{"id":40430,"date":"2017-09-06T15:35:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T22:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=40430"},"modified":"2017-09-06T15:35:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T22:35:35","slug":"poisoned-water-holes-legal-dangers-dark-web-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/poisoned-water-holes-legal-dangers-dark-web-policing\/","title":{"rendered":"Poisoned water holes: the legal dangers of dark web policing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAustralian police are using \u201cpoisoned watering holes\u201d<\/a> to investigate crime on the dark web. By taking over illegal marketplaces that traffic in child pornography or drugs, law enforcement are collecting information about criminals all over the world.<\/p>\n

Of course, crimes that occur on the internet often cross international borders, but this situation is creating troubling new standards in transnational policing.<\/p>\n

Research, including our own<\/a>, indicates that as police operations move into online environments, new rules for digital evidence collection and exchange must be developed to assist prosecutions while preserving due process and human rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Investigations on the dark web<\/a> readily transcend geographic demarcations fundamental to the use of search warrants and the admissibility of evidence.<\/p>\n

Some enforcement agencies have conducted online investigations<\/a> and attempted to access or transfer information<\/a> outside existing domestic and transnational legal frameworks. This is common in cases<\/a> involving dark web sites that distribute child exploitation material (CEM).<\/p>\n

Without proper checks, police could have significantly expanded scope to search homes and computers around the world, even in cases not involving CEM.<\/p>\n

Watering holes and network investigative techniques<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The techniques used in online investigations can have potentially problematic legal standing.<\/p>\n

Playpen<\/a> was a dark web site used to distribute CEM. The FBI seized the site in 2015, and obtained a warrant to continue its operation on a government server.<\/p>\n

The FBI used a Network Investigative Technique (NIT), also known as Computer Network Exploitation<\/a>, to identify Playpen users. This distributed malware<\/a> onto any computer used to log into the site.<\/p>\n

The NIT enabled the FBI to identify the IP addresses, log-in times, and operating systems of around 150 computers located in the United States and more than 8,000 computers located in 120 countries<\/a>. Up to 215,000 registered Playpen users globally<\/a> could be affected.
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