7 ms·

Everything about this pisses me off: the woman who likely knew she was buying a stolen laptop, the cops judging the woman calling the photos "disgusting", and t

Everything about this pisses me off: the woman who likely knew she was buying a stolen laptop, the cops judging the woman calling the photos "disgusting", and the "expert" witness who says "there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in communications via the Internet." Sigh

troels 15y ago
You forgot the vigilante who thinks ridiculing a criminal publically (regardless of his guilt) is acceptable. But yes, I concur.
- tlrobinson 15y ago
  It doesn't sound like that's how it went down: The Absolute recovery officer sent the explicit photos along with location information for the stolen laptop to the Springfield Police Department.
latch 15y ago
I'm missing why/how people are coming to the conclusion that she probably knew she was buying a stolen laptop? The price? A quick ebay search shows working laptops in that price range. I think what's important is that I actually had to check because I have no idea what a working used laptop goes for..and if you told me some go for $60, I wouldn't be surprised.
- darklajid 15y ago
  Working laptops of what age? And - on eBay you might be able to get a good deal if no one else bids / is interested. Did you find 'Buy immediately' offers of a reasonable laptop (I assume from the article that we're not talking netbook here) for that price range? And - wouldn't you think that _those_ offers would be shady? I mean.. There's a reason why people check eBay after their gadgets were stolen...
  - latch 15y ago
    The search was for immediate buys from $50-$90. You can easily see for yourself. As for shady, no, the depreciation of electronics never surprises me. Plus, the article said the laptop needed repairs. I'm not saying she didn't know it was stolen. I'm saying that the price, alone, is a 0% indicator in my books.
- tripzilch 15y ago
  Yes. I'd say at a price of $60, you should definitely double-check to make very sure the laptop isn't stolen, because there is a pretty good chance that it is. Given that the laptop was "messed up" and needed to be "fixed", even more so. Who "fixed" it btw? Not her, probably. I've had stuff of mine stolen often enough (bikes, mostly) that I don't really care whether the law would say I should have known or not, but morally, I just think it's disgusting to profit off theft of other people's property and I think it's just the right thing to do, to consider the possibility. That said, even though I'm of the opinion the women was definitely in the wrong and should have known better, the police also definitely crossed the line the way they handled those photographs.
  - tlrobinson 15y ago
    Also, a kid at an "alternative high school" probably isn't the most reputable of sellers.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
wyclif 15y ago
How do you know the photos weren't disgusting without seeing them?
- colanderman 15y ago
  "Disgustingness" is a subjective measure. I'm sure they were disgusting to the detective but not to the intended recipient.
  - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
    >I'm sure they were disgusting to the detective but not to the intended recipient. // How sure? Perhaps she has a scat fetish that her boyfriend doesn't share. Yes it's subjective but not necessarily a chosen response; most people find the image of a mutilated corpse or a festering wound to be disgusting for example.
    - colanderman 15y ago
      It's unprofessional for the detective to pass moral judgment on the accused. His job is to find likely suspects and pass them on to the court for legal judgment.
      - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
        From the article: 'One of the prudish detectives wasn’t a fan of the photos, calling them “disgusting.”' That's all we have to go on. A single word remark reported by the plaintiff. It's pretty much impossible to make any bearing as to the professionalism or otherwise of the "detective" (it says earlier in the same para that it was "officers" operating under a warrant, which would almost certainly not be detectives for recovering a stolen laptop, YMMV the piece looks unfinished and unedited to me). However, FWIW, saying something is disgusting isn't casting a moral judgement on it. If you show me a festering sore I might remark "urgh, that's disgusting" but I don't find sores to be immoral. I'm pretty sure he or she wasn't presenting or even attempting to present a legal judgement with what was most likely an off-the-cuff remark. Unprofessional, perhaps mildly. For all we know the remark was disgust at a teacher having apparently knowingly handled stolen goods taken from another school and encouraged a pupil into delinquency by helping them profit from crime and that the plaintiff misinterpreted. Yes it would probably still be mildly unprofessional to comment. Aside, aren't school laptops marked to show their owner; this would have made it near impossible to not know that the goods were stolen.
altrego99 15y ago
And that the woman started using the laptop with preinstalled and preused OS instead of reformatting it.

troels 15y ago

You forgot the vigilante who thinks ridiculing a criminal publically (regardless of his guilt) is acceptable. But yes, I concur.

tlrobinson 15y ago
It doesn't sound like that's how it went down: The Absolute recovery officer sent the explicit photos along with location information for the stolen laptop to the Springfield Police Department.

latch 15y ago

I'm missing why/how people are coming to the conclusion that she probably knew she was buying a stolen laptop? The price? A quick ebay search shows working laptops in that price range. I think what's important is that I actually had to check because I have no idea what a working used laptop goes for..and if you told me some go for $60, I wouldn't be surprised.

darklajid 15y ago
Working laptops of what age? And - on eBay you might be able to get a good deal if no one else bids / is interested. Did you find 'Buy immediately' offers of a reasonable laptop (I assume from the article that we're not talking netbook here) for that price range? And - wouldn't you think that _those_ offers would be shady? I mean.. There's a reason why people check eBay after their gadgets were stolen...
- latch 15y ago
  The search was for immediate buys from $50-$90. You can easily see for yourself. As for shady, no, the depreciation of electronics never surprises me. Plus, the article said the laptop needed repairs. I'm not saying she didn't know it was stolen. I'm saying that the price, alone, is a 0% indicator in my books.
tripzilch 15y ago
Yes. I'd say at a price of $60, you should definitely double-check to make very sure the laptop isn't stolen, because there is a pretty good chance that it is. Given that the laptop was "messed up" and needed to be "fixed", even more so. Who "fixed" it btw? Not her, probably. I've had stuff of mine stolen often enough (bikes, mostly) that I don't really care whether the law would say I should have known or not, but morally, I just think it's disgusting to profit off theft of other people's property and I think it's just the right thing to do, to consider the possibility. That said, even though I'm of the opinion the women was definitely in the wrong and should have known better, the police also definitely crossed the line the way they handled those photographs.
- tlrobinson 15y ago
  Also, a kid at an "alternative high school" probably isn't the most reputable of sellers.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

wyclif 15y ago

How do you know the photos weren't disgusting without seeing them?

colanderman 15y ago
"Disgustingness" is a subjective measure. I'm sure they were disgusting to the detective but not to the intended recipient.
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  >I'm sure they were disgusting to the detective but not to the intended recipient. // How sure? Perhaps she has a scat fetish that her boyfriend doesn't share. Yes it's subjective but not necessarily a chosen response; most people find the image of a mutilated corpse or a festering wound to be disgusting for example.
  - colanderman 15y ago
    It's unprofessional for the detective to pass moral judgment on the accused. His job is to find likely suspects and pass them on to the court for legal judgment.
    - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
      From the article: 'One of the prudish detectives wasn’t a fan of the photos, calling them “disgusting.”' That's all we have to go on. A single word remark reported by the plaintiff. It's pretty much impossible to make any bearing as to the professionalism or otherwise of the "detective" (it says earlier in the same para that it was "officers" operating under a warrant, which would almost certainly not be detectives for recovering a stolen laptop, YMMV the piece looks unfinished and unedited to me). However, FWIW, saying something is disgusting isn't casting a moral judgement on it. If you show me a festering sore I might remark "urgh, that's disgusting" but I don't find sores to be immoral. I'm pretty sure he or she wasn't presenting or even attempting to present a legal judgement with what was most likely an off-the-cuff remark. Unprofessional, perhaps mildly. For all we know the remark was disgust at a teacher having apparently knowingly handled stolen goods taken from another school and encouraged a pupil into delinquency by helping them profit from crime and that the plaintiff misinterpreted. Yes it would probably still be mildly unprofessional to comment. Aside, aren't school laptops marked to show their owner; this would have made it near impossible to not know that the goods were stolen.

altrego99 15y ago

And that the woman started using the laptop with preinstalled and preused OS instead of reformatting it.