Clipmarks | blueridge's crime collection

Microsoft's COFEE for Cyber Law Enforcement

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:29:55 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: a way to crack, seize evidence without the PC

Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime

Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.

The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday.

The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.

t also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself

Tags: computers, surveillance, crime, law enforcement

FBI Pushes for Internet Dragnet

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:28:42 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: FBI wants to go Big Brother versus the limits of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. The excuse includes the doctrine of "preemption", the plea of "necessity".

Clip Source: www.news.com

FBI wants widespread monitoring of 'illegal' Internet activity

WASHINGTON--The FBI on Wednesday called for new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for "illegal activity."

The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller, which came during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, appears to go beyond a current plan to monitor traffic on federal-government networks. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad "omnibus" authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well.

If any omnibus Internet-monitoring proposal became law, it could implicate the Fourth Amendment's guarantee of freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. In general, courts have ruled that police need search warrants to obtain the content of communication, and the federal Wiretap Act created "super warrant" wiretap orders that require additional steps and judicial oversight.

includes a shadowy program known as Einstein.

Tags: surveillance, fbi, homeland security, privacy, crime

U.S. Leads World in Citizen Imprisonment

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:15:55 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Consider the high population of China, yet it has fewer in prison, and much lower rate per capita. Why?

While the report talks about higher "crime rates" methinks that too many things have become a "crime" on paper, that do not justify incarceration. It is a very simple thing to become imprisoned now, e.g. a couple DUI offenses (it only takes moderate drinking to be over the limit) and you will be thrown into the slammer as a "criminal" in many states. This can be blamed on legislators of the states in particular.

Tonight I saw, again, 4 police cars pulling over one vehicle and searching it. This "swarm" mentality of police training (based upon paranoia, as if everyone is an armed assassin) is a waste of resources and generally done for "paperwork" arrests that turn into drug searches, etc..

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

U.S. incarcerates more than any other nation: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world and for the first time in the nation's history, more than one in every 100 American adults is confined in a prison or jail, according to a report released on Thursday.

The report by the Pew Center on the States said the American penal system held more than 2.3 million adults at the start of the year.

The far more populous nation of China ranked second with 1.5 million behind bars, with Russia a distant third with 890,000 inmates.

"Beyond the sheer number of inmates, America also is the global leader in the rate at which it incarcerates its citizenry, outpacing nations like South Africa and Iran," according to the report.

The new report said that the national prison population has nearly tripled between 1987 and 2007.

Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates have contributed

Tags: crime, prisons