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Original poster

you're not anonomous on the internet

30 replies

wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe · 06/02/2007 14:29

as was proven by

this case
yesterday.

obviously most people aren't plotting to commit such horrific crimes but it just shows how even posting "anonomously" doesn't mean you can't be found.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 06/02/2007 14:31

yes, well, anyone who thinks they are is fooling themselves.

Medea · 06/02/2007 14:32

Is something wrong with the link? It doesn't work for me. . .

itsmeNDP · 06/02/2007 14:34

link doesn't work, wannabe

controlfreaky2 · 06/02/2007 14:34

article doesnt make clear whether they would have been caught if it werent for one of them fessing up to the police though....

controlfreaky2 · 06/02/2007 14:34

MY link worked

munz · 06/02/2007 14:35

DH told me about this - 3 men plotting to kidnap/rape/murder little girls? it's sick and I must say terrifying esp as we have a child now

ledodgy · 06/02/2007 14:36

It doesn't work for me either.

Original poster
wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe · 06/02/2007 14:36

try this

they did say on bbc news last night that when the police went to the first man's house they used his computer to determine where the other two were, because all chat logs can be traced down to the machine they were actually made on iykwim.

OP posts:
Original poster
wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe · 06/02/2007 14:39

or

this

OP posts:
Callisto · 06/02/2007 15:48

It is actually very easy for the police. They trace back to the ISP and the ISP is obliged to disclose details.

SenoraPostrophe · 06/02/2007 16:10

I'm surprised people don't know that "anonymous" postings are traceable. But if you are a real criminal there are ways of hiding who you are.

HandyTrinkett · 06/02/2007 16:19

yes, the tracing back via ISP is very nice in theory but they'd only be able to trace back to where the machine accessing the chat room actually was.

Sounds daft if you don't play with computers but I can post on this forum from a machine sat in a data centre in docklands and THAT is the machine that will be traced as posting on here - not the machine I'm typing at. Of course you could examine that machine in the data centre and see that there was an ssh connection back to our office here... ...but then I could have happily bounced through a couple more machines before finally posting.. ...also spoofing IP and mac addresses are fairly trivial so even that starts looking ropey..

..true anonymity though isn't a trivial exercise.. ...have a google for things like darknets, encrypted filesytems and you'll soon realise that hiding things is quite possible.. :-)

SparklyGothKat · 06/02/2007 16:23

that went totally over my head HT. Not techically minded at all!"!!!

HandyTrinkett · 06/02/2007 16:28

sorry SGC - I'll have a think and post something that makes more sense.. ..tech meeting calls unfortunately.. ...back soon...

SenoraPostrophe · 06/02/2007 19:58

lol at the outpouring of tech-speak there, ht.

you could have posted "or you could go to an internet cafe". hope you feel better soon

paulaplumpbottom · 06/02/2007 20:40

Those men make my skin crawl. I'm glad he turned himself in. What I don't understand is why they weren't caught sooner. I could be wrong but it sounds like they were just using a regular chat room. Why weren't there complaints?

HandyTrinkett · 06/02/2007 22:17

I guess the tech speak was unwarranted - some background in computer security, was just about to go into a techy meeting and had been wound up by the whole "we'll do a feasability study into making bad people give us their email addresses and the handle they usually use in chat rooms (because of course no two people on the Internet use the same chat room handle..." - what bollocks. We could also get serial killers to promise never to do it again rather than lock them up.

Apologies again for the tech speak - I'll slap myself and spend an hour in the naughty corner of the geek forum. :-(

madamez · 06/02/2007 22:17

I get the impression that they were caught because one of them turned himself in but was also able to give some actual contact details of the others.

But what I do find a bit worrying is this idea that you can be jailed for just talking about crimes you'd like to commit. It's possible that the police found really major evidence of intent, like weapons and photographs of potential victims, but if it was nothing more than talking in chatrooms then it seems a bit excessive. I mean, I know we're governed by paranoid egomaniacs who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality but between this and all these Terror Plot Thwarted stories - which do seem to keep quietly turning out to have been utter bollocks - it's enough to make you want to book yourself in for that lobotomy.

SparklyGothKat · 06/02/2007 22:31

Don;t worry HT, i;m just thick when it comes to computers and IPs etc. I just about know how to switch on my pc......

Callisto · 07/02/2007 09:01

Madamez - it is all a govt plot. They like us in a permanent state of mild panic.

SenoraPostrophe · 07/02/2007 09:17

HT - ha! I was about to post a thread on the "give us all your user names" scheme. I wasn't so much wound up as shocked by the naivety of it. but then I suppose I shouldn't have been.

SenoraPostrophe · 07/02/2007 09:21

madamez - good point, actually. I guess there has to be a line somewhere between talking about fantasies and conspiriong to commit crimes though doesn't there?

paulaplumpbottom · 07/02/2007 10:19

I agree that it does seem odd that these men can be arrested just for talking about it. Very Alice goes through the looking glass. I have to admit I can't get upset about that in this case. Should they have waited for them to attack these girls?

Pitchounette · 07/02/2007 10:24

Message withdrawn

snowleopard · 07/02/2007 10:28

I don't mind the police being able to trace my posts - as long as my much-slagged-off rellies can't...