[tor-talk] Harvard student used Tor to send bomb threats, gets caught by old-fashioned policework

Jim jimmymac at copper.net
Thu Dec 19 14:28:29 UTC 2013


Mirimir wrote:
> On 12/18/2013 11:18 PM, Jim wrote:
> 
>> spaceman wrote:
>>>> From what I got they simply used timings:
>>> 1. They knew when the email arrived give or take (from headers).
>>> 2. They knew who connected to Tor at that particular time (from
>>> network logs).
>>> Even on college campus there might be a couple of Tor users. I would
>>> have used SSH to get to a 'unmonitored network', Tor and then mixmaster.
>> But the email could have come from anywhere.  It didn't have to
>> originate on the campus.  Then a timing correlation could link to
>> somebody who was merely unfortunate enough to be accessing Tor at
>> approximately the same time as somebody who was doing something
>> nefarious.  I have certainly had the misfortune of being in the wrong
>> place at the wrong time and this is just a cyberspace equivalent of that.
>>
>> Jim
> 
> Police are trained in how to manipulate suspects into confessing. And
> most people have no clue how to deal with that. It's not so bad for the
> innocent. They can just be natural. But, for the guilty, it's much^N
> harder. It takes skill to convincingly feign innocence.
> 
> As Ted Smith noted: "The moral of the story is, never talk to police
> other than to say you want a lawyer." That's the appropriate answer
> whether you're innocent or guilty.

This is going seriously OT, so I'll cease after this post.

You are correct when you say never talk to the police w/o a lawyer,
whether guilty or innocent.  I disagree about it necessarily being
easier for the innocent.  The guilty might at least have a clue about
what not to say.  The innocent do not have that advantage -- as I
learned to my detriment.  Fortunately it was a relatively minor matter.

The police make up their minds about whether they think you are guilty
or not and act accordingly.  Their view about your guilt or innocent may
not have a terribly strong correlation with reality.

Jim




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