Does anyone think this will really help catch "criminals"? If a person is using a computer in the libarary, most of the time it will not last more than 20 or 30 minutes (other people want to use it). Lets say the person does do somethign "naughty" on it, by the time the feds arrive (20 or 30 min) and track down which machine it is (thinking of the Boston Public Libaray at Copley Square) using the IP addy (5 minutes) and bring their fat sorry asses to the exact location (5 minutes), the person is long gone. After the 40 minutes all they have is the terminal that was used. What they going to do, check the history file of which websites were used? Even if they have a packet logger, they only whill have the things he has done.
Granted the person might access their own email and the feds could get the person's where abouts that way. But will criminals be that stupid? Some might say yes. So there are two sides here.
Does anyone think this will really help catch "criminals"? If a person is using a computer in the libarary, most of the time it will not last more than 20 or 30 minutes (other people want to use it). Lets say the person does do somethign "naughty" on it, by the time the feds arrive (20 or 30 min) and track down which machine it is (thinking of the Boston Public Libaray at Copley Square) using the IP addy (5 minutes) and bring their fat sorry asses to the exact location (5 minutes), the person is long gone.
Hate to nit, but...
Firstly, they can track the machine to its switchport, and with a simple table of switchport network drop, and/or a map of the physical layout they can easily find the exact machine in a matter of 30 seconds (or less). I administered a school with three wings, two floors and I could nail network traffic (IP or IPX) to its specific chair in under a minute.
Couple this with strategically placed surveillance cameras (which many public institutions have installed already) and they can get a video image of the "perp" for facial recognition at a more convenient time.
So we take a few stills from the video feed, add them to the TCP dump log / keystroke log / screen capture, and file it away for a later date.
Will it really help? (Score:4, Insightful)
Granted the person might access their own email and the feds could get the person's where abouts that way. But will criminals be that stupid? Some might say yes. So there are two sides here.
Re:Will it really help? (Score:4, Insightful)
Firstly, they can track the machine to its switchport, and with a simple table of switchport network drop, and/or a map of the physical layout they can easily find the exact machine in a matter of 30 seconds (or less). I administered a school with three wings, two floors and I could nail network traffic (IP or IPX) to its specific chair in under a minute.
Couple this with strategically placed surveillance cameras (which many public institutions have installed already) and they can get a video image of the "perp" for facial recognition at a more convenient time.
So we take a few stills from the video feed, add them to the TCP dump log / keystroke log / screen capture, and file it away for a later date.
So easy, a child of five could do it.
Someone fetch me a child of five! ;)