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?"

Comments

Sex workers?

[Dan East]

Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?

Dan East

Re:Sex workers?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?

I am amazed that so few slashdotters (reading the first 10 posts or so) are unfamiliar with that term. (Do you all live under rocks or something?)

Its basically a superset of prostitute - including people in the industry who don't actually fuck for money, ie strip dancers, porn stars, topless waiters, dominatrixes (sp?) etc.

Nothing PC about it.

Re:Sex workers?

[lastninja]

including people in the industry who don't actually fuck for money, ie strip dancers, porn stars, topless waiters, dominatrixes (sp?) etc.
What kind of boring non-fucking porn do you watch?

Re:Sex workers?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

prostitution is illegal in most parts of the country

Seriously? Illegal? (not just regulated?)

Why is it illegal to sell a (much in demand) service in the land of the free?

Re:Sex workers?

[TapeCutter]

Yep, I will second that. Here in Oz we have something called the sex workers union. Personally I think the "deadhookers" tag is extremely bad taste, it is disrespectful toward both the dead and their greiving relatives.

Re:Sex workers?

[mhore]

Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?

No. The term you're thinking of is Penile Stimulation Engineer, or something to that effect.

Mike.

Re:Sex workers?

[1u3hr]

I hate to say it, but better illegal than legal *and* legally recognized by the State as a "normal" profession like in Germany. There was the recent case of an unemployed lady there who was refused continuing unemployment benefits

Note there are no names or dates in that stpory. It's an urban legend. Never happened. http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp

...a story was sensationalized for political purposes and passed from one news source to the next, and somewhere in the rewriting and translating process what was originally discussed as a mere hypothetical possibility has now been reported as a factual occurrence.

Re:Sex workers?

[MichaelSmith]

Agreed about the "legal but voluntary" part. As far as US police, I don't think that they try *that* hard. They may run an occasional sting operation in some cities to look like they're doing something or if the residents of the neighborhood complain, but the law isn't enforced all that severely.

The big advantage of having prostitution legal and recognised as such is that you can require regular checks for STD's, as well as enforce standards for working conditions.

Why yes...will grab for code.

[Anonymous Coward]

"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 a really bad idea

[AmiMoJo]

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?

Re:This is probably a really bad idea

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

This is probably not a good idea, because there is no anonymity with Skype

1) They have a normal number in addition to the skype links.
2) You can anonymously use skype from an internet cafe (most have it installed, with mic + headphones these days)
3) Its for convenience sake, so someone who doesn't think it's worth calling (for the little thing they remember seeing walking past) will just click on the link when reading a story.

First time for what?

[SQL Error]

Is this the first time Skype has been used in this way?

For making phone calls? Probably not.

Yeah .. hilarious

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

There are NO SKYPE LINKS in TFA

[1u3hr]

Anyone with information that would help Ipswich detectives is urged to contact the incident room on 0800 096 1011 or speak to Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.

Which idiot wrote the headline without even looking at TFA?

Re:There are NO SKYPE LINKS in TFA

[jasoncart]

Looks like the submitter has this installed, which turns the phone numbers into Skype links. This toolbar was distributed with the latest version of Skype.

Story is false

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

(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?

Slashdot's most offensive moments

[gjuk]

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.
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 /.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.

Re: Why do people suddenly care? Answer & Cont

[evilandi]

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.

Re:Why yes...

[TheRaven64]

And, of course, not all prostitutes are "sex workers". For example the average CEO... It's always struck me as a strange comment on our society that those who are willing to sell their bodies are regarded as lower than those who are willing to sell their souls.