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Is it possible for the police to track people down via their posts on a forum such as this?

24 replies

schnapps · 08/04/2007 10:46

Assuming that a person generally gives personal details to register, would the police be able to track a person down from their membership to a site like this?

OP posts:
lionheart · 08/04/2007 10:51

I think they can, can't they? Via the user number or something ...

Gobbledigook · 08/04/2007 10:56

would have thought so

schnapps · 08/04/2007 11:00

Thanks. That's what I thought, but does anyone know anything a bit more concrete?

OP posts:
October · 08/04/2007 11:02

Message withdrawn

WanderingTrolley · 08/04/2007 11:02

schnapps

what have you done

schnapps · 08/04/2007 11:05

It's nothing to do with mumsnet. A poster on another forum is threatening to top herself. I've emailed the website people and asked them to pass her details on to the police. I'm sure though if anyone will read the mail with it being a sunday, and easter day.

OP posts:
WanderingTrolley · 08/04/2007 11:05

personal details don't matter

police contact (eg) mn

mn give ip number (computer address)

person tracked down via server (eg aol)

fess up!

WanderingTrolley · 08/04/2007 11:06

oh god, sorry, crossed posts

hope everything ok

lionheart · 08/04/2007 11:10

Could you contact the police direct?

DominiConnor · 08/04/2007 11:13

Depends...
Obviously if someone gives true personal details to a site, then they can often find them.
The system can track the address of where the data came from. However that doesn't get you back to a person.
First problem is that the address isn't your machine, it's the one given to the router/firewall at your home. That is changed every so often, so if the ISP hasn't kept the record then the trail is lost.
However, several people may be sharing the connection, and the MN site will get the same address for all of them. It may log which browser you use, but that's probably not enough.

Many routers are wireless, and the default for most has been open access. Which means your neighbours can use your link. The way many wireless card in PCs work, they will attach to the strongest signal, which means they may do this quite accidentally.

Many "protect" their networks with WEP. This is so insecure that there are races for who can crack it the quickest.

Thus all the police can prove is that the post came from somewhere near your home, or more pedantically that it went near your home en route, since I have stuff on my PC that lets me drive other PCs remotely.

My s/w is for benign use, (honest guv), but there is an industry of people producing s/w that subverts your PC for dodgy activities. For instance, much of the spam in the world comes from computer zombies in thrall to such malware. So proving "you" sent something is quite hard.

They would need other stuff to really prove that you personally did it. At the moment they get convictions by lying and relying upon the technical ignorance of the judiciary.
There is no equivalent of fingerprinting.

Your PC does contain a unique MAC address, burned into a chip, many newer machines have 2, one for wireless and one for wired networking. This can be matched to a PC,
except of course my firewall has been configured to screw with that, and s/w on the PC can make sure it never even gets that far.

Also, there are many public PCs out there in libraries etc.

schnapps · 08/04/2007 11:16

Thanks for all the info.

I remember on here (a long time ago) a woman said she was going to kill herself and some members phoned the police. What happened as a result? Did they phone their own local police? Did they already know the womans address?

OP posts:
schnapps · 08/04/2007 11:21

Is there any such thing as a 'cyber police' type thing to deal with this sort of thing?

OP posts:
MellowMa · 08/04/2007 11:29

Message withdrawn

schnapps · 08/04/2007 11:37

So, do you think getting the details form the website will be a prob with it being easter sunday, or is there always someone manning the phones/email?

OP posts:
MellowMa · 08/04/2007 11:58

Message withdrawn

DominiConnor · 08/04/2007 12:45

Unlikely the police could find someone very quickly. They don't have the resources or the procedures to deal with hi tech issues.
The governments traditional contempt for technical people means they offer salaries that cannot hope to attract competent staff.

I've met some of the "cyber police", the incompetence of the home office to deal wit5h anything more advanced than the simpler end of children's toys is absolute.
I recall where a senior "cyber cop" attempted to patronise me over the way a journalist "did not understand the issues". He was probably the only person in the room who didn't know that the guy in question is one of the most famous hackers in the country. So much so that they changed the law because of him.
Imagine if you had drugs police who didn't know the difference between flour and cocaine, and who actually got people convicted of possession on that basis.

Even if you had someone who knew what they were doing, and MN helped, they'd be dependant upon the ISP of the user, and they will take time. I'd guess it would take at least 24 hours from a cold start to get hold of the right person, and for them to make the right calls.
One result of the Blairite attempts to monitor absolutely everything, but get others to pay for it is that ISPs are much more legalistic about giving out personal data.

zippitippitoes · 08/04/2007 12:49

contact the police if you have a genuine concern..they will then make the decision to investigate further or not. The forum is then obliged to cooperate if necessary.

This is what happened a few weeks ago when someone killed themselves by hanging via webcam 0n a chat board. The police did find him but too late.

jules99 · 08/04/2007 22:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

schnapps · 11/04/2007 20:24

Well, it seems this person was just messing around (for a joke/attention? I don't know!). Obviously I'm glad that she has not done away with herself, but what a tosser!!

She was nothing to do with mn and I don't know her from adam, but alot of people spent time worrying about her unecessarily. It's very sad that people do this.

OP posts:
fireflyfairy2 · 11/04/2007 20:37

Same thing happened on netmums a while ago.

People spent ages talking to the poster, asking her Q's, helping her. Then she disappeared.

Moderators were reluctant to become involved though as something had happened before.

Eventually the poster came back & panicked as she read that netmums were going to call the police.

islandofsodor · 14/04/2007 01:24

The netmums moderators interrupted a weekend get together to deal with an incident not so long ago, I think the police were called.

I guess things hinge on data protection as to whether moderators can intervene and what terms and conditions people sign up to

jampot · 14/04/2007 02:19

the mner who was said she had taken an overdose had changed her posting name. Several MNers recognised her style of posting and tried to contact her. I think a few of us contacted each other offline (MSN) and came to teh same conclusion. Because between us we knew her name address and telephone number all of which were easily accessible as she was a prolific MN/MSNer an ambulance was called which attebded her home. I think also an MNer who was local went round to sort out her children

lionheart · 14/04/2007 15:17

At least you tried to help, schnapps.

allieBongo · 14/04/2007 15:23

after the moggelling fiasco on here, they police tracked down a certain mental mnetter who had been collecting images of children, so it is definetly possible

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