Forum Overview :: Still Life :: Re: The IP address would be evidence

[quote name="laudablepuss"][quote name="Mischief Shai-hulud"]Don't assume that juries or even judges are as computer savvy as you. I have on more than one occasion seen cases where prosecutors have used someone's internet cache to say that this <I>pervert</I> had downloaded over 500 pornographic pictures to their hard drive. Bringing in a PC expert to say the ip address links the kiddie porn to the dad's computer would likely be admitted by a judge as evidence.[/quote] Imagine a case where the IP alone is the only evidence the cops or FBI or whoever has. Weighed against no forensic evidence, including evidence of mass deletion or harddisk wipe, and added to an insecure wireless network, you have nothing. At this point, it wouldn't even proceed to trial, since the RIAA lawsuits have already pretty firmly established that an IP address &#8800; an actual person. Judges are already comprehending <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080123-p2p-defendant-riaa-identified-an-ip-address-not-a-person.html">this.</a> In the Jammie Thomas trial, this fact failed to prevent the defendant from being found guilty, but in that case the suggestive (if circumstantial) use of a certain unusual nickname on kazaa that was firmly connected to the defendant pretty well doomed her. It was either a frame-up (Fussbett's dad level paranoid thinking), an incredible coincidence (reasonable doubt) or she was guilty.[/quote]