The curious case of Francis Rawls.

[brewer]

I'm going by information cited in the article. Didn't mention anything about a frame job. Do either of you have a source stating that he may have been framed?

Or did I miss something?

[Jehanne]

I'm going by information cited in the article. Didn't mention anything about a frame job. Do either of you have a source stating that he may have been framed?

Or did I miss something?

I am not saying that he was framed; only that such is possible to do.  He was using Freenet, a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network where users share files, many of which are illegal, such as movies, music, etc., but some are legitimate, such as software.  The police join the network (or, "swarm"), also, with specialized software that tracks certain files by their hashes, or checksums, and then correlates those files back to certain users via their IP addresses, using sophisticated statistical algorithms, heuristics, etc.  Over time, they can tell which users are sharing which files by the files' signatures (just Google SHA256 for more information).  And, so, they get a court order, raid the person's residence, seize his/her computer, etc.

For users who are using Tor, the cops' job becomes more difficult.  In those instances, they have to locate the physical location of a hidden server, seize it and then install malware on it, which the user then downloads, and upon executing, sends his/her IP address over the "clearnet" to a FBI computer, which then records it, along with a bunch of other incriminating information.  However, for users running Tails and who are blocking JavaScript, such attacks have never been effective, having only been successful against Windows users so far, but with the recent patches within the Tor Browser, such attacks may now be a relic of the past.

[brewer]

I'm going by information cited in the article. Didn't mention anything about a frame job. Do either of you have a source stating that he may have been framed?

Or did I miss something?

I am not saying that he was framed; only that such is possible to do.  He was using Freenet, a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network where users share files, many of which are illegal, such as movies, music, etc., but some are legitimate, such as software.  The police join the network (or, "swarm"), also, with specialized software that tracks certain files by their hashes, or checksums, and then correlates those files back to certain users via their IP addresses, using sophisticated statistical algorithms, heuristics, etc.  Over time, they can tell which users are sharing which files by the files' signatures (just Google SHA256 for more information).  And, so, they get a court order, raid the person's residence, seize his/her computer, etc.

For users who are using Tor, the cops' job becomes more difficult.  In those instances, they have to locate the physical location of a hidden server, seize it and then install malware on it, which the user then downloads, and upon executing, sends his/her IP address over the "clearnet" to a FBI computer, which then records it, along with a bunch of other incriminating information.  However, for users running Tails and who are blocking JavaScript, such attacks have never been effective, having only been successful against Windows users so far, but with the recent patches within the Tor Browser, such attacks may now be a relic of the past.

Um, wut?

Sorry, that was mostly over my head. 

For the police to arrest one of their own my gut tells me that the evidence is more than likely accurate.

[Jehanne]

I am not saying that he was framed; only that such is possible to do.  He was using Freenet, a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network where users share files, many of which are illegal, such as movies, music, etc., but some are legitimate, such as software.  The police join the network (or, "swarm"), also, with specialized software that tracks certain files by their hashes, or checksums, and then correlates those files back to certain users via their IP addresses, using sophisticated statistical algorithms, heuristics, etc.  Over time, they can tell which users are sharing which files by the files' signatures (just Google SHA256 for more information).  And, so, they get a court order, raid the person's residence, seize his/her computer, etc.

For users who are using Tor, the cops' job becomes more difficult.  In those instances, they have to locate the physical location of a hidden server, seize it and then install malware on it, which the user then downloads, and upon executing, sends his/her IP address over the "clearnet" to a FBI computer, which then records it, along with a bunch of other incriminating information.  However, for users running Tails and who are blocking JavaScript, such attacks have never been effective, having only been successful against Windows users so far, but with the recent patches within the Tor Browser, such attacks may now be a relic of the past.

Um, wut?

Sorry, that was mostly over my head. 

For the police to arrest one of their own my gut tells me that the evidence is more than likely accurate.

Here is a list of those who have been freed from death row in the US:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocenc...-death-row

[brewer]

Here is a list of those who have been freed from death row in the US:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocenc...-death-row

That's certainly an unexpected turn. What does child pron, contempt of court and 5th amendment assertion have to do with freedom from death row convictions?

[Jehanne]

Here is a list of those who have been freed from death row in the US:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocenc...-death-row

That's certainly an unexpected turn. What does child pron, contempt of court and 5th amendment assertion have to do with freedom from death row convictions?

It proves that the US Justice system is not infallible, which means that Mr. Rawls may be completely innocent of having done anything.

Let me give you a personal anecdote.  Years ago I created a PGP key, using GPG4WIN:

https://www.gpg4win.org/

I had not used my key for a long time, and one day, I tried to recall my passphrase.  After many attempts, it became clear that it was hopeless.  I could not recall the passphrase, and so, I was forced to generate a new key pair.  And, so, forgetting one's password does happen!

[Secular Elf]

Besides possible issue of framing, there seems to me to be another issue of laws catching up with technology. I am no expert, but I would think that legal issues in regard to computer technology may be in need of updating. If it can be proved that someone else other than the user had downloaded those files then the man should be let out of jail.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm going by information cited in the article. Didn't mention anything about a frame job. Do either of you have a source stating that he may have been framed?

Or did I miss something?

I was asking a question inquiring into that possibility, not claiming that it was a possibility. It's a subtle difference, but it's there.

If you don't know, a simple "I don't know" works for me.

[Isis]

If they have enough to convict, then what are they waiting for?

So much this.

It sounds to me like the system over there (and here, to be honest) needs a serious looking at.