Flaws in Cellphone Evidence Prompt Review of 10,000 Verdicts in Denmark (nytimes.com) 36
The authorities in Denmark say they plan to review over 10,000 court verdicts because of errors in cellphone tracking data offered as evidence. From a report: The country's director of public prosecutions on Monday also ordered a two-month halt in prosecutors' use of cellphone data in criminal cases while the flaws and their potential consequences are investigated. "It's shaking our trust in the legal system," Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup said in a statement. The first error was found in an I.T. system that converts phone companies' raw data into evidence that the police and prosecutors can use to place a person at the scene of a crime. During the conversions, the system omitted some data, creating a less-detailed image of a cellphone's whereabouts. The error was fixed in March after the national police discovered it. In a second problem, some cellphone tracking data linked phones to the wrong cellphone towers, potentially connecting innocent people to crime scenes, said Jan Reckendorff, the director of public prosecutions.
"It's a very, very serious case," Mr. Reckendorff told Denmark's state broadcaster. "We cannot live with incorrect information sending people to prison." The authorities said that the problems stemmed partly from police I.T. systems and partly from the phone companies' systems, although a telecom industry representative said he could not understand how phone companies could have caused the errors. The national police determined that the flaws applied to 10,700 court cases dating to 2012, but it is unclear whether the faulty data was a decisive factor in any verdicts. The justice minister set up a steering group to track the extent of the legal problems they may have caused and to monitor the reviews of cases that may have been affected.
"It's a very, very serious case," Mr. Reckendorff told Denmark's state broadcaster. "We cannot live with incorrect information sending people to prison." The authorities said that the problems stemmed partly from police I.T. systems and partly from the phone companies' systems, although a telecom industry representative said he could not understand how phone companies could have caused the errors. The national police determined that the flaws applied to 10,700 court cases dating to 2012, but it is unclear whether the faulty data was a decisive factor in any verdicts. The justice minister set up a steering group to track the extent of the legal problems they may have caused and to monitor the reviews of cases that may have been affected.
Go Denmark! (Score:3)
If it were the US or China, we (and they) would just use all the false positives to send all the extra people to prison to fuel the prison economy.
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Do you really need to encourage them? Don't give them ideas.
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Do you really need to encourage them? Don't give them ideas.
Prisons in Denmark are run by the state.
There are no prison economy except for expenses.
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...then spend the rest of the time trying to bury exculpatory evidence in bureaucracy
Saw this coming (Score:5, Funny)
See, now if the Danes had just accepted Mr. Trump's generous offer to buy Greenland, they could've afforded more staff and reviewed this data properly the first time - rather than embarrassingly having to publicly backtrack like this.
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See, now if the Danes had just accepted Mr. Trump's generous offer to buy Greenland, they could've afforded more staff and reviewed this data properly the first time - rather than embarrassingly having to publicly backtrack like this.
Don "Corleone" Trump just made Denmark an offer that they "cannot refuse".
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Unless there's a version of the Godfather where Fredo became Don, I see no reason to impugn either Vito or Michael.
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An offer they did refuse.
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See, now if the Danes had just accepted Mr. Trump's generous offer to buy Greenland, they could've afforded more staff and reviewed this data properly the first time - rather than embarrassingly having to publicly backtrack like this.
So do you think the NSA was involved? Did those foolish Danes trust the "technical assistance" they were receiving from their "ally" as Trump carefully prepared his negotiations for Greenland?
Next step, in the form of a legal tweet:
#PresidentTweety has a GREAT new YUGE deal!
Bully Denmark to trade Greenland for Hawaii!
#MODA Make Obama Danish Again!
Not a racist, just real estate!
#Brokeahontas is #BillionDollarLoser & #UnstableBuffoon
Also a #WhinyLittleBitch
#Time4the25th!
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Bully Denmark to trade Greenland for Hawaii!
No, Hawaii is prime real estate. Trump would offer Puerto Rico in exchange for Greenland.
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I rather think you are underestimating how much Trump despises REAL President Obama. I think he'd see it as nearly as good as removing Obama's entire presidency.
Now I feel like speculating on the title of the definitive story of Trump's reign of error. My current favorite candidates would be Apprentice Presidency or I'm Fired (for the better outcome). The historians' biggest problem will be describing what actually happened in such a way that anyone can believe the books.
So did you notice how the REAL s
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When the NSA is looking for an interesting person in the EU they don't go to "prison" to tell everyone how the US gov used big tech to get a "conviction".
The NSA sends the dataset to the GCHQ. Then the SAS is sent to some part of the EU.
A van pulls up and an EU ally helped the USA/UK in the EU. 40 years later some trusted historian approved by the NSA mentions US/UK cooperation in the EU.
The "technical assistance" is to the police. Less money to projects l
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Yes too bad the big baby had his feeeewings hurt before even visiting. Weak.
Re:Saw this coming (Score:4, Funny)
It's a negotiating ploy. They're holding out for the US Virgin Islands, the state of Rhode Island and a territory to be named later. There's also talk of doing a three-country swap where Nova Scotia goes to France who ships it's two first round draft picks to Trump, who sends Alaska's rookie contract to Denmark.
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There's also talk of doing a three-country swap where Nova Scotia goes to France who ships it's two first round draft picks to Trump, who sends Alaska's rookie contract to Denmark.
He probably would've jumped at the chance back when he was a bit younger, but I'm not sure nowadays Trump would go for a three-way.
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Linking to cell towers (Score:2)
The newest cell phones can report a GPS location, and this is quite accurate, and doesn't rely on the cell towers at all.
Using cell tower triangulation (3 towers), it is possible to determine a phone location to within an area of .5 to .75 square miles (.8 to 1.2 km).
Recording last tower pinged is notoriously inaccurate.
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In reality for most case, it isn't actually that accurate.
Trees building and walls can have the GPS give a false location.
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Sure. And the real takeaway here is don't take your phone to a crime scene you have the inclination to initiate.
Irregularities in the topography will negatively affect the accuracy of pretty much all location techniques, but if I'm off the road damaged in a car wreck, I hope the rescuers have GPS or a gawdawful psychic.
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And thankfully GPS systems report an uncertainty along with their location.
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A court needs to listen to the voices.
3 criminals with their own smartphones connected to a cell tower in a room for hours at 3am is not a crime.
They could be taking about how to get a good deal on coffee for the cafe one of them "owns".
All 3 of them remember the topic of coffee and the need for a better price of coffee and it was around 3am.
Can the gov show that was not the topic of conversation given the 3 people recall the same topics under oath?
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The widespread deployment of fake cell towers, aka stingrays, probably doesn't help. The Netherlands is probably a prime target too, due to having The Hague, busy ports and a major technology hub in Enindhoven.
So who is going to prison ... (Score:1)
So who is going to prison for presenting false evidence to the courts? I presume perjury is a crime in Denmark like it is in other free and democratic countries (the United States excluded, naturally).
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It's not perjury if you don't know it's a lie, and have reasonable grounds for believing it's the truth.
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That depends if it was intentional or not.
If it turns out they in earnest used data that later turned out to be false, then really no one should go to jail, and the people put in jail should be retride if the remaining evidence is enough for a trial, or released with some cash.
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Did the police collect all the data as "police"experts using gov approved methods as police?
Any mil, other nation, other nations mil, contractors, ex/former US/UK contractors selling "tech" to police?
Read up on the decades of GCHQ expert support to UK police.
Did it happen? Did any lawyer know? Any corrupt police find out about GCHQ methods?
What democratic countries let their police/court system/lawyers do/know/use can
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Nobody.
"We have evidence that the person was at the crime scene" isn't a lie.
"Our evidence has now been demonstrated to be flawed, we need to revisit that case" does not make it a lie.
TrollTrace.com (Score:2)
They know how to deal with Trolls.
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The difference being here that in Denmark the government/justice department cares and takes action itself to put things straight.
In the US it would lawyers smelling sweet $$ that would instigate these investigations... i you have the money to pay them.