TASER's AXON on-officer recording system could revolutionize COPS
[Via Engadget Spanish]
Police posts
[Via Engadget Spanish]
Proposed bill would force ISP, WiFi logs for security, criminal investigations
This proposed bill has been floating around the ether for a long time -- and it's just made a big time comeback. Essentially, the Republican-backed bill would be a "sweeping" federal measure which would require all ISPs and many WiFi access point providers to keep records of their users for two years, in order to aid police investigations. There are two separate bills -- one in the Senate and one in the House -- both named the "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act," or Internet Safety Act. Catchy, right? The bill would cover, as already stated, not just the major ISPs, but WiFi providers, including both public and password protected access points. The bill is undoubtedly going to be quite controversial, but is also expected to appeal to legislators across both parties. We'll see what, if anything, becomes of it, but in the meantime, what are your thoughts on this one?
Renegade Roomba trips home alarm, cops underwhelmed upon arrival
[Thanks, morten]
CBC / Radio Canada expos finds Tasers are unreliable killjoys
The CBC and Radio Canada have run a bunch of Taser tests recently, and the results aren't likely to reassure anyone. US-based testing lab National Technical Systems pulled 41 X26 units out of 7 random police stations across the nation, and fired each at least six times. What happened? Well, four of them threw off a current "significantly" higher than a stun gun is supposed to, including some that were 50 percent higher than normal, while three didn't fire at all. All the faulty units were manufactured pre-2005, but the company that makes them (which makes almost all US police employed stun guns), couldn't provide someone for the CBC to interview, so no one seems to be sure of the cause. Of course, it goes a long way toward explaining why so many people need to head to the hospital after getting a taste of the taser. Not cool guys, not cool. [Thanks, Tony A.]
Oklahoma town provides real-time streaming from cop cars, free WiFi to residents
[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of CanMag]
UK police to wield mobile fingerprint scanners, facial recognition up next
[Via Pocket-lint, image courtesy of SpringCard]
MI6 agent forgets to delete work records from camera before selling on eBay
We'd swear this had to be some sort of spoof on the impeccable James Bond, but sadly enough, the whole thing is true. A secondhand Nikon Coolpix camera which sold on eBay for a mere £17 ($30) turned out to be a real bargain once its new 28-year old owner completed his first image dump. Along with decidedly decent snaps from his US vacation, he also found a number of "top secret" images, diagrams and sketches that have since been confirmed as MI6 material. We're talking photos of rocket launchers, hand-drawn graphics of terrorist links and all sorts of other information not at all intended for civilian eyes. 'Course, the whole thing could just be the act of one talented Photoshopper, but we highly doubt the agency would be so fortunate.[Via Digg, image courtesy of WWII Airplane Model]
Carbon fiber Stiletto boat runs down baddies at 60 knots
[Thanks, Laz]
GPS-equipped turtle runs into reefer farm, gets high-fives from police
Though not quite as bad as toting the GPS module around with you, one particular marijuana farmer had to be mighty embarrassed / wondering what he ever did to deserve such bad luck when a GPS-equipped turtle meandered into his crop. As the story goes, a close friend of the police -- a box turtle with no fear of Big Brother -- just happened upon a pot stash on US park property. Clearly, Mr. Isiah Johnson (the culprit) was heavily stoned when choosing US land to farm his ganja, and now he's in custody until he's "extradited back DC to face drug charges." And you thought all you had to do was dodge those CCTV cameras...[Via TechDigest]
Plano, TX gripes to FCC after police radio signals disrupt sprinklers
We've seen the boys and girls in blue disturb the peace on occasion, but this is just downright bizarre. It's bruited that the city of Plano, Texas has complained to the FCC about a powerful new police communications system that's being testing in Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Duncanville. The signals have the ability to reach some 30 miles away, and they're driving the radio-controlled sprinklers that Plano uses at parks and road medians absolutely crazy. The whole ordeal has made for some pretty interesting conversation amongst those involved, with one Tim Smith, managing director of the Southwest Regional Communications Center, asserting: "Which comes first: watering plants or protecting police and fire?" If anyone catches grown men fighting about this, do us a favor and send in the video.[Thanks, Travis]
Police turning to GPS to track cars more than ever
It's no secret that the police have been using GPS to track cars for some time now, often without a warrant or court order and, as The Washington Post now reports, it looks like the practice is only getting more and more commonplace. That is mostly due to the fact that courts usually side with the police in the resulting cases that arise out of the use of GPS trackers, with them agreeing with the argument that it is essentially no different than having an officer physically track a car themselves. They also cite a 1983 Supreme Court case that allowed the use of "beepers" that relay a car's location to police. Of course, others, like attorney Chris Leibig, have an entirely different opinion, saying that, "tracking a person everywhere they go and keeping a computer record of it for days and days without that person knowing is a completely different type of intrusion." Given that at least some state courts, like Washington state, side with that position and require a warrant for GPS trackers to be used, it would seem likely that this matter could eventually wind up being decided in the Supreme Court as well.
[Via Slashdot]
[Via Slashdot]
Anti-terrorist drill reveals Segway attack plan, legions of embarrassed patrolmen
[Via CNET]
Cops adopt SMS tip lines to help fight crime, find out where the party is
Researcher crafts tattoo / scar matching system to nab outlaws
[Via TG Daily]
Microsoft gives cops COFEE: free computer forensic tools
Cops doing computer forensic work already have a ton of tools to choose from, but Microsoft is doing its part to help out as well -- the company just revealed that it's been distributing a special thumb drive to cops in 15 countries to help them identify and extract information from suspects' computers. The drive, called COFEE for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is in use by more than 2,000 officers, including some in the States, and Microsoft is giving it away for free, saying that its doing it not for profit but to "help make ensure the Internet stays safe." COFEE contains more than 150 commands that can be used to collect information, decrypt passwords, and poke through network activity, which helps alleviate the problem of having to remove and transport a suspect's computer for evidence purposes -- officers can just plug in the drive. There's no word on when Microsoft will start widely distributing the drives, but we'd assume it'll be soon.[Thanks, Yoshi]
