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October 19, 2007

Strange But True!

Q. How are cell phones today “dishing the dirt” on crime suspects? a) GPS-equipped phones make movement of suspects highly traceable b) digital memories stockpile clues, from audio and video recordings to e-mails to text images c) the user's DNA lingers in loose cheek cells breathed into the microphone or in skin flakes adhering to buttons or the earpiece d) high-quality fingerprints often remain on the phone e) retrievable data can lay out a suspect's entire network of contacts f) all of the above.

A. It's definitely all of these and more, says Paul Marks in “NewScientist” magazine, prompting law enforcement officials to talk of crime-connected cell phones as “smoking guns.” In fact, so robust is such evidence that even a phone found underwater can still tell tales, as did one recovered from the bottom of a lake a full year later, noted Amanda Goode of Forensic Telecommunications Service of Canada and the UK. As cell phones have become ever more useful, she said, “there is virtually no criminal case that does not involve phone evidence.”


 
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