.
Since the message was sent out in July, Degraaff said, arrests in
the case have surpassed 130, with 100 suspects having begun court
proceedings. Degraaff said her office believed the SMS effort played
a role in leading to the additional arrests.
The agency has dubbed the tactic "digital door-to-door," a reference
to the door-to-door search for witness information police officers
typically conduct in the area of a crime.
The use of individual cellphone location data has become a routine
component of prosecutions in the Netherlands and around the world.
Signals received by area transmission "masts" can contain specific
time, date, and general positioning information for a handset.
It has also become more common for the police to establish SMS
contact numbers for local precincts, which can receive information
from the public by SMS - an alternative to a police station's local
call-in number for submitting information on a crime.
But the tactic of using SMS in mass reverse - where the police
blanket a local area with an outgoing message to the public - was a
first for Rotterdam.
The police elsewhere also have begun similar experimentation with
the technique, including agencies in other cities in the
Netherlands, Britain and the United States.
In the case of mass SMS, Degraaff said prosecutors obtained the
numbers without any names, broadcasting the message without having
any data about the identity of the recipients, a function of Dutch
privacy laws.
The issue of privacy has advocacy organizations concerned about law
enforcement use of cellphone location data. When a system in Germany
was announced, critics in the government denounced it for
encouraging spying, saying participants could misuse the technology.
Normally, police use of cellphone numbers has to be linked to a
particular investigation and preferably linked to a suspect,
Degraaff said. "That's why in this case we only asked for the
numbers of the phones," she said. "And we didn't ask the owners, the
names, or the identities of the owners of those numbers. We were
looking for witnesses."
Somewhat surprisingly, five or so suspects responded directly to the
SMS by turning themselves in, Degraaff said, adding that it was
possible such suspects believed, incorrectly, the message meant they
had been identified.
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My comment:
Obviously police have ilegally obtained 17000 data-records
from the GSM network providers...both are in violation since
these records can not be given without a court-order (wiretap)
for each and evey phone...for each phone their should be at least
some little evidence that it was involved in a crime
Saying: "Yes but we have only asked for numbers and not the names"
is not relevant. that would be the same as robbing a bank and
taking just 1000 $ while leaving behind 50000 $...you will agree
that such a robbery is still a crime.
Any evidence resulting from above cannot be used in a court
of law since it was obtained ilegally (no wiretap-permits)
What can we learn from this ?
Information and Data on cellphones is sometimes issued/given
without a court-order and the laws are set a side.
Even in a "sophisticated" country like the Netherlands.
We have a privacy-watching organisation here...and it's
government-subsidised...they have reacted very slowly and
powerless...therefore government-subsidised should read as
"on the payroll" ...wich explains it all.
Also it shows that GSM-providers can't be trusted to not give out
your data without a court-order.
contranl
The Netherlands