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French intelligence officer caught selling confidential data on the dark web
- akuji1993 8y agoOh no, somebody gave up the public's right for privacy for personal gain, I am shocked.
- larkeith 8y agoThis serves as a good example of why privacy should be protected. Even under the assumption the police use data collected only for legitimate purposes, it only takes one corrupt officer for anyone to have access for less savory ends; While these are of course contrived cases, consider the stalker who purchases access to a facial recognition database, a robber who uses the mentioned phone tracking system to determine when a house is empty, or an identity thief who buys recordings from unnecessary phone taps. The most reliable way to prevent any of this is to avoid infringement of privacy and surveillance overreach.
- geezerjay 8y agoSome time ago a manager of a portuguese football team who was a former intelligence officer was caught paying off tax service workers to gain access to spending habits of some referees. His goal was to use that info to blackmail them to submission and force them to favour his team.
- onetimemanytime 8y agoI can imagine certain hedge funds paying top dollar for inside info from FDA, Apple suppliers etc etc.
- ataturk 8y agoI don't understand how blackmail works. If anyone tried to blackmail me, I would find them and then throw them down some stairs and then kick the shit out of them until they understood the situation. I think only meek people allow this crap to happen to them.
- Shivetya 8y agoAll government records should have a public available audit of all access activities. The user or group making the request should always be revealed except by court order and those should still be acknowledge or determinable by some means. The type of data revealed can be classified into groups indicating how detailed it is, from simple identification confirmation to tax and criminal records. the key is public access to the the logs of access. next step would be giving the public the ability to challenge the data within reasonable limits
- bamboozled 8y agoThat reinforces the OPs point though. If that system can be circumvented, all bets are off. If there wasn't centralized databases full of private information on individuals, this wouldn't b possible.
- geofft 8y agoThat doesn't help much unless there's a meaningful punishment for officers who abuse this access. Since in the US we are happy to re-hire police officers who have been publicly known to kill people without actual cause (e.g. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-who-fatally-shot-tamir-rice-hired-bellaire-ohio-police-n917391 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-who-fatally-sho... ) I have trouble believing that a record of police officers who merely abuse surveillance data will do much.
- peteri 8y agoThis has always been my preferred option for data sharing with government (or even private companies). It should stop people looking up celebrities or ex-lovers details just because they're bored. For practical purposes there should be delay (say six months) so an investigation stands a chance of not tipping off the person being investigated. For delays longer than six months to keep the access hidden a full court order is required.
- a1369209993 8y ago> these are of course contrived cases No they aren't. Those are all obvious and inevitable uses (well, ab-uses) of a bribable official in a context where govenment data collection is tolerated.
- loxs 8y agoBigger government will be even better.
- antpls 8y agoI would expect the intelligence services to be present on the dark web, as undercover agents, to gather information or dismantle criminal organizations. It must feel strange when they discover they are tracking someone of their own services.
- drasticmeasures 8y agoMaybe they have a difficult telling time telling them apart since they all act so similarly...
- ElBarto 8y agoThe title is somewhat misleading and the reality is much more serious. As the article mentions this was not just a "police officer" this was an agent of DGSI, something perhaps like the intelligence branch of the FBI in the US if such thing exists.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- John_KZ 8y agoAh, amateurs. He should have printed a notice saying "by entering the premises you agree to my privacy policy". Then it would be ok to sell the data.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoThat won't fly under GDPR. The building owner should give you consent form: You consent to: - [ ] Your data will be processed by police department to fulfill your request. - [ ] Your data will be used to help with ongoing investigations*/**/***. - [ ] Your data will be used to better evaluate information coming from you****. <font size=smallest> * - by consenting you agree to be included in department's suspect list. ** - by consenting you agree to have data shared with all other government agencies, as well as private investigators listed in Appendix A. *** - by consenting you agree to have your data shared with select journalists (listed in Appendix B), as well as any and all social media profiles of the department. **** - by consenting you agree to be randomly searched and detained if the department determines a need for it. </font> Appendix A: [redacted due to national security concerns]
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoI'd happily sign such a form when dealing with the police. At least it would give me some prospect of legal recourse if the data was ultimately found to be being used in any other way.
- drasticmeasures 8y agoI'd rather if they didn't spy on me in the first place...
- drasticmeasures 8y agoEvery time I see one of those forms I feel like the hungry, desperate sex workers who "consent" to being degraded and humiliated so that they can feed their families for another day... We say "yes," but the head shakes "no".
- pjc50 8y agoAh, DGSI. https://www.france24.com/en/20160929-sarkozy-scandal-spy-squarcini-investigation-ump-republicains-gaddafi https://www.france24.com/en/20160929-sarkozy-scandal-spy-squ...
- cm2187 8y agoAs a note, the DGSI is the result of the merger of the DST (counter espionage) and RG (domestic intelligence). The RG was a notoriously shaddy and scandals ridden operation, known for building files on French public figures (own file was typically the first document a newly promoted minister for interior requested to read) and was often compared to a political police. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the officier in question came from the RG.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoIs an intelligence agency having files on public figures considered "shady"? I'd have thought it was an important part of their job. Provided any juicy information isn't misused for political ends, of course.
- geezerjay 8y agoI agree, intelligence officers are supposed to investigate anyone who might pose a threat to the nation, and a politician in bed with foreign powers or corporations is a very dangerous threat, moreso than a couple of idiots who might go on murder-suicide runs. These organizations wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't kept thorough files on politicians.
- cm2187 8y agoBut in the case of France this file was known to be "who is sleeping with who in Paris", including people posing no security threat whatsoever.
- gnode 8y agoIf someone has a secret that could be discovered by a foreign intelligence service (or even a pressure group), and used to manipulate them, then that arguably is a security threat.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- pandacat 8y agoIt wasn't just a police officer but an intelligence officer, the DGSI is not part of the police it is more like the CIA. Some months ago the DGSI arrested a group of supposed terrorist and were surprised to find that they had a list with the name of all DGSI intelligence officers, perhaps it is linked to this rogue officer. Any way, in times of GDPR you should have the right to download all the information the government has on you, including the information from the police, secret service and whatever shady organization the government runs.
- pandacat 8y agoBy the way from other french articles: For 30 euros, you gave him a phone number, he would give you his bank statements. For 50 euros, he would give you his identity. For 150 euros, driver license number, date of delivery, ID card number, social security number, license plate…. You could even know about the flights he booked. For 300 euros, could get his entire life. It was possible to get the police documents and those from Interpol. But the most interesting with the 300 euros offer was that with a simple phone number you could get all his phone calls and it's physical location even month before. This was what chocked me the most. There was a higher price for celebrities and politicians : I believe those people have a special status.
- drasticmeasures 8y agoWhat's persistently disturbing is that in a free (black) market the price for that commodity has sunk so low. It means that there's a lot of offer available...
- jacquesm 8y agoAt a guess he's not the only bent officer.
- Bayart 8y ago>But the most interesting with the 300 euros offer was that with a simple phone number you could get all his phone calls and it's physical location even month before You can just log the pings to phone towers to get a rough location of a person. In that case it's probably kept automatically for a while in case it's needed for actual police work.
- reacweb 8y agoI have published this link because I was chocked when I encountered this news. This does not match with my understanding of police. In such services as DGSI, I would expect to see many smart people who have a true vocation for the service and some ambitious politicians who try to climb the hierarchy (not exclusive). Of course, there are some depressive, desperate, alcoolic or crazy people. Maybe there are spies paid by foreign countries, but I would not expect to see greedy treators. Maybe, I have a crazy theory. What if this guy was selling this data to try to catch big fishes ? What if this guy did this in secret because his boss is a risk averse politician ? A person frustrated by the inertia or other ineffectivity of the service and experiencing other difficulties in their life may fall into this madness. I think they have regular psychological assessment because this job is very hard. I am just an imaginative layman. My source of knowledge about police is my father (RIP) who was a police officer. He had friends who worked in dgsi.
- thinkingemote 8y agoYou are willing to believe that someone may be mentally ill, desperate, alcoholic, acting to expose internal weaknesses or a spy but you are unwilling to believe money as a motive.
- reacweb 8y agoWork in police exposes people to many traumatic situations. You may encounter very tragic situations or cases where your efforts to help result in more damages. Facing a gun is traumatic. This work can hurt even the strongest and can ruin their life. I have more difficulties to imagine these people selling their soul just for money. Often it is easier to leave police for better paid private activities.
- pnwalien2 8y agoIt seems that maybe you ought to do some deeper research into the subject. Here are some good topics to get you started: Corruption in the Baltimore Police Department. The Seven Five (a documentary about NYPD corruption.) Operation Countryman - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/19/files-shed-light-on-alleged-efforts-to-hide-1970s-police-corruption https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/19/files-shed-l... Corruption in France: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/us-france-police-corruption-idUSBRE8941AA20121005 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/us-france-police-c... Corruption in the DEA: https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/stealing-bitcoins-with-badges-how-silk-roads-dirty-cops-got-caught/%3famp=1 https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201...
- barrkel 8y agoGovernment is made out of people. Well-meaning voters impute moral motives to government actions and new laws, but institutions are only as moral as their checks and balances keep them in line. Morality alone doesn't cut it. You need to punish people who don't punish people who don't follow the rules. That's a reflexive rule and is the minimum requirement to get a stable institutional process.
- crispyambulance 8y ago> You need to punish people who don't punish people who don't follow the rules. That's a reflexive rule and is the minimum requirement to get a stable institutional process. The story here is straight up cybercrime: a French cop who got pinched using police resources for personal and nefarious gains. He's getting 7 years and stiff fine. What did Equifax in the US get in response to their colossal-scale criminal negligence? Nothing. Zero fines and no one went to jail. Instead they were required to "make a deal" which netted them a tidy profit.
- jameskegel 8y agoOne is a large company and one is a person. This is a well worn logical stumbling point that many don’t consider.
- drasticmeasures 8y agoThey're not equal in the eyes of the law...
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoSo?
- boomboomsubban 8y ago>He's getting 7 years and stiff fine. If found guilty, they faces up to seven years and possibly a stiff fine, depending on how much was made. This may end with a deal made and the cop making a tidy profit.
- auslander 8y ago> This case stands out because it's usually hackers and cyber-criminals who sell this data and not police officers. Does it? ... "who got caught" who is after adtech executives who sells your data? Equifax, anyone?
- erazor42 8y agoI'm surprised he only face 7 years of prison. In the US he would probably face 30+ years no ?
- crististm 8y ago@dang I'm appalled of the growing number of dead posts that I see lately. Since normal accounts apparently can't answer them, how do you think they will regulate themselves?
- petecooper 8y ago>dead posts What do you mean by 'dead posts' in this context, please?
- aaronchall 8y agoUnnecessarily uncivil and bizarre posts can be flagged and killed for normal viewers. If you want to see them, you can change the setting in your account (set showdead=Yes), but it's not really an improvement to the experience on the site, just a bit of transparency... Also, shadowbanned accounts have their posts dead automatically. If you think the post contributes in a positive way, you can vouch for it (click through to the post page).
- aaronchall 8y agoI think the point of dead posts is that there is no punishment that works. These are posters that thrive on and are reinforced by conflicting interaction regardless of voting. When the posts are "dead" (and thus get no interaction) we have extinction of the reinforcement.
- crististm 8y agoUnfortunately conflicts are absolutely necessary for solving deep problems and if conflict is banned outright then what remains is shallow or polite conversation. (Conflict does not mean malevolence)
- Loughla 8y ago>(Conflict does not mean malevolence) Not all conflict does, but in this case, the OP was talking about people who are baiting argument for the sake of argument. They're not looking to solve some problem. They're just looking to be dicks. There is a difference.
- throwaway456321 8y agoBouillabaisse recipe?
- drasticmeasures 8y agoA hired thug who doesn't care who his master is.
- jpdoherty 8y agodreyfusaffair.onion
- sevensor 8y agoLet's hope the accused officer isn't a member of an unpopular minority group.
- YetAnotherNick 8y agoWhat exactly is dark web here. Do they mean some tor/IPFS site, or private contacts, or what? If it's the former, can someone give links where this type of info is sold, just out of curiosity.
- the-red-herring 8y agoBut, zis is so stupide!