Gareth Morgan reports: Furtive web surfers might not be able to rely on their web browser’s private mode to hide their tracks. Most web browsers offer a private mode, intended to leave no trace of surfing history on the computer. But Collin Jackson at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and colleagues, have found ways…
Month: July 2010
In Fighting Crime, How Wide Should a Genetic Net Reach?
Natasha Singer reports: It’s the latest criminal investigation technique, and it gives new meaning to that old saw “the ties that bind.” Recently, forensic scientists in California used a genetic analysis procedure called “familial searching” or “kinship searching” to help the police identify a suspect in the “Grim Sleeper” serial murder case — and they…
UK: West Midlands cop resigns after snooping on ex-schoolmates
Jeanette Oldham reports: A police community support officer has been forced to resign after being caught checking the criminal records of ex-school friends. Samantha Harron, 22, was also fined £200 after she admitted using the Police National Computer for snooping. As well as checking on former schoolmates, the West Midlands officer also carried out checks…
Questions Surround Law That Limits Frisk Data
Al Baker reports: It was with a note of triumph that Gov. David A. Paterson, standing with lawmakers, civil libertarians and others, signed a bill last week halting the New York Police Department’s policy of keeping a computer database of people stopped by officers on the street but found to have done nothing wrong. But…