Prison
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Terror threat prompts prisons' console bans
It looks like British prisoners will not be playing Heavenly Sword this Friday. According to UK tabloid The Sun, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS have all been banned from jail due to their abilities to to "send and receive radio signals" (the signals aren't radio waves, but we're not going to picky over terminology).The concern is that the messaging capabilities will allow those on the inside to plan terror attacks. Said one source to the tabloid, "The technology in the new generation of computer games makes them a security risk ... There is concern that top terror suspects have been using systems already in jails. Radio software is an integral part of the equipment."The ban could later spread to all consoles.[Via Next-Gen]
Irish inmates now face charges for illegal cell use
It seems three Irish inmates are getting their hands slapped by way of a one-month sentence for unlawful use of a cellphone while in prison. The new law, passed on May 1st this year, makes it illegal for inmates to possess or use a cellphone while in the slammer. Apparently six other men have been nabbed but their cases have been pushed back a few weeks -- and seriously, what's another month in the grand scheme of things? While we understand the need to keep tabs on the criminals, we also understand the need to be able to let your fingers do the walking for late night snacks and, of course, late night missives of love.[Via textually.org]
Pirated Simpsons Movie footage snagged with mobile
A 21-year-old Aussie is looking at up to five years behind bars after being charged with "uploading a pirated copy of The Simpsons Movie on the internet." Interestingly enough, his weapon of choice was not an uber-small camcorder, rather, he chose to record the entire film with his mobile phone on its first day in cinemas. Merely hours after returning home, the footage was already making the rounds on the 'net, but he has since been arrested after having his home raided by Federal Police. Adrianne Pecotic, executive director of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, was quoted as saying that mobile phones had "advanced to the point where users could do a lot of damage" with its built-in video recording abilities, and also noted that pirates were "increasingly ditching handycams for smaller mobile phones."[Thanks, Geoff]
Inventec Appliances execs fail to disclose iPod order cuts, could face prison
Earlier this year, Inventec Appliances (spun off from Inventec Electronics) was raided as prosecutors began looking for evidence to support charges of alleged insider trading, and now it looks like nine of the firm's employees could be headed to the slammer. Taiwan's Banciao District Prosecutors Office "alleged that nine executives and one lower level employee failed to publicly reveal a steep drop in iPod orders until after they had sold off nearly $22.4 million worth of stock," and although the employees knew of the order cuts as early as January 19th, nothing was publicly revealed until mid-March. Purportedly, prosecutors "are seeking the stiffest penalties against the two top executives," and if the evidence sticks, we have all ideas that Inventec will be huntin' a new Chairman (and President, too) in the not-too-distant future.[Via TUAW]
Ex-inmate claims prisoners order 'feasts' with cellphones
It's no big secret that some clever inmates find a way to get a mobile phone whilst imprisoned, but rather than phoning for a getaway van, drugs, or a spare battery, the individuals at Hewell Grange apparently enjoy the finer things in life. According to a report from an ex-inmate, he witnessed a number of citizens placing "massive" orders for food, and thanks to equally cunning takeaway drivers, the prison claims to have "no record" of any disallowed exchanges taking place. Granted, the prison is one that affords certain freedoms to the well behaved inmates just before they are released back into the community, but to be frank, it sounds like some of the residents may be better off just hanging around.[Via Textually]
N64 Rumble Pak perfect prison tattoo gun
A Kotaku reader, and prison guard extraordinaire, recently wrote in to talk about prisoners and their love of video games. Turns out, some U.S. prisons provide inmates with money to acquire video game systems as a reward for their hard work. This made the prison guards' jobs that much more difficult, though, as inmates would use the video game systems and various components to create things that weren't intended with their design.For example, inmates would take the motor out of the N64 Rumble Pak and in combining it with some ink and a needle, could fashion it into a makeshift tattoo gun. We imagine many of the convicts on the receiving end of such a tattoo weren't getting Mario's face put on their body. [Thanks, hvnlysoldr!]
Cell tower and GPS traces now standard fare in courtrooms
Although cellphone tower location registering has been used in courtrooms for some time, we just knew that the GPS capability and morewould be put forth for use in cases where even better location granularity is required. Well, what do ya know: it's here. For alleged murderer Darryl Littlejohn, he knows it all to well. While movement from tower to tower is not exactly a new strategy for attorneys to use when arguing cases, it's use as an alibi can go either way. Critics say that rush-hour wireless traffic can shunt signals to towers that cause accurate tracking to be obfuscated somewhat, while others say criminals can plant their handsets away from crime locations for later use as an alibi. Yeah, we love when lawyers begin grasping the technical ins and outs of wireless towers and advanced tracking methodologies.
British teen imprisoned for texting-related death
It goes without saying that talking whilst driving (let alone texting) isn't exactly the safest practice, and unfortunately for a British teenager, she could have four solid years to think about it. Rachel Begg, who was found to have used her cellphone nine different times in the 15 minutes prior to crashing into a grandmother's vehicle and subsequently killing her, was recently found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison. To make matters worse, Begg was driving nearly 70 miles-per-hour on a dark, rainy night, and the judge reportedly emphasized how costly her lack of reason was. Better leave the texting 'til after the ride's over, eh?[Via Textually, image courtesy of BrockportStylus]
Posdata employee tried to sell WiBro secrets to US
While it may look easy (and astonishingly lucrative) to pull a case of high-stakes espionage, one South Korean and three US-based individuals are learning the hard way that crime doesn't pay. The Seoul Central Prosecutors Office is accusing an unnamed employee of Posdata Co., a developer of WiBro, "of sending email with proprietary information to three former employees who live in the US." Additionally, it was suggested that the trade secrets (which cost about $95 million to fully develop) were being offered up "for around $190 million" to an unnamed US company. All in all, four culprits were arrested in the ordeal, and while "some data" was transferred, the boys in blue caught on and stopped the gig before any major secrets were divulged. Should've tried the bag drop method, eh?
PlayStation 3 barred from UK prisons
British prison just got a whole lot more hostile as prisoners are barred from having PS3s. Home Secretary John Reid banned the console because it can "send and receive radio signals." Of course, Britain loves the PS3 more than any other console, so it makes sense to only ban the PS3 and not the Wii, DS or PSP, which also have Wi-Fi. Spending a little extra the Xbox 360 can add the capability as well.It's so sad when felons have things snatched from them. We now wait to see if other consoles who use "radio signals" will also be banned from British prisons or if it's all just PlayStation hate. It must be nice to have a prison system where an issue like this comes up. In an American prison someone would file the Sixaxis into a shiv and motion control that into a fellow prisoner's soft parts.[via PS3 Fanboy]
Sony's PlayStation 3 barred from British prisons
Going to the slammer because of the PlayStation 3 (sadly) isn't the most uncommon of occurrences, but if you're headed off to a British prison, we certainly hope you weren't counting on getting your game on with Sony's latest whilst locked up. Home Secretary John Reid has made clear that Sony's latest console simply won't be allowed within UK jails, as its ability to "send and receive radio signals" lends itself to becoming an illegal communication device with the "outside world." After getting over the slightly unbelievable tidbit that such luxuries would even be considered as a prison amenity, we also noticed that Mr. Reid feared that the PS3 could communicate with the PSP via WiFi, giving him yet another reason not to blow thousands of pounds to entertain convicted criminals. And before you try to sneak one of these beasts in via a sly underground tunnel, we've no doubt that Murphy will be all over those taboo data transmissions before you can even read up on old emails.[Via PS3Fanboy]
Irate driver rams fellow motorist due to cellphone use
You should already know that the Grand Canyon State isn't exactly kosher with rampant tailgating, so actually ramming someone's vehicle due to a personal conflict you have with them isn't likely to get you a whole lot of mercy. Subsequently, a 58-year old male is facing jail time due to his inability to turn the other cheek when he drove up on another motorist who was casually yapping on their cellphone. Rather than simply signing to hang up or doing nothing at all, Mr. Asselin felt it was in both of their best interests if they had a verbal exchange whilst cruising down the avenue, and to make matters worse, the curiously enraged driver reportedly ran the talker into oncoming traffic where the cellphone-using victim narrowly escaped death. Notably, several witnessed deemed the whole event akin to something we'd see "in a movie," but unless you've got Transporter-like skills, we wouldn't recommend trying to reenact this in your home state, no matter your feelings on driving while connected.[Via Fark]
Citizens catch cop speeding with cameras / radars, face arrest
Three cheers for citizens arrest! Actually, the case might end up going in the opposite direction, as a Bartow County couple could be arrested and tried for "allegedly stalking a Kennesaw police officer by installing cameras to track neighborhood speeders." While it seems perfectly okay to mount radars and speed traps all over our bustling highways in order to fine citizens for their hasty ways, apparently it's not so cool to keep an eagle-eye on a police officer breaking the same law. The couple spent around $1,200 installing a trio of video cameras and a radar gun outside their home in an attempt to monitor neighborhood speedsters and convince residents to slow down for safety, but things got a bit hairy when the surveillance system tagged a cop scurrying by at 17 miles-per-hour over the posted speed limit. Oddly enough, it seems that the officer was able to generate an acceptable excuse to dodge the penalty for speeding, while simultaneously planning to press charges against the dutiful couple for "stalking." So, dear readers, how exactly does an immobile, stationary camera go about stalking someone, hmm?[Via Digg]
Steal Nintendo and go to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200
In a more disturbing, yet amazingly interesting, story involving Nintendo, we're told the tale of George (not his real name, obviously) and how he was locked up. What makes this story interesting to you, fine reader, is that the man went to jail for the theft of a massive amount of Nintendo software. It isn't mentioned if it's DS or Wii games, but either way it added up to a whole lot of dough.In telling how he had gotten locked up in a Japanese prison, George informs us that "He saw an opportunity to make some money and he took it. ¥1 million worth of Nintendo game software was sitting in the warehouse in which he worked and he figured that they needed to be sold. He pocketed around ¥300k but within a few days it was fairly obvious to his bosses that he had done it."[Via Dark Diamond]
Cellphone choker facing prison
We've seen cellphones turn into brutal weaponry more than a few times in our day, but in the latest unsolved mystery of a handset ending up in a potentially unfaithful SO's throat, it looks like justice is about to be served. Although it was previously assumed that a scandalous girlfriend attempted to swallow her mobile in order to prevent a suspicious boyfriend from finding out who was in her contact book, it now sounds like the enraged male in the situation could've forced it down there. In an admittedly awkward twist, a "jury convicted Marlon Gill of second-degree domestic assault" as they blamed him for putting her phone where her mouth is. Notably, jurors couldn't come to an agreement on an appropriate sentence, which means the decision will be left up to the judge, and personally, we feel the punishment should be much more severe if the mobile in question were of the smartphone (read: jumbo) variety.[Thanks, Lunar Dog]
Tabloid journalist jailed for intercepting royal voicemails
Any Brits reading this will probably already be aware of the occasionally questionable exploits of the "red top" tabloids, but for those that prefer not to take their tea with crumpets, the news that Clive Goodman, a journalist for the UK Sunday tabloid the News of the World, was found guilty and sentenced to four months jail time for intercepting over 600 phone messages left for three senior officials in the royal household will probably come as a mild shock. To British readers, the fact that a tabloid hack was willing to go to such lengths in order to provide such thrilling exclusives as the "news" that Prince William casually asked an ITV reporter to borrow a video editing suite won't be a surprise at all. Perhaps the most depressing fact in this case is the complete incompetence of the assailants: Mr. Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire -- the freelance investigator who was sentenced to six months prison time for his role in this plot, and for independently tapping several other notable figure's phones -- illegally and recklessly accessed voicemails before the rightful owners had retrieved them. If there's any good to come out of this case, it'll be a tightening of the security at the network operators that provided the royal official's mobile phones: apparently Mulcaire somehow managed to obtain the passwords "issued by the mobile phone companies to their own security staff. This allowed him, having obtained the mobile phone numbers of his targets, to call customer services and to obtain the voicemail retrieval numbers." We don't know whether to be flattered by the fact that royal staff slum it with the rest of us by using the same mobile phone networks that us "commoners" do, or to freak out at the lax security exercise by the unnamed network operators.[Via Boing Boing]
Thieves jack 14 GPS devices, forget to turn them off
Yeah, we've seen quite a bit of mishaps happen in conjunction with operating a GPS device, and the list of brainless criminals is (fortunately) seeming to get longer each day, but this heist made the cops' jobs so easy it's almost implausible. A few crooks with a potentially bright idea set out to swipe a dozen or so cellphones from the Town of Babylon Public Works garage in Lindenhurst, NY, but unfortunately for them, the 14 units they swiped turned out to be GPS devices. As expected, Suffolk County police didn't have any qualms tracking the bandits down, and actually found the head criminal holding one of their prizes when they entered his home, as he was presumably trying to call his mother (or partners in crime) and explain all he'd accomplished. Nevertheless, the father and his 13-year old son, along with another 20-year old culprit, were all taken in on charges of grand larceny and stupidity, but at least justice prevailed, eh?[Via Fark]
Guangzhou crime dog "trained" to swipe cellphones
Alright, so we're taking this one at face value, but according to an admittedly weird report in Asia, Guangzhou residents should be on the lookout for a clever pup who looks mighty innocent, but is reportedly a "hardened criminal." After locating the dog in a Panyu District home, the owner was surprised to see the mysterious creature cease playing with his daughter, dart over to his cellphone, and make a break for the exit. According to local police, it's becoming somewhat common to see "thieves training canines" to sneak into homes and swipe cellphones for crooks to resell. While it would certainly be easy to brush this off as completely ludicrous, the idea actually isn't that far-fetched, as an English Springer Spaniel is already on patrol in UK prisons sniffing out and retrieving mobiles that were brought into the jails without consent. So if you're strolling through Guangzhou, make sure that cellie is well covered, cool?[Via Textually]
Singapore teen dealt 18-month probation, internet ban for WiFi stealing
While folks have been receiving various forms of punishment after jacking somebody's lingering WiFi signal without consent, it looks like the poor internet-addicted teenager from Singapore just barely missed out on the maximum fine. Proclaimed as the first victim of Singapore's newly-enforced Computer Misuse Act, the 17-year old Garyl Tan Jia Luo picked up 18 months of probation (some of which will be at home) instead of jail time, but what's potentially worse is the fact that he is not allowed to access the internet during his stint. Apparently, the judge felt this was the best way to break him of his internet addiction, and also recommended that the kiddo receive treatment for his online gaming obsession. Of course, we're sure his school grades will plummet and he'll miss out on a critical amount of technological development during the next 1.5 years, but hey, serving up justice is what it's all about, right? So if you're stuck in Singapore without a connection to the digital world, hold out just a bit longer for that free nationwide variety before hopping onto whatever jail-bait WiFi signal you find floating around.[Via TechDirt]
Killer, nudist bond over video games in prison
It's really hard to make up a better lead sentence than the one that appeared in Monday's Daily Scotsman: "Shotgun killer Jamie Bain and Naked Rambler Stephen Gough have struck up an unlikely friendship in Saughton Prison over games on a PlayStation." The basis for this introduction, apparently, is a vague quote from Bain's mother that the unlikely pair "talk and play on the PlayStation" while locked together in the prison's lightly populated segregation wing, and the even vaguer Scotsman assertion that "Bain is said to be a keen player." Aside from that, the article barely mentions the pair's video game connection, focusing instead on their wildly divergent reasons for incarceration and the development of a friendship that involves illicitly sharing phone minutes and smuggling food. We can't wait for the inevitable follow-up article that delves into the deeper levels of these two prisoners' video game affinity. Does the pair argue over whether to play Grand Theft Auto or Katamari Damacy? Are their scuffles over who gets to use "the good controller"? Do the guards join in for a pick-up game of Madden on occasion? Inquiring minds want to know!
