Pigspotter case docket sent to public prosecutor

[rpm]

Pigspotter case sent to public prosecutor

The case docket against PigSpotter, the Twitter member who tips off motorists about speed traps, has been sent to the national director of public prosecutions, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

As long as no one rats him out or gives himself away, he should be fine?

 

[Pitbull]

I doubt he will be caught. Even if he is, he has started a trend now which will not stop by hitting Cliff with some silly charges.

It's about time the Piggs realize they are suppose to be preventing speeding and not be hitting coin out of it.

 

[Leostar]

I will go for Freedom of speech?

 

[DreamKing]

no case again ....

just a waste of tax money.....

 

[LazyLion]

The case will be filed and the police will subpoena his IP address from Twitter, who will comply with the warrant. Once they have the IP address they will subpoena his ISP for his personal details.
If he is identified from all of this, he will be arrested... but the case will fail on lack of evidence that he actually caused any obstruction of justice in any specific instance.

EDIT: and a hundred more PigSpotters will spring up on social networking sites due to the publicity that the police have brought to this case.

 

[Shake&Bake]

And so the black market for RICA'd sim cards will start

 

[bdt]

The case will be filed and the police will subpoena his IP address from Twitter, who will comply with the warrant.

I must be missing something obvious here: why would an American company that, I suspect, doesn't have .za offices either, [-]give a flying fig about[/-] comply with a warrant from some little country far, far away?

 

[grok]

You would think the national director of public prosecutions has bigger fish to fry.

I don't think its about the actual harm he's doing, more about their image that's getting tarnished. Same thing as been happening with the media bill?

 

[Sl8er]

Make that 18,265 + 1 followers. /mumbles/ damn pigs...

 

[MoHaG]

The case will be filed and the police will subpoena his IP address from Twitter, who will comply with the warrant. Once they have the IP address they will subpoena his ISP for his personal details.

Last time I checked (several years ago) cellphone networks were natting internet access... Not sure if BIM's compression and centralized server will further protect him...

The photos he started posting's EXIF data is more likely to get him caught

 

[Juggy]

I must be missing something obvious here: why would an American company that, I suspect, doesn't have .za offices either, [-]give a flying fig about[/-] comply with a warrant from some little country far, far away?

Because they have agrrements in place to co-operate with investigations and both countries are also members on Interpol. That should be a good enough reason if I'm correct.

 

[LazyLion]

I must be missing something obvious here: why would an American company that, I suspect, doesn't have .za offices either, [-]give a flying fig about[/-] comply with a warrant from some little country far, far away?

Because they have agrrements in place to co-operate with investigations and both countries are also members on Interpol. That should be a good enough reason if I'm correct.

Yes, that... and the whole "in the interests of justice" thingy.... but then judging by the question... I guess not everybody has the interests of Justice in mind.

But yeah... most countries have agreements in place to provide authorities in other countries with their requests when served with a properly formed warrant.

 

[Fudzy]

Last time I checked (several years ago) cellphone networks were natting internet access... Not sure if BIM's compression and centralized server will further protect him...

The photos he started posting's EXIF data is more likely to get him caught

Does he take the photos personally?

I really wish he didn't use the word 'pig' in his nickname, it's probably what really incited the cops to go after him so badly.

 

[House]

The case will be filed and the police will subpoena his IP address from Twitter, who will comply with the warrant. Once they have the IP address they will subpoena his ISP for his personal details.
If he is identified from all of this, he will be arrested... but the case will fail on lack of evidence that he actually caused any obstruction of justice in any specific instance.

EDIT: and a hundred more PigSpotters will spring up on social networking sites due to the publicity that the police have brought to this case.

Yes, you are totally correct. The only way in which the PS will be traced will be when the police gets a court order and serve it on Twitter, who will in turn supply his IP address. However, from my own experience here goes:

Twitter is in the US and will not act if contacted by the SAPS. They will require a court order. A South African court order wont do either, so here is the process:

1. Once prosecution decides to proceed, the I/O would need to finish the investigation by obtaining the relevant affidavits and evidence. (Could take a month to a year)

2. The I/O will need to apply for a court order for the info from Twitter. (Takes about a day)

3. The court order will now go to Interpol, who will in turn refer it to US law enforcement agencies. Once there a court will review the matter, and if in agreement issue a court order there. That order will be served on Twitter. (This could take 3 years or longer. I left the police in 2005. I sent 2 orders to ebay in 2002. Last year the docket was still closed and nothing came back as yet. The fastest one I got back from the US was in 4 years.)

4. Twitter will now send documents to US law enforcement who will send it to Interpol, who in turn will send it back to SA. (Could take about a year if the documents dont get missing somewhere along the way)

5. The I/O now needs to re-apply for court orders on the telecommunications department. (Another day).

6. Telecommunications now have 30 days to provide the info on the phone number from where the dialup was made to the Internet.

I bet you all, this case will not be completed - with proper evidence - within at least the next 5-8 years.

 

[biometrics]

We need this data mashed up on a Google map. Come on myBB developers ...

 

[bdt]

The photos he started posting's EXIF data is more likely to get him caught

Hmmm, interesting thought. Well, the bakkie/truck prang carries EXIF data ID'd as a Nokia E63 and he's on record as saying he's got a a CrapBerry (name edit mine) ...a 9700, IIRC. Here's the data I got:

Make - Nokia
Model - E63
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 300
YResolution - 300
ResolutionUnit - Inch
YCbCrPositioning - Centered
ExifOffset - 132
FNumber - 3.20
ExifVersion - 0220
DateTimeOriginal - 2010:09:22 11:12:13
DateTimeDigitized - 2010:09:22 11:12:13
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
ApertureValue - F 3.03
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Flash not fired, auto mode
FocalLength - 4.90 mm
FlashPixVersion - 0100
ColorSpace - sRGB
ExifImageWidth - 1600
ExifImageHeight - 1200
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
White Balance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 1.00 x
SceneCaptureType - Standard

Nowhere in there is anything that identifies a particular handset so, short of some pretty damn fancy forensics (that is out there, I just decline to link to it as I see no need to do 'their' jobs for them!) that links a particular image to a specific phone, as I see it that line is a dead end. But thanks for making me chase it down...

 

[bdt]

Yes, you are totally correct. The only way in which the PS will be traced will be when the police gets a court order and serve it on Twitter, who will in turn supply his IP address. However, from my own experience here goes:

Twitter is in the US and will not act if contacted by the SAPS. They will require a court order. A South African court order wont do either, so here is the process:

1. Once prosecution decides to proceed, the I/O would need to finish the investigation by obtaining the relevant affidavits and evidence. (Could take a month to a year)

2. The I/O will need to apply for a court order for the info from Twitter. (Takes about a day)

3. The court order will now go to Interpol, who will in turn refer it to US law enforcement agencies. Once there a court will review the matter, and if in agreement issue a court order there. That order will be served on Twitter. (This could take 3 years or longer. I left the police in 2005. I sent 2 orders to ebay in 2002. Last year the docket was still closed and nothing came back as yet. The fastest one I got back from the US was in 4 years.)

4. Twitter will now send documents to US law enforcement who will send it to Interpol, who in turn will send it back to SA. (Could take about a year if the documents dont get missing somewhere along the way)

5. The I/O now needs to re-apply for court orders on the telecommunications department. (Another day).

6. Telecommunications now have 30 days to provide the info on the phone number from where the dialup was made to the Internet.

I bet you all, this case will not be completed - with proper evidence - within at least the next 5-8 years.

So a definite 'yes' subject to the real-world restraints you mentioned ...yea, I'm going to bet with you on this.

 

[Carbon_Fibre]

Question: How can we get murderers and rapists to upset the Police? Maybe then they'll concentrate on catching them instead of focussing on motorists.

 

[House]

So a definite 'yes' subject to the real-world restraints you mentioned ...yea, I'm going to bet with you on this.

Yep, like someone else here mentioned, unless PS gives himself up and admit to the offences. If he doesn't, I dont really see any other way they wil successfuly convict him. Catch him - maybe yes, prosecuting - in all likelihood not.