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3 Teens Almost Got Away With Murder. Then Police Found Their Google Searchesarchive.is/8wIUt
734 sats \ 14 comments \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 22 May tech
(From Wired, but using paywall-bypassing link)
What I found interesting about this (aside from the fact that the kids literally set fire to the wrong house and murdered innocent people) is that this wasn't the cops looking directly at their search histories (the "normal" stuff we think about), but instead getting ahold of everyone who'd searched for this house, then backtracking from there. A good reminder that, no matter how much you might not sympathize with these kids in this situation, you personally should be extra vigilant about your opsec; even if you think you're off the radar, there's a chance you aren't.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @plebpoet 22 May
yikes!
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73 sats \ 1 reply \ @note_bene 22 May
Interesting side-point: the arsonist burned the home because he had used Apple’s Find My iPhone app to locate his stolen iPhone in the vicinity of the victim's house. (It was a false positive, the phone was not actually at the burnt house).
Geo-location technology brought the wolf to the door and then brought the wolf to justice. Strange times indeed.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 20h
Yeah... trusting the tech without understanding its limits...
I have found it frightening how much people trust this stuff. Yet.. they don't trust bitcoin. Why? My theory is they are following the crowd. Two edged sword. Most people will never be orange pilled. They will just go with their flow.
We are the vanguard. We aren't the norm
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 22 May
Quite the story. I am glad they caught the guys but it is pretty scary how they did it.
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10 sats \ 4 replies \ @SimpleStacker 22 May
In this particular instance, I'm inclined to side with the judge. This isn't like targeting people who searched for generic terms like "Bitcoin" or "Trump", it targeted people who searched for a very specific residential address that happened to be the victim of a crime. It would be like bringing up the visitors logs at a hospital where a crime occurred.
If you're truly concerned about your internet privacy, just don't do anything from a computer that can be traced back to you.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @itsrealfake 11h
tl;dr - I find myself satisfied to learn that these murderers are facing punishment.
I would prefer that Google willingly built a product for police to search, rather than give the police an authority to execute warrants.
In this particular instance
maybe you're reading about this particular instance in Wired, because that's how Mainstream Opinion Shaping Media works.
It would be like bringing up the visitors logs at a hospital where a crime occurred
yeah, the legal theory as I understand rests on this "register" theory.... that anything you do outside your own effects can't be considered to have an expectation of privacy, hence the 4th doesn't apply.
Okay, so if that's not your software, does the government have to obey the 4th amendment?
If you're truly concerned about your internet privacy, just don't do anything from a computer that can be traced back to you.
Or an internet access point that can be traced back to you? Have you ever tried to get internet access without KYC? it's not impossible, but it's far from de facto.
I can be concerned about my privacy without being a criminal. That's the chilling effect.
"am I going to get in trouble for searching for mRNA research trial data when the government decides to mandate a shot"? And that's what the 4th amendment is there to protect against.
"is the government going to show up at my door for committing code to bitcoin?"
"is the government going to show up at my door in 8 years for advocating for the 1st, 2nd, 4th, or 10th amendment today in 2025?"
related .. constitution center origins of the 4th amendment 4th amendment + electronics
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5 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 11h
I don't think you should be prosecuted for searching mRNA research data or contributing code to bitcoin or any of those things.
But I do think if a private individual who lived in a private residential address was murdered, it's ok to get a list of people who searched for that individual and their address. That's all.
I can't fully explain all my thoughts, but I just think that the type of crime matters and the type of electronic data being searched matters too.
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30 sats \ 1 reply \ @itsrealfake 10h
type of electronic data being searched matters too.
very much.
if it is the government collecting the data, they must do so lawfully. and the 4th described the limits of government
if it's private data, and Google wants to investigate that house-fire, awesome.. thanks vigilante Google.
but giving the government authority to demand google handover their private property (the information they collect in the process of providing service) is quite a different thing... amd the story here in wired is sculpted as just "gumshoe detective solves heinous murder by ignoring the pesky constitutional protection"... then the buried lede: "gumshoe detective 's warrant is being duplicated across the country"

in other words:

government doesn't need to build panopticon if it can force businesses to be the panopticon. citizens just get shotgun panopticon'd

put another way:

wouldn't it be great if you could get back all the bitcoin you ever had spent?
you can't, because the protocol protects private property. that's why it is so important to have painful discussions about consensus.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @itsrealfake 2h

case in point

"domestic violent extremism" is exactly the sort of thing I want the government to eliminate, and I wouldn't want any silly 18th century white man's amendment getting in the way of my safety...
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5 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 18h
Another reason not to use Google
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Riberet 15h
Google is the big brother
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 19h
We all need to be careful with our opsecs. This is not even the only situation where it is important.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @denlillaapan 20h
Imma go search for some houses now, methinks
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @itsrealfake 10h
Brb.. Vibecoding a random address searcher, search 500 addresses for 50sats
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