Tag Archive for 'Private Investigator'

Page 2 of 9

Google Docs & the Private Investigator

Published on November 5, 2010 in Power User Tips, Private Investigator and Web Worker. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The Cloud & Security

Cloud computing makes knowledge work easier. In large organisations, employees  are using nothing more than dumb terminals with a browser interface and corporate e-mail is webmail, corporate documents are all on GoogleDocs, and specialized applications have a web interface, it’s easier to allow employees, partners, suppliers, and customers to access the company’s data.

The Cloud & The PI

Security is always a trade-off, and security decisions are often made for non-security reasons. In this case, the decision is usually to sacrifice security for convenience and flexibility. Corporations want their employees to be able to work from anywhere, and they loosen controls to get that. However, in Canada, a Private Investigator must consider how PIPEDA and the courts will look upon any breach at Google. The PI is not a member of some favoured elite.  If a data breach happens at Google, the Canadian PI will almost certainly be held liable for using Google Docs.

Data Breech Liability & PIPEDA

The Canadian PI has several practical reasons to be cautious when using services like Google Docs. Continue reading ‘Google Docs & the Private Investigator’

Facial Recognition for the Masses

Published on October 25, 2010 in Privacy, Private Investigator, Search Strategies, Sources and Surveillance. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Facial recognition software

Enter a photo at  http://developers.face.com/tools/#faces/detect and locate all photos of the same individual on Facebook.  This is limited to your friends at this point, but some developers are putting this on iphone apps. You can snap a photo on the street and get all their info through Facebook and other services this way.  In May 2010 they state that their Facebook apps have scanned over 7 billion photos in total and identified no less than 52 million faces.

This is something to watch as it has some interesting applications for the Investigator.  Of course some people will think the sky is falling due to the  mere existence of this app, but the technological genie was let out of the bottle a long time ago.

Good Intentions Gone Bad

Published on October 20, 2010 in Canada, Legislation and Private Investigator. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Law Times reports that 50% fail the new Ontario PI Exam

Since April 15, private investigators have been subject to a new basic training and testing requirement. Recent estimates at some agencies put failure rates at about 50 per cent.

Criticisms of the new system include the fact that there’s no approved curriculum for the training component; that those who design the courses don’t get to see the exam beforehand; and that the test is too broad and not necessarily relevant to the work private investigators do.

As well, people have complained that there’s no handbook to help prepare for the test. “There were questions on it that I will never come across in my area of expertise,” one commentator identifying as a private investigator recently wrote on lawtimesnews.com.

It’s obvious, then, that there are flaws. Once again, good intentions at ensuring and raising proficiency standards are having unintended consequences.

We have to ask why the Ontario government is testing for useless knowledge? The simple answer is, because they can. Continue reading ‘Good Intentions Gone Bad’

Division of Powers – Vital Statistics

Published on October 15, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Private Investigator and Sources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Vital Statistics – Birth, Death, and Marriage certificates

These bits of paper define our identity in today’s society.

The Solemnization of Marriage is a provincial matter according to S 92(12) of The Constitution Act of 1867. Birth and Death records are generally held to be a provincial matter under S.92(16) which reads, “Generally all Matters of a merely local or private Nature in the Province.” For the purposes of proper administration, the territories have been granted the power to record vital statistics.

One must be an authorised person to request these records, and most provinces, in most cases, are very careful to ensure that a person requesting such documentation is entitled to receive the document.  The Investigator will require a letter authorising such a search for these records from the person or estate involved.

Division of Powers — Divorce Actions

Published on October 11, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Private Investigator and Sources. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Divorce Registry

The Divorce Registry maintained by the Federal government was designed to prevent both spouses from proceeding with separate divorce actions in separate jurisdictions.

The divorce actions recorded in the Registry cover all of  Canada and go back to 1978.

Division of Powers – Criminal Law

Published on October 6, 2010 in Canada, Courts, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Legislation, Private Investigator and Sources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Under the division of powers, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal law and procedure (section 91(27) of the Constition Act of 1867) the provinces have jurisdiction over the administration of justice, including criminal matters (section 92(14)) and penal matters (section 92(15)) regarding any laws made within provincial jurisdiction. Thus Canada has a single Criminal Code but many provincial laws that can result in incarceration or penalty.

Criminal and Civil Courts

This means that the Administration of Justice in the Province, including the Constitution, Maintenance, and Organization of Provincial Courts, both of Civil and of Criminal Jurisdiction, and including Procedure in Civil Matters in those Courts are matters handled by the Province. It also means that the Province handles the Imposition of Punishment by Fine, Penalty, or Imprisonment for enforcing any Law of the Province made in relation to any Matter coming within any of the Classes of Subjects enumerated in  Section 92 of the Constitution Act of 1867.

For the Investigator, this means that the majority of the criminal prosecutions occur in courts administered by the provinces and that most civil actions are issued in provincial courts.

PIPEDA & The PI

Published on September 29, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Legislation, Privacy and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

This year, two events indicate the federal privacy commissioner’s attempts to control private investigations in Canada may soon end. Continue reading ‘PIPEDA & The PI’

Eye Witness Misidentification is Common

Published on September 15, 2010 in Courts, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Every investigator, both private and public, needs to understand what factors cause misidenification as it occurs far too often.

Reasonable Doubt: Innocence Project Co-Founder Peter Neufeld on Being Wrong

How do most wrongful convictions come about?

The primary cause is mistaken identification. Actually, I wouldn’t call it mistaken identification; I’d call it misidentification, because you often find that there was some sort of misconduct by the police. In a lot of cases, the victim initially wasn’t so sure. And then the police say, “Oh, no, you got the right guy. In fact, we think he’s done two others that we just couldn’t get him for.” Or: “Yup, that’s who we thought it was all along, great call.”

It’s disturbing that misidentifications still play such a large role in wrongful convictions, given that we’ve known about the fallibility of eyewitness testimony for over a century.

In terms of empirical studies, that’s right. And 30 or 40 years ago, the Supreme Court acknowledged that eyewitness identification is problematic and can lead to wrongful convictions. The trouble is, it instructed lower courts to determine the validity of eyewitness testimony based on a lot of factors that are irrelevant, like the certainty of the witness. But the certainty you express [in court] a year and half later has nothing to do with how certain you felt two days after the event when you picked the photograph out of the array or picked the guy out of the lineup. You become more certain over time; that’s just the way the mind works. With the passage of time, your story becomes your reality. You get wedded to your own version.

And the police participate in this. They show the victim the same picture again and again to prepare her for the trial. So at a certain point you’re no longer remembering the event; you’re just remembering this picture that you keep seeing.

Geotagging Security Risk

Published on September 3, 2010 in Private Investigator and Search Strategies. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Location services pose huge security risks

Geotagging adds GPS coordinates to your online posts or photos. You may be exposing this information without even knowing it. Geotagging is particularly popular with photos; many smartphones automatically geotag photos.

Photos can be plotted on a map for easy organization and viewing. But if you post photos online, and you could reveal your home address or child’s school. You’ve given a criminal a treasure map.

This is an excellent article about a group of technological services that are easy to criminally abuse.  However, for the Investigator, these services are a treasure trove of information about a person’s associates and movements.

Mutilated Fingerprints

Published on July 23, 2010 in Identity Fraud and Private Investigator. 1 Comment Tags: , .

To avoid ID, more are mutilating fingerprints
Police say scarring can thwart detection

So desperate was one man to conceal his identity that he began biting his fingers and drawing blood while being booked.

Some have used eyedroppers filled with acid or pressed their fingers onto burning metal to blot their fingerprints. Others have spent thousands of dollars to hire shady doctors to surgically alter their fingertips, hoping to scar them beyond recognition.

DIY Intelligence Agency

Published on July 21, 2010 in Competitive Intelligence, Intelligence Services, Private Investigator, Search Engines, Search Strategies and Web Worker. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This is how to built yourself a very robust personal Intelligence Agency. Every intelligence agency in the world tracks key words, information patterns, and news events from a central aggregated location.

  1. Create a Google account while being discrete with the information you put in the profile.
  2. Log on to your Google account and in the top left of the screen go to more then down to even more and select Alerts, which appears as the first link on the More Google Products page. Set up a number of these alerts for “news” and “blogs” based on your search terms. Set each of these to “as-it-happens” to e-mail you with a link to the article.
  3. Set up your smart phone to receive these alerts, and code the incoming messages with a special sound. You’ll then get a specific sound on your smart phone with each Google Alert.
  4. Establish a  Google Reader account. Subscribe to all the blogs you can find on your topics of interest. Google Reader includes a search bar to help search through the dross to find the good stuff. You now have an online central location from which you can manage your information intake.
  5. Over time, add more and more RSS feeds.  Intelligence agencies have them, and so should you.  You will be surprised Google Reader and the Google Alerts you will consistently outperform major news organizations in bring actionable intelligence to your attention. The may give you a competitive edge.
  6. Check your favorite blogs and and those that they are linking to consistently. Add these RSS feeds to your reader. Check the blog rolls of the blogs to which you subscribe  and add all of their RSS feeds to your reader. To vet these new sources, use the reader’s search facility.

Statements

Published on May 27, 2010 in Courts and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , .

If you ever have to deal with statements given to the police just after a traumatic event, then read this article.

There is a cynical defense attorney saying: “Anything you say will be misquoted and used against you.”…

The impression is that the earlier a statement is made, the more reliable it is. In reality, the earlier a statement is made, the less reliable it is. The effects of stress will confuse the statement and even cause temporary amnesia. Inaccuracies in the initial statement will convince authorities that the survivor is both a liar and a murderer. A lawyer must be immediately engaged to organize the statement.

Investigating Public Officials

Published on April 21, 2010 in Private Investigator. 1 Comment Tags: .

This looks like a good example of poor operational security on the part of the drug company.

Drug firm investigated FDA officials

…private investigators working for a drug company gathered information on a high-ranking official at the Food and Drug Administration…
…Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who said it was “an outrage” and has demanded that Kroll tell him how often private detectives target public officials. He also had harsh words for Amphastar…

It shouldn’t surprise anybody that government officials are demanding that they be considered above suspicion and scrutiny when their decisions may cost one company billions of dollars and put billions into the pocket of another.

Surveillance in a Wireless World

Published on April 16, 2010 in Privacy, Private Investigator, Security and Surveillance. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

When a Windows PC, in its default configuration, is unable to find any wi-fi access point,  it actively seeks one out. In doing this it broadcasts signals trying to connect with any network to which it has previously connected. It will cycle through all of the network identities (names) it has previously used. All of this is sent in the clear and can be captured by anyone with a simple wireless tool running in “sniffing mode” nearby.  All of the network names it  connected with are disclosed over a few minutes. Coupled with an online resource such as WiGLE, this information can be used to establish a profile of the PC owner – where he lives, works, eats, drinks coffee, his gym, his favorite no-tell motel, and more. Any network that PC has connected to using wi-fi is an open book.

Man Trap

Published on April 2, 2010 in Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: .

The prevalence of grow-ops in many neighbourhoods brings with it many problems. An acquaintance of mine discovered one of the worst problems first-hand.

While doing neighbourhood inquires, he didn’t get an answer at  the front door but heard something around the side of the house. He walked along the side of the house expecting to meet the homeowner there or in the backyard. As he stepped into the backyard his leg was pierced by a mantrap and a shotgun blast very nearly struck him. He managed to extricate himself from the spikes that had pierced his calf and flee before the aroused occupants finished him off.