do the authorities/CAB etc.. use the internet as part of their investigations?

ad83

I wonder if anybody might have any ideas or info about this subject

A neighbour of mine who would be quite well known to the police for many reasons has run into some trouble in a foreign country where s/he owns some very valuable property. This person would have been subject to large scale investigation previously. After this recent trouble detectives have come knocking and informed us of the incident and told us of their surprise that this person was the owner of such real estate given the fact that they have not worked for many years. I was surprised by this as i was personally aware of the property after conducting a google search of the persons name and seeing numerous pictures of the individual overseeing construction, relaxing outside etc... with detailed description of what was going on, ie building the house over in.... , chilling outside the holiday house

It reminds me of a report i came across before produced by the government on missing teenagers in Ireland. I read the report which inluded the names and mugshots of twenty or so "missing" teenagers however when i googled the names almost all of the kids appeared with facebook profiles living in other countries. Would this not be almost the first place the dept of social protection should start looking?

Feel free to move this to another forum if it makes sense

Thanks in advance for your replies

AnonoBoy

The Detectives were playing dumb to see if you'd give them any other information.

Classic Good Cop/Dumb Cop switcharoo I'd say.

They played you like a fiddle.

shopaholic01

Do detectives knock on neighbour's doors to discuss a current investigation and express their shock?

mattjack

ad83 wrote: »

I wonder if anybody might have any ideas or info about this subject

A neighbour of mine who would be quite well known to the police for many reasons has run into some trouble in a foreign country where s/he owns some very valuable property. This person would have been subject to large scale investigation previously. After this recent trouble detectives have come knocking and informed us of the incident and told us of their surprise that this person was the owner of such real estate given the fact that they have not worked for many years. I was surprised by this as i was personally aware of the property after conducting a google search of the persons name and seeing numerous pictures of the individual overseeing construction, relaxing outside etc... with detailed description of what was going on, ie building the house over in.... , chilling outside the holiday house

It reminds me of a report i came across before produced by the government on missing teenagers in Ireland. I read the report which inluded the names and mugshots of twenty or so "missing" teenagers however when i googled the names almost all of the kids appeared with facebook profiles living in other countries. Would this not be almost the first place the dept of social protection should start looking?

Feel free to move this to another forum if it makes sense

Thanks in advance for your replies

At least tell us your neighbours name .We,re all friends here ,... except for you no who ... the big bloke .

hatrickpatrick

The problem with the internet is that far too much of it is unsourced, unreferenced, and unverifiable. For the same reason that you can't use Wikipedia as an academic reference, you also probably can't use statements posted online as evidence in a court case. It would simply be too easy to argue against. Even supposing you trace the IP address of someone who posted a comment on Twitter or Facebook, how can you ever disprove a defense argument that "I personally wasn't using the computer at the time, it was my dad / roommate / friend / plumber / dog"? It can't be proven beyond reasonable doubt, you need something else to go on.

It's one of the reasons all of these recent jailings in Britain for "offensive" tweets are about to run into one of the most vicious and complicated wave of appeals ever seen.

seamus

If they wanted to use any of your information as evidence or even as leads, they have to make sure they don't lead you on. So when they knock on the door for a chat they feign ignorance and supply you with the smallest amount of information necessary in the hope that you'll just waffle on and possibly reveal something they didn't know.

In terms of missing people, there's a unbelievably tiny number of children who actually go missing. The vast majority are abducted by a parent or other family member.

The reason they remain on the "missing" list is because the government have limited legal avenues they can use to get the kids back (especially if they're over 16), but they're still legally "missing" from Ireland.

ad83

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

The problem with the internet is that far too much of it is unsourced, unreferenced, and unverifiable. For the same reason that you can't use Wikipedia as an academic reference, you also probably can't use statements posted online as evidence in a court case. It would simply be too easy to argue against. Even supposing you trace the IP address of someone who posted a comment on Twitter or Facebook, how can you ever disprove a defense argument that "I personally wasn't using the computer at the time, it was my dad / roommate / friend / plumber / dog"? It can't be proven beyond reasonable doubt, you need something else to go on.

It's one of the reasons all of these recent jailings in Britain for "offensive" tweets are about to run into one of the most vicious and complicated wave of appeals ever seen.

I understand that it may be hard to seize assets, build cases etc... based on pictures people post on facebook but if they were attempting to do so would it not be at least worth looking at for information?

For the missing teens it must have cost quite alot of money to commission, research, produce, cross twenty civil servants desks before releasing because they would not go outside the system

Mr Benevolent

Admit it OP, they're investigating you, not your neighbour.

ad83

Mr Benevolent wrote: »

Admit it OP, they're investigating you, not your neighbour.

exactly i was afraid the cops would see my username, work out i was born in 1983 and do me for trafficking

ad83

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Do detectives knock on neighbour's doors to discuss a current investigation and express their shock?

No, i made it up because i have so much to gain by doing so.

ad83

seamus wrote: »

If they wanted to use any of your information as evidence or even as leads, they have to make sure they don't lead you on. So when they knock on the door for a chat they feign ignorance and supply you with the smallest amount of information necessary in the hope that you'll just waffle on and possibly reveal something they didn't know.

In terms of missing people, there's a unbelievably tiny number of children who actually go missing. The vast majority are abducted by a parent or other family member.

The reason they remain on the "missing" list is because the government have limited legal avenues they can use to get the kids back (especially if they're over 16), but they're still legally "missing" from Ireland.

Thanks Seamus. Like the other fella said they played me like a fiddle

Thats interesting what you say about the missing list. It makes sense. Seems like a waste of money to prepare such a report though

shopaholic01

ad83 wrote: »

No, i made it up because i have so much to gain by doing so.

It was a genuine question, it's seems very underhand to approach neighbours and not let them know it's an official enquiry, and that what you say may be used.

I wasn't making a smart arse comment for the sake of it.

ad83

shopaholic01 wrote: »

It was a genuine question, it's seems very underhand to approach neighbours and not let them know it's an official enquiry, and that what you say may be used.

I wasn't making a smart arse comment for the sake of it.

Apologies in that case. I thought you were just taking the mick like so many others. Had planned to have a go at them one by one but maybe i'll keep my mouth shut