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German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

zdnet.com

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Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#31

Post by blattimwind »

jakejarvis wrote: post #15
darkpuma wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not. By the time it gets to a courtroom they'll almost certainly have a lot more than just MAC addresses, so while the bomber might plead "some jackass spoofed my MAC address to frame me" , that wouldn't explain his purchase history, the explosives residue around his home and clothing, etc. A MAC address doesn't prove anything, but courtrooms aren't about proof . They're evidence, not proof, and enough evide…

I'm certainly no legal expert, but wouldn't the whole "fruit of the poisonous tree" argument apply to any evidence found after and/or as a result of the MAC address connection?

This argument largely does not exist outside English law. Though I very much doubt it would apply, if it did.

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#32

Post by blattimwind »

detaro wrote: post #24
zorked wrote: post #20

... but wouldn't that be a violation of the GDPR? :)

Probably not, in the same way a "wanted" poster with a photo isn't, assuming proper protocol is followed. (Now if someone reports a find in logs, you can of course ask why they had and looked at those)

> (Now if someone reports a find in logs, you can of course ask why they had and looked at those)

The police is not around to enforce GDPR.

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#33

Post by detaro »

blattimwind wrote: post #32
detaro wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not, in the same way a "wanted" poster with a photo isn't, assuming proper protocol is followed. (Now if someone reports a find in logs, you can of course ask why they had and looked at those)

> (Now if someone reports a find in logs, you can of course ask why they had and looked at those) The police is not around to enforce GDPR.

Not sure why you feel the need to point that out, I didn't claim that.

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#35

Post by noobermin »

f- wrote: post #13
burtonator wrote: post #2

I wonder if there are any unintended consequences for this. For example, if you were able to identify the MAC address, and you were unethical, you could just blackmail the "bomber" - whether they are innocent or not. Also, some devices allow you to reprogram the MAC address so you could in theory use this to blackmail someone as well, or at least get them harassed by the police.

I'm no expert, but "blackmailing a bomber" does not sound like a particularly solid business plan...

The former possibility is problematic, but using it to get the police to harass someone is a real possibility. Just look at "swating" in the US.

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#36

Post by [deleted] »

burtonator wrote: post #2

I wonder if there are any unintended consequences for this. For example, if you were able to identify the MAC address, and you were unethical, you could just blackmail the "bomber" - whether they are innocent or not. Also, some devices allow you to reprogram the MAC address so you could in theory use this to blackmail someone as well, or at least get them harassed by the police.

[deleted]

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#37

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

inetknght wrote: post #8
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, some devices allow you to reprogram the MAC address I might be mistaken, but don’t changed MAC addresses (at least using macchanger) persist only until the next reboot?

Any operating system worth its salt will save the changed address and reload it before/while bringing up the network drivers. It's often necessary to do this in order to connect to certain networks, so it'd be super annoying if you'd have to remember the address and type it in every time.

> Any operating system worth its salt will save the changed address and reload it before/while bringing up the network drivers.

Yes, but in the event that someone were reported to the police, any reasonably competent police force is going to check the device MAC independent of whatever operating system boots on the system, and so being able to falsely accuse another does not seem like a big danger here.

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#38

Post by matt4077 »

llukas wrote: post #16
jakejarvis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm certainly no legal expert, but wouldn't the whole "fruit of the poisonous tree" argument apply to any evidence found after and/or as a result of the MAC address connection?

There is no such thing outside common law. ie most of Europe.

There definitely is, just not using that name. In Germany, it’s an explicit law.

It just doesn’t apply in this case, because it hinges on bad faith. Incidental evidence found while following some other legitimate trails is admissible.

Re: German police ask for help in identifying a bomber's MAC address

#40

Post by mxscho »

To everyone who is very smart in here saying "MAC addresses are not unique, MAC addresses can be spoofed". The article is about German police trying to find a criminal using one public identifier. It's not about German prosecutors trying to prove guilt in court with a MAC address. Kind of like "have you seen this person who is [non-unique changable identifier]?"
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