{"id":38933,"date":"2020-12-29T18:37:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T18:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/31882\/How-Your-Digital-Trails-Wind-Up-In-The-Hands-Of-The-Police.html"},"modified":"2020-12-29T18:37:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T18:37:00","slug":"how-your-digital-trails-wind-up-in-the-hands-of-the-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/how-your-digital-trails-wind-up-in-the-hands-of-the-police\/","title":{"rendered":"How Your Digital Trails Wind Up In The Hands Of The Police"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/privacy-laptop-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"How your digital trails wind up in the hands of the police\"><figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-credit\">Tracy J. Lee | Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside id=\"social-left\" class=\"social-left\" aria-label=\"Read the comments or share this article\"><a title=\"57 posters participating\" class=\"comment-count icon-comment-bubble-down\" href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2020\/12\/how-your-digital-trails-wind-up-in-the-hands-of-the-police\/?comments=1\"> <\/p>\n<h4 class=\"comment-count-before\">reader comments<\/h4>\n<p> <span class=\"comment-count-number\">72<\/span> <span class=\"visually-hidden\"> with 57 posters participating<\/span> <\/a> <\/p>\n<div class=\"share-links\">\n<h4>Share this story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><!-- cache hit 659:single\/related:b8811227adf7c1fcad42ab1615afb74a --><!-- empty --><\/p>\n<p>Michael Williams&#8217; every move was being tracked without his knowledge\u2014even before the fire. In August, Williams, an associate of R&amp;B star and alleged rapist R. Kelly, allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edny\/pr\/three-individuals-arrested-separate-schemes-harass-threaten-intimidate-and-bribe\">used explosives to destroy<\/a> a potential witness\u2019s car. When police arrested Williams, the evidence cited in a Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edny\/pr\/three-individuals-arrested-separate-schemes-harass-threaten-intimidate-and-bribe\">affidavit<\/a> was drawn largely from his smartphone and online behavior: text messages to the victim, cell phone records, and his search history.<\/p>\n<p>The investigators served Google a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/news\/google-is-giving-data-to-police-based-on-search-keywords-court-docs-show\/\">keyword warrant<\/a>,\u201d asking the company to provide information on any user who had searched for the victim\u2019s address around the time of the arson. Police narrowed the search, identified Williams, then filed another search warrant for two Google accounts linked to him. They found other searches: the \u201cdetonation properties\u201d of diesel fuel, a list of countries that do not have extradition agreements with the US, and YouTube videos of R. Kelly\u2019s alleged victims speaking to the press. Williams has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image shortcode-img right full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/wired-logo.png\" width=\"218\" height=\"58\"><\/figure>\n<p>Data collected for one purpose can always be used for another. Search history data, for example, is collected to refine recommendation algorithms or build online profiles, not to catch criminals. Usually. Smart devices like speakers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/thomasbrewster\/2017\/02\/07\/samsung-smart-tv-fed-search-child-pornography\/?sh=5bc04a717d72\">TVs<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/fitbits\/\">wearables<\/a> keep such precise details of our lives that they\u2019ve been used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/star-witness-your-smart-speaker\/\">both as incriminating and exonerating evidence<\/a> in murder cases. Speakers don\u2019t have to overhear crimes or confessions to be useful to investigators. They keep time-stamped logs of all requests, alongside details of their location and identity. Investigators can access these logs and use them to verify a suspect\u2019s whereabouts or even catch them in a lie. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad_wrapper\" aria-label=\"In Content advertisement\"> <span class=\"ad_notice\">Advertisement <\/span> <\/aside>\n<p>It isn\u2019t just speakers or wearables. In a year where some in Big Tech pledged support for the activists demanding police reform, they still sold devices and furnished apps that allow government access to far more intimate data from far more people than traditional warrants and police methods would allow.<\/p>\n<p>A November report in Vice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/jgqm5x\/us-military-location-data-xmode-locate-x\">found that users<\/a> of the popular Muslim Pro app may have had data on their whereabouts sold to government agencies. Any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/companies-track-phones-movements-target-ads\/\">number of apps ask<\/a> for location data, for say, the weather or to track your exercise habits. The Vice report found that X-Mode, a data broker, collected Muslim Pro users\u2019 data for the purpose of prayer reminders, then sold it to others, including federal agencies. Both Apple and Google <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/g5bjpx\/apple-google-x-mode-xmode-app-stores\">banned developers from transferring data<\/a> to X-Mode, but it\u2019s already collected the data from millions of users.<\/p>\n<p>The problem isn&#8217;t just any individual app, but an over-complicated, under-scrutinized system of data collection. In December, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/apple-app-privacy-labels\/\">Apple began requiring<\/a> developers to disclose key details about privacy policies in a \u201cnutritional label\u201d for apps. Users \u201cconsent\u201d to most forms of data collection when they click \u201cAgree\u201d after downloading an app, but privacy policies are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/06\/12\/opinion\/facebook-google-privacy-policies.html\">notoriously incomprehensible<\/a>, and people often don\u2019t know what they\u2019re agreeing to.<\/p>\n<p>An easy-to-read summary like Apple\u2019s nutrition label is useful, but not even developers know where the data their apps collect will eventually end up. (Many developers contacted by Vice admitted they didn\u2019t even know X-Mode accessed user data.)<\/p>\n<p>The pipeline between commercial and state surveillance is widening as we adopt more always-on devices and serious privacy concerns are dismissed with a click of \u201cI Agree.\u201d The nationwide debate on policing and racial equity this summer brought that quiet cooperation into stark relief. Despite lagging <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/do-diverse-corporate-boards-lead-fairer-workplace\/\">diversity numbers<\/a>, indifference to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/audit-slams-facebook-home-misinformation-hate\/\">white nationalism<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/prominent-ai-ethics-researcher-says-google-fired-her\/\">mistreatment of<\/a> nonwhite employees, several tech companies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/protests-renew-scrutiny-tech-ties-law-enforcement\/\">raced to offer<\/a> public support for Black Lives Matter and reconsider their ties to law enforcement.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad_wrapper\" aria-label=\"In Content advertisement\"> <span class=\"ad_notice\">Advertisement <\/span> <\/aside>\n<p>Amazon, which committed millions to racial equity groups this summer, promised to pause (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-facial-recognition-police-one-year-ban-rekognition\/#:~:text=Amazon%20announced%20on%20Wednesday%20it,particularly%20against%20communities%20of%20color\">but not stop<\/a>) sales of facial-recognition technology to police after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2020\/jun\/09\/amazon-black-lives-matter-police-ring-jeff-bezos\">defending the practice<\/a> for years. But the company also noted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/star-witness-your-smart-speaker\/\">an increase in<\/a> police requests for user data, including the internal logs kept by its smart speakers.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s support for racial equity included <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/inside-google\/company-announcements\/commitments-racial-equity\/\">donations and doodles<\/a>, but law enforcement agencies increasingly rely on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/creepy-geofence-finds-anyone-near-crime-scene\/\">geofence warrants<\/a>.\u201d In these cases, police request data from Google or another tech company on all the devices in the area near an alleged crime around the time it occurred. Google returns an anonymized list of users, which police narrow down, then send a subsequent request for data on suspects.<\/p>\n<p>As with keyword warrants, police get anonymized data on a large group of people for whom no tailored warrant has been filed. Between 2017 and 2018, Google reported a 1,500 percent increase in geofence requests. Apple, Uber, and Snapchat also have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/90452990\/this-unsettling-practice-turns-your-phone-into-a-tracking-device-for-the-government\">received similar<\/a> requests for the data of a large group of anonymous users.<\/p>\n<p>Civil rights organizations have called on Google to disclose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stopspying.org\/latest-news\/2020\/12\/8\/60-civil-rights-groups-demand-google-disclose-number-of-geofence-warrants\">how often<\/a> it fulfills these geofence and keyword requests. A magistrate judge in a Chicago case said the practice \u201censures an overbroad scope\u201d and questioned whether it violates Fourth Amendment protections against invasive searches. Similarly, a forensic expert who specializes in extracting data from IoT devices like speakers and wearables <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/star-witness-your-smart-speaker\/\">questioned whether<\/a> it was possible to tailor a search. For example, while investigating data from a smart speaker, data might link to a laptop, then to a smartphone, then to a smart TV. Connecting these devices is marketed as a convenience for consumers, but it also has consequences for law enforcement access to data.<\/p>\n<p>These warrants allow police to rapidly accelerate their ability to access our private information. In some cases, the way apps collect data on us turns them into surveillance tools that rival what police could collect even if they were bound to traditional warrants.<\/p>\n<p>The solution isn\u2019t simply for people to stop buying IoT devices or for tech companies to stop sharing data with the government. But \u201cequity\u201d demands that users be aware of the digital bread crumbs they leave behind as they use electronic devices and how state agents capitalize on both obscure systems of data collection and our own ignorance.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/your-digital-trails-polices-hands\/\">wired.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> READ MORE <a href=\"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/31882\/How-Your-Digital-Trails-Wind-Up-In-The-Hands-Of-The-Police.html\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>READ MORE HERE&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-38933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-packet-storm","tag-headlinegovernmentprivacyusaspyware"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Your Digital Trails Wind Up In The Hands Of The Police 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security &amp; Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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