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Police Using Dogs To Sniff Out Computer Memory

Posted by samzenpus on from the smells-like-a-terabyte dept.

First time accepted submitter FriendlySolipsist points out a story about Rhode Island Police using a dog to find hidden hard drives. The recent arrival of golden Labrador Thoreau makes Rhode Island the second state in the nation to have a police dog trained to sniff out hard drives, thumb drives and other technological gadgets that could contain child pornography. Thoreau received 22 weeks of training in how to detect devices in exchange for food at the Connecticut State Police Training Academy. Given to the state police by the Connecticut State Police, the dog assisted in its first search warrant in June pinpointing a thumb drive containing child pornography hidden four layers deep in a tin box inside a metal cabinet. That discovery led the police to secure an arrest warrant, Yelle says. “If it has a memory card, he’ll sniff it out,” Detective Adam Houston, Thoreau’s handler, says.

3 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Any Memory?? what judge will go on just that? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does bubble wrap count as concealing now?

    If so how can you safely ship stuff like HDD's with USPS, UPS, FEDEX with out damage?

  2. Re:Amazoing by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I also smell the bullshit. I remember watching a USAF security specialist with a "drug" dog. He walked down the bay with the dog trotting beside him, stopped at a door and bounce a rubber ball off the door. The dog began to bark and scratch at the door. The CQ opened the door and they searched the lockers finding a bag of pot. Imagine that. That's when I realised that someone narced and the dog was for looks so no one would suspect.

  3. Re:Any Memory?? what judge will go on just that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yeah that's my real worry about all this child porn stuff - "everyone" turns their brains off and starts getting their pitchforks ready to lynch you.

    Guess how convenient this is if the powers that be want to get rid of inconvenient you...

    And for what? Even if some pervert watches child porn doesn't make him a rapist or molester any more than you wanking off to "normal porn"[1] makes you a rapist or molester. If you say he's supporting child porn, then you should follow the money and jail those responsible for creating it. If he's torrenting it, then using the **AA's logic, he's killing the child porn industry ;).

    [1] in some countries "normal porn" is illegal. Go figure.