Slashdot Mirror
Using Technology to Find Missing Children?
GregAllen asks: "We live in a world where technology provides us global communication and instant gratification. The internet has made the world a much smaller place, and news travels at the speed of electrons.
However, it's still pretty easy to hide. There is an epidemic in the U.S. -- the government estimates that there are 350,000 family kidnapping per year. You never think it will happen to you, but it did happen to me -- my ex-wife kidnapped our daughter and has been missing for almost 6 months. She's wanted by the FBI, but she hasn't been found. See the Find Sabrina website -- there's a $10K reward. When you are confronted with this situation, the world is an overwhelmingly large place. How would the alpha geeks at Slashdot use technology to locate someone that doesn't want to be found?" While putting up a website to assist in the search helps, are there other digital methods one can employ to assist in the search?
The family members of someone "hiding" either know where the person is, or can contact the person.
Fortunatly or unfortunalty, depending on your viewpoit at the time, Law enforcemnt people can't force someone to rat on their family felon.
But It could give you a head start if you're good at 'persuading' people.
Not high tech but it works.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
"How would the alpha geeks at Slashdot use technology to locate someone that doesn't want to be found?"
Isn't this an oxymoron? By default geeks can't be the alpha in any relationship. That's why they're geeks, duh.
You have my sympathy and concern for your child, but the according to a recent column in "Cecil Adam's" Straight Dope the 350,000 kids abducted number may be exagerated.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
Chances are their family have been in contact. Hotmail addresses are usually easy to crack, especially when you have access to the person owning the account. Click "remind me of password", answer the question - 9/10 of them are "mothers maiden name" - which you probably know, and read email.
OK, It's not legal, its not moral, but its a way. My friend (a real one - not an urban legend), cracked his girlfriends email account (which I moaned at him for a while). Found out she was sleeping with someone else, or at least telling her friends she was.
It might be a good first step.
She's 5, so she's just started school or is about to. It must be hard to keep someone hidden once they enter the school system - names must be in databases etc.
Or just phone the schools in the area you suspect they are and ask.
1.) Make very good friends with her mother (or anybody that she is likely to contact.)
2.) Lie. This is unfortunate, but necessary. She's lying about you. Lie to that relative about her, and the dangers she presents to your child. Fabricate proof.
3.) Tell the relative that you aren't interested in going to the authorities or even taking your daughter away from her mother. Give messages to the relative to pass on to your daughter, "just in case you hear from her mother."
4.) Wait. Eventually there will be contact. Don't try to take your daughter back yourself, but don't fully trust the police either. Before contacting the authorities, personally make sure that you have direct exact knowledge of your daughter's position so that the mother can't get away in case the police bumble.
I am only suggesting something this extreme because you say that your daughter is in real danger.
Anyone thinking about replying with 5.)??? 6.) Profit to this post needs serious mental help.
I'm not sure what the requisites are for the program, but you should check out the Abmer Plan. It's a national alert system using highway signs, media announcements, and I believe even AOL is issueing alerts for opted in members. It's designed for rapid announcements in the first hours and days of a kidnapping, but it might be helpful, especially if you get information on where she might be.
I've always wanted to do a few things in this respect. Unfortunately, I bet the vast majority of those kidnappings are by relatives of the kid. The basic response here is "You can only do so much." Those who would take your child would know of protections you might have in place beforehand, such as GPS watches/locater radios, etc.
Therefore the best defense is a very deep knowledge of your family, friends, associates, etc, that your child is liable to be alone with for any length of time. As the child grows up it is imperative to teach safety. Not just the usual "Don't talk to strangers." but how to call for help in various situations. Memorize the phone number, address, etc. It's a thin line, though, you don't want to scare the kid.
Prevention, however, doesn't help you now. If you have no idea where they might be, then you have to spend your time targetting the entire world, which is probably out of your reach. If you can even narrow it down to a state then you have a much better chance. But the reality is that a person can make money, rent a place, and go to the store infrequently without ever using any technology that is traceable. SS numbers can be faked (are sometimes never checked since there is a fee involved for the employer and small town bank), checks can be cashed and drawn on small-time banks.
As has been said here again and again, it is extrememly unlikely that your ex broke all ties with everyone they ever knew that you know about.
I wish you the best of luck. Things will turn out ok.
-Adam
Technical solutions may be nice, but most of what you need is the low tech solutions that have been around for (hundreds?) years.
At least one kid has found her picture on the milk carton over her breakfast, and notified athorities. Wait until your kid can read, and then get her picture on a milk carton where she or her friends can find it. Except for very young kids, it is hard to convince a kid that a name change is needed.
http://www.accurint.com ;) ... I am sure that if it wasn't able to locate her for you, it would provide information that would be useful in the search. You have to meet certain legal requirements to use it (I don't remember the details), but if you don't meet them, a PI would ... find yourself a PI who has access to it, ... a PI would be a wise move on your part in any event... (I am sure that there are other systems with similar capability ... DBT comes to mind ...)
I worked on this system, until I was laid off
Seriously, I am not sure how much I can tell you about it, but I will say that those who have "Big Brother" concerns would go absolutely apeshit over it
Good Luck
And then of course there are the Kiddie GPS solutions.
If you're morally squeamish, stop reading this now.
As others have mentioned, she's certain to be in contact with somebody. You probably know who. Bugs have been around for a long time, in many forms. Yes it's illegal, and invades their privacy, but *insert profanity here* them. There're pinhole cameras, microphones, phone taps... the list goes on. I'd think the ideal would be to install a laptop in their attic with 802.11, to monitor your inputs. You can then easily access your recorded data, reset, reconfigure, without regaining access to the building. Yes, getting your stuff in there in the first place is difficult and dangerous... and illegal. Use a cheap laptop, vampire it into an electrical circuit, use WEP, don't leave anything personally identifiable with it. Depending on the structure, you might be able to simply tap the phone from the outside, which would simplify things.
If you are certain... REALLY certain, that someone actually has direct, specific information, that will lead you directly to your child, without possibility of failure, you might consider using older technology to force that person to give you that information. Violence should be considered only if you are certain both that it will succeed, and that you will get away with it. You're no good to your child if you're in prison. I have no sympathy for your victim, because he is endangering your child by aiding and abbetting your ex's crime, and remember, at any point, he can avoid all discomfort and most inconvenience by providing you with the information you request.
One word of warning. If you suspect your own sanity in any way, then don't trust your judgement on what someone knows or whether you can get away with extracting that information, OR even on whether you are in the right and your ex is in the wrong.
Obligatory relevant quote from a sci-fi show:
"The soul of the Nietzschean is this:
We are arrogant.
We are vain.
We are manipulative.
We are selfish.
And we love our children."
Drago Museveni, "Primary Reflections"
CY 8428
Do not lie. If this all ends up in court, it will make you look seriously bad.
http://www.google.com -- very good
/.Net (somewhere on Microsoft's vast site)
o o.com
http://www.profusion.com -- used to be better, but good
ICQ (icq.com)
AOL / AOL Instant Messenger (aol.com)
MSN Messenger
Yahoo / Yahoo Messenger (messenger.yahoo.com)
^-- Obtain throwaway acounts for each then search both from their websites and from within the messengers-clients' internal search facilities (sometimes only name requests from the latter are accepted).
then try:
http://groups.google.com
http://groups.yah
http://images.google.com
Then search around the web for phone listings, reverse lookup etc, internal phone # searches.
I'm not saying you'll find anything new, but it is conceivable that you may find something old under her name or an alais which will refer onto others and the like.
Basically, what you are wanting to track is the ripples the use of these numbers generate in databases throughout the system. Assuming your child is of age, and still in your state, and is not being home schooled, look into school registrations for the state/local level. Perhaps also look into insurance coverages (more difficult), credit card use/signups, etc. Another possibility you might look into is a reverse catch, in a way - in other words, using her social, get a copy of birth records, then look into getting a female accomplice to do an identity theft - maybe even in cooperation with a credit issuing agency or something. Start racking up the bills on the card, and get the credit reporting agencies involved - they will alert the ex to possible identity fraud, and contact the issuer of the false cards to hold them - then there has to be some way of getting the real person, thus the address or location of them, for the police, private investigator or whatnot.
The SSN is a big piece of leverage, and providing she is not hiding out at an old friend's house you don't know about in another state, and sponging off of them as well - it is a piece that will most likely let you narrow down the search and find your child.
Good luck, and I hope this helps in some manner.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
...but, contrary to what the media would have you believe (but, anything for ratings since we're not bombing anyone just yet), child abductions are down quite a bit.
It's all about how you spin a story these days...
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
All children should be fitted with a homing beacon/microchip at birth. Then we wont lose them in the first place.
I refuse to have a sig... dammit!
Hire a PI. Some of those folks are pretty damn good.
It's very hard to break the paper trail, particularly for those without training. Bank statements, credit cards, tax forms, magazine subscriptions, you name it...
Then there's the alternative: Social engineering. Find someone who still has contact, and convince them to give away the location. Call up their mother, and claim to represent their High School Reunion. Be a former lover who has just discovered a communicable-disease infection. Something that requires immediate treatment. The list goes on.
Of course, you also have to be able to detect the contact, and trace it back...