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UK Police Want Plug-In Computer Crime Detectors

Posted by timothy on from the type-I-errors-type-II-errors-and-bonus-privacy-invasion dept.

An anonymous reader writes "UK police are talking to private companies about using plug-in USB devices that can scour the hard drive of any device they are attached to, searching for evidence of illegal activity. The UK's Association of Chief Police Officers is considering using commercial devices that can perform targeted searches of text, pictures and computer code on hard drives, allowing untrained cops to detect anything from correspondence on stolen goods to child pornography. Police in the UK are desperate for a way of slashing the backlog of machines seized by the police in raids, with many forces having a backlog that will take a year to process." Maybe they shouldn't seize so many computers.

3 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. Should be easy in the UK. by BitterOak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This should be easy to accomplish in the UK where citizens are required by law to turn over all their encryption keys or face jail time. It would be harder to make it work in the US, where people can use encryption. I suppose the Brits could employ TrueCrypt hidden volumes to keep their stuff private.

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  2. Great... by Chabo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now instead of having trained forensic experts, we'll have common beat cops searching your computer.

    Attorney: How do you know he had illegal material on his computer?
    Officer: I pushed the button, and the computer told me to arrest him.

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  3. Hmm by Co0Ps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the UK Police got this idea while watching CSI.