Police ask for Anonymous SMS Tip to Help Break Case

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/46499.html' target='_blank'>http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/46499.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Police yesterday appealed to young people who use a Glasgow park where the remains of a baby boy were found to use text messages to get in touch. Detectives hope it will encourage more people to come forward with information after the baby's body was discovered in a duck pond. A spokesman said last night: "Text messaging is proving to be very popular with young people, and we hope this will encourage them to come forward, particularly if they want to remain anonymous."</i><br /><br />When did sending a SMS become anonymous? It's got your number stuck on to it. There is nothing anonymous about it. Unless, I'm missing something - Am I? If you really want to be anonymous, try calling the police from a pay-phone and forget the whole SMS thing. :wink:

[Jon Westfall]

Pay Phone... now what was that? Oh yea, I remember those things... they used to be everywhere. Wonder what ever happened to them... ;)

[Blaze123]

Sorry Mr Mike Temporale, but I have to say that your incredibly insensative. I take it you will not be helping out the police if you are ever called upon because you wish to remain "anonymous" 8O.
I understand that this is a gadjet sight, but are you honestly saying the only thing of importance was the ability or lack of it to remain "anonymous" after the discovering the remains of a baby boy and asking for help, and all you can focus in on is whether your "anonymous" or not?

[Mike Temporale]

Sorry Mr Mike Temporale, but I have to say that your incredibly insensative. I take it you will not be helping out the police if you are ever called upon because you wish to remain "anonymous" 8O.

Actually you're wrong. I have and always will help out the police regardless of it being anonymous or not. I have nothing to hide, and I am not concerned if people know that I "told" on them.

I understand that this is a gadjet sight, but are you honestly saying the only thing of importance was the ability or lack of it to remain "anonymous" after the discovering the remains of a baby boy and asking for help, and all you can focus in on is whether your "anonymous" or not?

If you read the original article the police are asking for anonymous tips using SMS. As this is a technology focused site, the purpose of this post was to examine the anonymous nature of SMS. Of which there is none. I am not saying that this is the only thing of importance in the article. However, it is the only thing I choose to comment on. I can't possibly comment on every aspect of every article that we post. That's just not realistic.

The fact that police found the remains of a baby boy is tragic. That goes without saying. Nobody here is going to debate that. I have young kids myself, and I hate to see any children suffer in any way. But to label me as incredibly insensitive because I didn't choose to talk about that aspect on a technology focused site is just plain silly.

[ifonline]

As a Sheriff's Deputy in a full-service Sheriff's Office, my take on "anonymous" (at least in this case) is not so much that I don't know something about you, it's more an issue of you telling me you want to remain anonymous. In other words, because you send me (or the department) a text/sms message, I know you're interested in remaining anonymous, so any personal information (such as a phone number) won't be shared with the press or the public.

We get anonymous callers to our 911 center all the time, and whether they know it or not, all of their information shows up, such as name, telephone number, address, etc. However, when they tell the dispatcher they want to remain anonymous, we list them as "anonymous caller" and don't mention their personal information in reports.

Hope that makes sense.

On a side note, it bothers me that people won't share information unless they remain anonymous, but at least they share. They have their reasons for remaining anonymous, of course.

[Mike Temporale]

As a Sheriff's Deputy in a full-service Sheriff's Office, my take on "anonymous" (at least in this case) is not so much that I don't know something about you, it's more an issue of you telling me you want to remain anonymous. In other words, because you send me (or the department) a text/sms message, I know you're interested in remaining anonymous, so any personal information (such as a phone number) won't be shared with the press or the public.

Interesting. So it is just a matter of someone asking to be anonymous. The fact that they may not actually be anonymous doesn't really matter. Is this the case regardless? Lets say you're dealing with a missing persons case, and you get a "anonymous" tip that is cut short. You have the persons number, do you call them back?

On a side note, it bothers me that people won't share information unless they remain anonymous, but at least they share. They have their reasons for remaining anonymous, of course.

I imagine that for the most part, this is related to people being scared about some sort or retaliation against them or their family for talking to the police. Which I can understand. Otherwise, I don't really see why people would need to be concerned about being anonymous or not.

[ifonline]

Interesting. So it is just a matter of someone asking to be anonymous. The fact that they may not actually be anonymous doesn't really matter. Is this the case regardless? Lets say you're dealing with a missing persons case, and you get a "anonymous" tip that is cut short. You have the persons number, do you call them back?

Sure, if need be. It has happened before that I was dispatchd to a residence for, let's say, suspicious activity, and was told that the caller wanted to remain anonymous. However, I couldn't locate anything suspicous, so I needed to speak with the caller. I got their address and name and knocked on their door. I spoke with the caller, and she reminded me that she wanted to remain anonymous. No problem. I didn't put her information in the report.

And of course, if their tip leads right back to them as a suspect, all bets on being anonymous are off.

I imagine that for the most part, this is related to people being scared about some sort or retaliation against them or their family for talking to the police. Which I can understand. Otherwise, I don't really see why people would need to be concerned about being anonymous or not.

Probably. I suppose there are times that I could understand the concern over retaliation, but what they don't understand is if their tip leads to an arrest, especially in a high-profile case, they will be testifying in court whether they want to or not. Poof... their goes their anonymous tip.

[Mike Temporale]

And of course, if their tip leads right back to them as a suspect, all bets on being anonymous are off.

:lol: I would hope so! It's crazy, but I guess it happens more than most people would imagine.

Thanks for taking the time to give us some background information on how anonymous actually works. Now it makes sense why the police are asking for an anonymous tip via a traceable method. 8)

[ifonline]

No problem... just remember that each jurisdiction/state/country is different, so what I say may not (and probably does not) apply to everyone.

[Kris Kumar]

As a Sheriff's Deputy in a full-service Sheriff's Office, my take on "anonymous" (at least in this case) is not so much that I don't know something about you, it's more an issue of you telling me you want to remain anonymous. In other words, because you send me (or the department) a text/sms message, I know you're interested in remaining anonymous, so any personal information (such as a phone number) won't be shared with the press or the public.

Thanks for explaining the "anonymous" part. Being a techie, I had the same doubt as Mike. :)

[Pony99CA]

If you read the original article the police are asking for anonymous tips using SMS. As this is a technology focused site, the purpose of this post was to examine the anonymous nature of SMS. Of which there is none.
Actually, you're wrong. I thought the same thing at first until I thought about it for a minute.

While sending SMS messages from a phone probably isn't anonymous, you can also send them from a computer (for example, using Verizon's Vtext (http://www.vtext.com)). That should be fairly anonymous.

If you're worried that your IP address is logged and could be tracked back to you, send the SMS from a public computer. In fact, I've seen computers at cell phone stores set up to allow sending text messages.

Steve

[ctmagnus]

Pay Phone... now what was that? Oh yea, I remember those things... they used to be everywhere. Wonder what ever happened to them... ;)

I saw one of those old-school phone booths (the kind that you walk into and shut the door behind you) a few days ago! 8O There aren't many like that around these parts anymore; they're mostly the kind that are just from the waist up and stick out of the wall or post they're mounted on a foot or so.

[Mike Temporale]

While sending SMS messages from a phone probably isn't anonymous, you can also send them from a computer (for example, using Verizon's Vtext (http://www.vtext.com)). That should be fairly anonymous.

I'm sure that would log your IP address which most ISPs would turn over to police without question. You could use a public network to get around that. However a pay phone would be much easier - if you could find one.

But knowing that you don't have to be anonymous to remain anonymous changes the whole picture. I guess that's the key thing. :)

[Pony99CA]

While sending SMS messages from a phone probably isn't anonymous, you can also send them from a computer (for example, using Verizon's Vtext (http://www.vtext.com)). That should be fairly anonymous.
I'm sure that would log your IP address which most ISPs would turn over to police without question. You could use a public network to get around that.
Isn't that pretty much exactly what my third paragraph said? However, I don't know tracking the IP address back would be so easy.

The IP address would be in the logs of the Web site used to send the SMS message, which probably belong to the owner of that site, and they might not be willing to share that data. Look at how some ISPs have fought the RIAA when asked for IP addresses. Granted, the RIAA isn't law enforcement, but if the police explained that they need to track down a tipster who wanted to remain anonymous, perhaps the company would be less willing to help. The police could possibly subpoena the data, but that would take a while.

Also, I'm not sure going after the tipster like that would be good for their public image. Unless they honestly believed the tipster was a suspect, once those efforts hit the press, how many people that wanted to remain anonymous would use SMS any more? They might do more harm than good doing that.

Steve

[ifonline]

The police could possibly subpoena the data, but that would take a while.

I wouldn't say "a while." I would say within a few hours at most. Besides, you're right. There isn't a good reason to track down a "tipster" unless there was more to their story. In other words, their "tip" might have actually been a sly confession (it has happend many, many times).