Slashdot Mirror
BBC Uses Skype Links In Murder Hunt
Nico M writes "The highly publicized UK murder hunt for the serial killer(s) of five young sex workers in Suffolk is using Skype to ask the public for information. BBC News is embedding freephone Skype links to both the police incident room and Crimestoppers UK. Is this the first time Skype has been used in this way?"
A legitimate chance to tag something on slashdot as "deadhookers"
Monstar L
Goodbye!
Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
Why yes it is. Becoming more and more prevalent as a recognition that there are apparently a lot of people that willingly choose that trade. Look in the back of your local "alternative" weekly, and you'll find many many ads for "sex workers" willing to assist in your every kink. And, of course, not all prostitutes are "sex workers". For example the average CEO...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Well although my nick is Puto, which is technically male whore in spanish, and for the umpteenth time I am not gay and I know what it means it some countries.
But when in the hell did hookers become "sex workers"? What happened to prostitute?
Whore, escort, streetwalker, lady of the night, etc. Sex workers?
I guess this is like the "sanitation engineers"(garbagemen) or "network engineers"(i got a website and a linksys router and have 15 workstations to manage at work.)
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
"And, of course, not all prostitutes are "sex workers". For example the average CEO..."
Or the average slashdotter...once they hit daylight that is.
This is probably not a good idea, because there is no anonymity with Skype. It is trivial to log the IP address of anyone calling. At least with a normal phone number, you can just use a public payphone and there is no real chance of being identified.
Anonymity is really important, especially if they want other sex workers to contact them. After all the recent "crack-downs" and "zero tolerance" policies, not to mention the bad reputation the police have, is it any wonder that prostitutes dont want to talk to them?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
nowhere in the article can i see Skype mentioned or see any Skype links, perhaps the submitter has a Skype BHO (browser helper object) or a Firefox plugin that creates Skype links from phone numbers
iam on WinXP with FF2 and IE7 but i have Skype 2.5 (not the hideous mess called v3.0) perhaps Skype V3.0 installs such a facility by default
Why yes it is.
You hit the nail on the head. Another fine job of "editing" from Slashdot, they didn't even check out the article!
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
This women have been suffering for ages now. And have been killed by all sorts of people before. Why do people suddenly care about them? Society is very wierd. I personally think these women needed help long before one dude started taking them out.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
Imagine if every anti-U.S. story on /. were tagged with deadiraqis. The /. left would be up in arms. Dead hookers is ok though. Because you know, they weren't human.
deadpeople would be better. These people have been murdered. It is in noway funny. Just because they don't write code for money don't make them less of people. Do you like your job? No? Still you are lucky to have some choice in what you do, most of the "deadhookers" do not. Im pretty sure they disliked being killed just as much as you would have... When will humanity stop feeling its OK (or fully) to harrass or even kill people just because of there social status?
I wonder if the murderer was stupid enough to have a mobile phone with him when he dumped the bodies. All you would have to do is do a search of all mobile phones that have been in those particular cells at the estimated times of death of each victim. The bodies were dumped in the surrounding countryside so it might narrow it down to a few phones. Another possible line of attack is that the murderer's mobile phone would have been in the same cell as each victims mobile phone for some amount of time. Once you have his mobile number, the game is up. Even if it was not purchased in his name, the phone would spend most of its time where he lives, so it would be simple to narrow it down to the row of houses where he lives.
Most of them already dead inside.
There's no Skype link unless you've installed Skype 3.0 which automatically highlights any phone number at least on Firefox... So... yeah.
Oh lighten up, that tag is just fake macho bullshit overcompensation for the average geek's mortal fear of human females in particular, and sex acts in general.
Maybe its more a term used in the cities where sexuality (among other things) or a little more open. Sex worker, in my understanding is slightly more open-ended. Meaning it can be used in reference to a number of activities.
Anyway, I think its sad how afraid of sexuality we are and I don't see a lot of good coming out of it. America was in many ways founded by missionaries and fundamentalists. Bad combo.
If anything feeds vice its repression and shame. There are certainly some things we should protect (children..) but I think we've taken sexuality and turned it into something we teach our children is wrong. We teach them shame and we do it out of ignorance and fear.
Quack, quack.
I must make it a point to recommend this awesome tool called a "Search Engine" to you. In my humble opinion (IMHO), the best "Search Engine" I know is named Google and is available at www.google.com. It's free and easy to use.. To go there, please click the text that is underlined in the previous sentence. There is a rectangle that us geeks call a "text box" where you can type "words". For example, why don't you type "skype dead hookers" or "skype police investigation" into it and click the button named "Google Search"? You will then be magically transported to a page with lots of things on it that you can click and figure out the answer to your question.
Fellow slashdotters, please add to this comment with more detailed instructions on how to search using Google (screenshots welcome).
Which idiot wrote the headline without even looking at TFA?
"Many prostitutes call themselves hookers with pride but do not like the term being used in derogatory ways.
Exactly! And illustrates the point I tried to make elsewhere about the "deadhookers" tag! Imagine if the story was about a series of race related murders, would the story be tagged as "deadniggers" or "deadgooks"?
My "moral compass" tells me it is just as offensive to dehumanise prostitutes as it is to dehumanise any other group. If anyone in this case could be considered "less than human" it would be the perpetrator, and even he will be afforded basic human rights by a civil society. In the UK (like most other western countries) this means that even though he took the "right to life" from others, the state does not have the right to take it from him as punishment.
Disclaimer: I recognise that Slashdot has the "right to offend", I don't dispute that. I am simply registering my dismay that they excercised it to: insinuate "they asked for it", trivialise murder, disrespect the dead, and possibly upset the still greiving relatives/freinds.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
(I posted this further down as a reply to an anon comment, so it got buried.)
Guys, this story is false. I see no Skype links. Do you see any Skype links?
It is the term that people not intent on moralizing or stigmatizing oters will use.
But there are always some people intent in hurting and moralizing about what others do, I'll assume you don't belong to this group of bastards and that you ask driven just by natural curiosity.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
There was a great interview with one of the Chief Constables involved in this case about the number of calls they were receiving from the public
Interviewer: There's been a massive public response to your request for information hasn't there, how are you coping with the sheer volume of information you are getting ?
Police: Obviously we're very pleased with the positive response and we're working through everything we receive.
Interviewer: A lot of its very helpful but you were just telling me you're also getting a lot of calls about peoples dreams and what cards or dice have told them ?
Police: Er, yes we are. That sort of information isn't a high priority
Interviewer: Clearly you're being polite, it's just a waste of your time isn't it ?
Police: We would rather concentrate on serious information
Interviewer: These people are just getting in the way of your investigation by phoning up with this, frankly, nonsense aren't they ?
Police: Well yes, we would rather they didn't bother us with superstious nonsense.
So, someone posts a non-story about Skype being used by the police and bbc to report infomration on murdered women. Slashdot users don't discuss the fakeness of the story, or the skype marketing angle, or the future of telecoms. They feel it appropriate to make declarations and guenuinely offensive 'humour' about murdered women. /.ers have shown for the 'sex angle' makes me worry about who I'm associating with here, and says far more about the writers than the victims.
Seriously, these women may be prostitutes, but the key facts are: 5 people were murdered in a market town in the space of a couple of weeks. These people were people; daughters, mothers, sisters. They were all, I believe, hooked on drugs. And one day they may have got off drugs and enjoyed a normal life. Not now. The fascination some
... sometimes really look awkward from the wider world.
All the terms you are mentioning are clearly derogative, do not tell us you did not know that as well.
I don't know about you, but if I were doing that activity for a living I would want to be referred as with a respectful term. Sex worker is the accepted term for people that use their sexuality to make a living, but refers more particularly to people that are paid to have sex with clients.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
People are jailed for drug offences, one of these ladies spent one year in jail for drug related offences (i.e possession or trafficking).
Is a fact, recognized by this government, that drug addicts get little or no help while they are in jail.
Having said that, if you want to quit they provide you with some help, but, foolishly, drug addicts don;t seem to be anybody's priority (if the government was any wise drug addicts should be a helat priority since a big percentage of petty crime is related to drug addicts trying to get money for their next fix).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
pembo13: Why do people suddenly care?
The answer: This case involves a large number of murders within a short space of time in a quiet semi-rural area where murders are exceptionally rare and crime very low.
Let's not kid ourselves that anyone (significant) cares about prostitutes, especially not drug-addicted ones. This is about five murders within a fortnight in a middle-class provincial town (100,000 folks). Ipswitch, contrary to London-based journalists misunderstanding, doesn't have a "red light district". It has a corner of a road near a truck stop. Not even one whole street. Think almost the furthest town you can imagine from The Bronx. Think Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple".
To give context, the town is only a few miles from where Constable painted The Hay Wain, possibly the most famous English countryside scene of all time. Imagine five naked dead women on the banks of that painting- the bodies were found in similar locations. THAT is why people suddenly care, because it is so incredibly unusual given the semi-rural location.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
If the BBC is using Skype - and there seems to be some doubt about this - then someone should be asking serious questions about their charter. The BBC is forbidden from advertising and is directly funded by a license fee.
To the point where kids TV show "Blue Peter" would have handcraft items on making things out of old packaging, any branding or logos on the packaging had to be blacked out.
No way should the BBC be promoting skype - blatantly or otherwise. Brits, ask the BBC for your license fee back. Ask your MP why this is happening. If the BBC wants to be honest about their advertising then fine, scrap the license fee.
Of course, the BBC smuggles PR, payola, and viral marketing into news, tech and entertainment items all the time - and I'm sure someone somewhere gets a nice backhander for those. The News dept is the one most guilty of marketing products.
However, to be this blatant should result in someone being fired.
It can seem like an enjoyable way to make alot of bucks if it wasn't that it often destroys there self-worth. There is something about intimate contact and cash that makes women just feel like things being used. People naturally look for respect, even from strangers. Somehow I think sex workers get little of that.
Im disgusted at someone tagging this story "deadhookers". Oh how you must chuckle at your comic genius, but lets get one thing straight - these girls were murdered. There is nothing funny about it. They sold there bodies to feed an addiction that they had no control over.
Slashdots really gone down the tube if readers think this is acceptable
More intresting than the Skype connection is the fact that the police arrested somone who gave an interview to the Sunday Mirror newspaper the day before.
9 .stmn e=ripper-hunt--the-suspect%26method=full%26objecti d=18275623%26siteid=62484-name_page.html
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/618940
and
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/tm_headli
Its quite chilling to read the interview
tagged "deadsexworkers" in response
I hate grammar Nazi's.
The murderers myspace profile is here. Found it after reading this article
I didn't see any free Skype links on that page at all. However, right at the bottom of the page are two telephone numbers. If you have the new Skype 3.0 installed it will automatically highlight phone numbers on a page and turn them into Click-2-Call numbers. Being 0800 numbers on this page, they are free.
Here in the UK, I was reading a Littlewoods mail order catalogue (just for christmas gift ideas) and came across a new toy for young girls.
It's a *POLE DANCING* kit !
What is wrong with this picture ? I mean, have the womens liberation movement ceased to exist ? I mentioned this to a friend of mine and he replied that he already knew about it, and that his daughter had been doing it as a course at school ! WTF.
I am all for liberisation etc, but surely this is a bit over the top. I mean, do they teach these children what the fucking pole represents ?
I tried to get to Littlewoods website to find a link, but the net is slow here right now, google has some good links to a story on it though, as it appears Tesco had a similar product. I remember a time when women got pissed off if you bought a young girl a pram and a doll, now apparently we can train them to be erotic dancers, at public expense ! Jesus H Christ, on a bike. What's next, My Little Pony Fuck 'n' Suck outfits, Crotchless panties (age 5 to 6), Leather gear for the discerning 8 year old ?
Amazon have the same product and it even includes toy dollars ! They also have a toy lapdancing kit, which seems to have the words "not a toy" hastily tacked onto the description.
Sometimes you do actually have to think of the children.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk /6189409.stm
Your argument seems to be that society should not look down on prostitutes more than we look down on those who participate in drug trials or in the active duty military.
You are presenting the evidence that some drug trial participants and some military members put their lives at greater risk than prostitutes. The implicit assumption seems to be that personal risk is the only reason for the lower social status of prostitutes.
I can't speak for the rest of society, but I consider prostitutes of lower social status because they attempt to profit from highly addictive behavior (and people who are vulnerable to this). Prostitutes are profiting from an activity that triggers much deeper in the brain's emotional center, which is the heart of many addictive behaviors. I believe that this is morally wrong, in the same way that selling highly addictive drugs is wrong.
I don't want to start an extended discussion about the morality of drugs and prostitution... this guy asked what might be a troll or an honest question... I'm not sure.
Have you heard about that dyslexic santa in Ipswitch? He keeps leaving prozzies under the trees.
Outwhoring - the act of employing services from low cost Penile Stimulation Engineer(s).
Inwhoring - the act of employing a single extremely expensive PSE in a long term life contract!
Boring - the act of working as your own PSE whilst learning (erm reading) about sex on slashdot
Other useful terms:
Sex - something most slashdot readers learn about after leaving their mums basements (aged 46!)
Scratch & Match clinic - a specialist team able to help resolve "issues" caused by outwhoring.
I don't think that referring deadhookers is a good idea because it is glib. Regardless of whether the word is hooker or prostitude or whore or woman. I've had enough of slashdot.
Tesco last night denied the pole dancing kit was sexually oriented and said it was clearly marked for "adult use". A spokesman added: "Pole dancing is an increasing exercise craze. This item is for people who want to improve their fitness and have fun at the same time." Story
Now put your dick away and consider that this is a tragic story about murdered drug addicts and not an excuse for pedophile ravings.
Reduce, reuse, cycle
owlnation (858981) wrote.... a load of crap that I can't even be bothered to quote!
Well you are so absolutely right the BBC would NEVER ever dare mention SKYPE in an article about Making phone calls over the net and clearly the very idea of the BBC having advertising on non-UK BBC channels like BBCWORLD is against their charter!
I suggest you check the BBC charter. Personally I think the BBC is excellent value for money, I do wish that Tony the croney would keep out of it but that's another issue entirely. Anyway I suggest you get back to writing about things you clearly know about like beautiful women that you will never ever meet as your clearly a muppet still living with his parents!
Ah, a fellow football fan. I wonder how few of us there are on /. ?
:-)
And yes, the discussion got wildly off-topic. You are too kind by saying "bordering on absurd." I'm pretty sure anybody with less patience would have completely written me off as a whacko.