Dear Forum.. Someone I know has indecent images on their computer

[Smithster]

Is that true I thought you ISP knew all the sites you visited, can't they track your “viewing” habits, don’t they monitor traffic on illegally downloaded music for instance.

 

Well it is technically possible to trace the IP addresses of users and websites and connect the two together. However it will still only show which website has been visited and not what information was transferred from it. I don't believe people that share child-porn on the internet use public websites and they probably use encryption protocols to safeguard the data (I assume so anyway. To do otherwise would be like a bank robber driving to a job with a big sign on the back of his car saying "Bank robbery in progress")

 

On top of that, it's perfectly possible to 'anonymise' yourself on the internet by using tools that mask your IP address so it's reasonable to assume this guy in question has done the same. If he has then it will be completely impossible for his ISP to confirm anything.

[HeadingNorth]

It's easy for hobbyists, for Police computer forensics people it's routine to retrieve deleted data after people have actually gone to some effort to hide data.

 

 

Indeed; although if a man with child-porn images has reason to think the police might come knocking, he probably will go over the drive with a giant magnet, or smash it to bits with a hammer.

[iansheff]

The police can recover all sorts of information from a hard disk, I know an I T technician who worked for the police and his job was to recover data that people had deleted.

[medusa]

There are programs which claim to be able to delete information securely and completely enough that information cannot be forensically retrieved, but unless this person has used one of those programs then almost anything can be found on a hard drive even if it's been deleted.

 

As for everything else, I'm with Moosey. Don't accuse until you're sure because false accusations can genuinely ruin lives.

[Dear Forum...]

I know for a fact that it is true because when I told the person mentioned above they confirmed that the rumours were true after they saw them, so no, I'm not spreading rumours or stirring it up for someone that I have a grudge against...

 

And no, I wont be naming and shaming. Children that are closely related to me that are going to be very badly affected by this.

[SHsheff]

Phone the police. I don't mean on a 999 call - phone 101 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CrimeJusticeAndTheLaw/Reportingcrimeandantisocialbehaviour/DG_185338

 

You'll (hopefully) be pleasantly surprised at the response you get. If you explain your concerns I would expect/hope that someone will come out to see you or, alternatively, you'll be invited via appointment to a police station near you to talk about it if you don't want a police presence outside your house.

 

Please don't do nothing - your concerns are worth raising.

[Andy]

SHSheff - they have already reported it to the Police, but are worried the person in question may have destroyed the evidence.

[SHsheff]

SHSheff - they have already reported it to the Police, but are worried the person in question may have destroyed the evidence.

 

Thanks, Andy. Now I read it again I see that I missed that bit.

 

Thanks for the correction!

[Meaks]

I know for a fact that it is true because when I told the person mentioned above they confirmed that the rumours were true.

 

Let's hope you are right and aren't just destroying a perfectly innocent person's life.

[Alien]

If you make an accusation it would be well advised to keep it between yourself and the authorities. Should you make an accusation and share it amongst friends and that accusation turns out to be false, your peers may just look on you with suspicion on how you came to the conclusion in the first place. Stuff has a tendency to backfire if you don't think.