Data from smart devices are increasingly helping law enforcement build criminal cases.
As the IOT market grows, smart connected devices play a vital role in our day to day lives now. From smartwatches to voice assistants, there is a lot of data out there gathered about our lives. More so than we probably realise. These ‘things’ can play a vital role in criminal prosecution, which we will delve into.
Arson and Insurance Fraud
After an investigation into his pacemaker, Ross Compton was found guilty of arson and insurance fraud. The mounting evidence found his house smelt of gasoline. Fires also began in multiple areas around the home, and his medical condition rendered his version of events inconsistent. Compton said he packed his bags, computer, and charger, and broke a window to escape the fire. However, a medical professional said his condition would be problematic in that tale. After obtaining a police warrant, police observed his pacemaker data. This data revealed evidence to prove his recounting of events incorrect. The judge ruled against Compton’s defence who argued that using such personal data was a violation of his privacy. The data contained information on his heart rate before, during and after the fire.
Pacemaker data has also influenced other court cases, such as in Middletown US. Pacemaker data is useful in narrowing down the time of death.
Murder
Richard Dabate, accused of murdering his wife has come up against her FitBit data. The FitBit showed her movements after her alleged murder took place, which did not match up to Dabate’s version of events. He staged a break-in and harmed himself superficially. He didn’t account for the FitBit data that contradicted when he said she was murdered.
Smart Homes
Beyond the data amassed from our bodies (like pacemakers and activity trackers), there are smart devices in the home too. Amazon’s Echo recently brought up ethical questions surrounding data privacy. In the case of James Bates, he was under investigation for the murder of his coworker. Following a ‘wake’ word, the device records audio and sends it back to Amazon’s servers. Amazon is taking steps to protect this data and wants police to go through several requirements before having the right to access this. However, police obtained these records following Bates’ cooperation. Also used in this case were readings from his smart water meter, which recorded a surge in water use between 1 am and 3 am. Investigators say the patio was potentially hosed down of evidence during this time.
The more we rely on smart devices to regulate all aspects of our daily lives such as conversational assistants, medical technology, and fitness trackers and body monitors – the harder it would be to hide the truth in certain circumstances. These devices should make our lives easier, not make us wary of all our movements.
The repercussions of smart devices
Our data footprints are huge. On a daily basis, we are creating a huge data set of our activities. It’s not surprising that prosecutors and law enforcement are seeing the value of this data when it comes to investigating crimes and bringing criminals to justice.
This use of data does not come without raising a few important issues surrounding data privacy though. Laws will need to be re-written/re-worded to make way for the use of this new technology in criminal cases. How can we use this data in accordance with the fifth amendment if they have the right to protect themselves from being a witness in a criminal case? For medical devices, the HIPAA medical privacy act surely needs to be rethought in accordance with digital medicine and the use of our bodily data? There are many laws intrinsic to the protection of a range of our personal data that would need a new approach as an increase in data obtained from personal trackers and smart devices appear more frequently in criminal cases.
Will you stop using this technology because of its invasive nature? Or do you even need to care if you have nothing to hide?
