[X4U] Re: Wireless "theft"

[Michael Winter]

On Jun 16, 2005, at 11:05 AM, Robert Ameeti wrote:
> In the world that I live in, this requires a warrant. And warrants  
> require some sort of evidence that a crime has been committed by  
> the suspect.

That's right. And based on my extensive experience watching Law &  
Order, the scenario runs like this.

Someone uses your wireless access point to trade in child porn. The  
"good guys" who are investigating this trade, do some online work and  
determine the IP address of origin. They go to your ISP and ask for  
records pertaining to the crime. If your ISP doesn't agree to turn  
over the records, they go to a judge, show him their evidence that a  
crime has been/is being committed, and get a subpeoana for your ISP's  
records.

Based on that, they determine who the account holder is and where  
they live (that's you). They then take this evidence to a judge  
showing that (as before) a crime has been committed, and that your  
address is the point of origin. That's enough to get a search warrant  
allowing them to seize all equipment/materials that may be involved  
in the crime -and you are now suspect #1.

Taking their search warrant, they go to your house and seize all your  
computer and other electronics equipment as evidence. At a minimum  
they will be questioning you and anyone else who has access to the  
equipment. Depending on what kind of evidence they have you may be  
detained or arrested. Let's say you are able to convince them of your  
innocence. They still have someone they need to track down (the real  
perp), but in the mean time, your equipment is still evidence - 
meaning you don't get it back. Maybe not for a long time (longer than  
the useful lifetime of a computer). They may or may not be willing to  
provide you with access to any valuable information you have on your  
confiscated equipment.

Yes, that's all fantasy. But IMO it is a real possibility. That's how  
the system works. In real life, innocent people do get brought in for  
questioning (sometimes detained) and have property seized as  
evidence. I know a couple people who didn't commit a crime but had  
their property seized as evidence. You don't always get that stuff  
back -ever.

-Mike