I read something on another board that gave me pause.  Has anyone had any experience with LE doing a reverse search to the IP level to decode where e-mails might have been sent from.  Going through a busted providers computer, bringing it to the IP level and homing in on the hobbyists playing with the provider.  My thought would be,  that would only be in the case of an under age provider  or some other significantly illegal activity or circumstance beyond the hobby itself.  You would think such a thing would require search warrants etc.  Thoughts and comments.

That's a whole lotta work to do just to bust a guy for buying pussy.

I've never heard of it in prostitution cases but with the Patriot Act...  or a felony case...  it would certainly be possible or even likely.  The IP address was a tool used to track the Craigslist Killer to a single apartment building.  Warrants were obtained.  

I'd think it unlikely to go through such a proceedure in a P4P case, which are really the essence of simplicity.  If one of the people in the room is LE, Sex for Money = busted.  Low effort, little manpower, clear case.

Even finding out the originating IP address doesn't prove whose computer was being used, or who was even using the computer for that matter.  You are describing investigative techniques that would be used to solve a murder, not to bust a guy who is just trying to get pussy, which is a relatively nothing offense in the grand scheme of things.  To get busted for P2P, you really have to be caught in the act, they are not going to spend 6 months looking for you after the fact, assuming that they even have the hooker's computer.  Most police departments are dealing with an insurmountable number of unsolved crimes that they have to try to investigate, and they are not going to waste resources like this trying to find people who have seen hookers, when there are more serious crimes like armed robberies, arson, and murder that need to be solved.  But if leaving IP info in your email's headers is of a great concern to you, there is a really simple solution for that.  All you really need to do is use an IP anonymizer by connecting to the internet through proxy servers, or if you want a real low tech solution, just use the Wifi connection at your local Starbucks or McDonalds, and of course use an email account and a throw away phone that nobody knows anything about.

Had a dream, more like a nightmare, that the cops showed up at my house looking for me. They said they could tell that I had visited some escort sites :o

Now state AG’s want to  service providers to sty ore and provide text messages for fighting crime. So, they say.

Suppose, Big Bro is here!

And I know from a recent divorce, that gmail keeps deleted emails for 6 months to 1 year on their server.  So, from now on I'm using Hushmail.  It is encrypted and it is in Canada which makes it a lot harder to get their data subpoenaed.

-- Modified on 12/10/2012 11:35:56 AM

If you are so important that LE would be concerned enough about your activities that they'd go through the trouble of subpoena, then you shouldn't hobby. This is only a prosecutable crime if you get caught in the act. You'd have to be very important for someone to waste their time worrying about illicit activities that they cannot prosecute you for.  

I didn't know that so many ter hobbyists were us senators...geez