Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - 2016
Error Investigation 18
Error by:
Other Party
Human or
Technical:
Human
Cause:
Incorrect house number entered when setting up account
details.
Data Acquired:
Subscriber information relating to an IP address.
Description:
A police force sought to resolve a series of IP addresses
associated with child sexual exploitation. To reduce the risk
of an IP address resolution error, the force resolved the same
IP address twice at separate times covering two different
criminal acts. Both resolutions returned the same subscriber
account name and address. Further investigation found that
the subscriber details differed from other databases, such as
the electoral roll. Checks on the address did, however, identify
the presence of children at the address. A search warrant was
subsequently executed. The home owner was at work at the
time of the search, so officers arrested him there. Following
an interview, the home owner was released on bail pending
a forensic examination of devices seized from his home.
Because he had offered a credible denial, an officer working on
the case re-examined the available data. The officer found that
the subscriber’s name for the account was linked to a different
house number in the same street. With this information, the
error was eventually traced back to the company that sold
the broadband package: during initial registration, the wrong
house number had been recorded. Given that all future
transactions had been carried out online, nobody had picked
up that the house number had been recorded incorrectly.
Consequence:
The police searched an address unconnected with their
investigation, and arrested, interviewed and conducted
forensic examination of devices belonging to an innocent
person.
Error Investigation 19
Error by:
Public Authority
Human or
Technical:
Human
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