Cops love iPhone data trail :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
BY AMBER HUNT
Detective Josh Fazio of the Will County Sheriff's Department loves it when an iPhone turns up as evidence in a criminal case.
The sophisticated cell phone and mobile computer is becoming as popular with police as it is with consumers because it can provide investigators with so much information that can help in solving crimes.
"When someone tells me they have an iPhone in a case, I say, 'Yeah!' I can do tons with an iPhone," said Fazio, who works in the sheriff's department high-tech crimes unit.
The iPhones generally store more data than other high-end phones -- and investigators such as Fazio frequently can tap in to that information for evidence.
And while some phone users routinely delete information from their devices, that step is seldom as final as it seems.
"When you hit the delete button, it's never really deleted," Fazio said.
The devices can help police learn where you've been, what you were doing there and whether you've got something to hide.
Former hacker Jonathan Zdziarski, author of iPhone Forensics (O'Reilly Media) for law enforcement, said the devices "are people's companions today. They organize people's lives."
And if you're doing something criminal, something about it is probably going to go through that phone:
• Every time an iPhone user closes out of the built-in mapping application, the phone snaps a screenshot and stores it. Savvy law-enforcement agents armed with search warrants can use those snapshots to see if a suspect is lying about whereabouts during a crime.
7 comments:
Ever since I heard years ago that printers blab everything they can about their owners using micro-printing, on everything they print, I assume any computer related device knows more about you than you think. iPhone is particularly obscene because you take it everywhere you go. I don't have one.
And when exactly did congress approve of such privacy invasion? And when was any of this ever reported on over the past couple decades? Maybe it was and I missed it but I'd bet more people on the street have no idea.
Every piece of technology will be used for privacy invasion in some form as we go on from here. 1984 is awfully damn close.
I'm waiting for cars that scream out signals to cops that
. You've been drinking
. You've been speeding
. You don't have your seat belt on.
. You're getting amorous while driving.
. Damnit if you ain't Texting again going 70 down the road ! (I have never texted, even in my sleep)
And every other moving violation.
Sometimes simpler is better.
I wonder what further intrusive privacy invading technology is going to be invented in the future?
I love my land-line, and my legal, non-criminal lifestyle.
No data trails, no cops... no problems.
People still tell each other secrets on cell phones. Such fools deserve to go down. Hard.
Same people think email is private ands inaccessible to others. "Stupid is as stupid does."
The Blackberry is being outlawed in Saudia Arabia because they can't track them like other phones.
From:
http://www.technology-digital.com/news/blackberry-uae/blackberry-banned-uae-and-saudi-arabia-soon-follow
The government with this announcement cited a potential security threat which is an encrypted data sent on the devices is moved abroad, where it cannot be monitored for illegal activity. But such a decision raises questions about whether the Gulf nations are trying to further control content they deem politically or morally objectionable.
BlackBerry phones are quite popular in the region, along with the foreign professionals in commercial centers such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the youth in the country also uses these mode of communication as this is one of the safest and secure communication channels to avoid unwanted government attention.
"The authorities have used a variety of arguments, like it can be used by terrorists" to justify the crackdown, said Christopher Davidson, a professor at the University of Durham in Britain, who has written extensively about the region. "Yes that's true, but it can also be used by civil society campaigners and activists."
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