The Computer as a Significant Other
By George Heuston, J.D., and Jerald Block, M.D.
Along with the Internet, the computer has become ubiquitous in society. Not surprisingly, investigators often say that crucial information in a case originated from a suspect’s computer. Today, every police department deals with digital evidence. From a “smart phone” plugged into the ear of a driver during a traffic stop to the computer tucked into the back room of a house undergoing a police search, the digital environment is there.1
This generates new challenges for law enforcement. As agencies begin to recognize the intimate link between people and their technical equipment, officers need to adjust. Many individuals, including criminals and witnesses, consider the digital world as important as the real one. Indeed, the computer and other forms of technology have become, essentially, significant others.2 Understanding what this means has important ramifications for investigators, opening up new approaches to interviews or helping establish motives. Officers should strive to understand individuals’ relations to technology and use that knowledge effectively when conducting investigations.
 |
 |
| Mr. Heuston, a retired FBI special agent, currently serves with the Hillsboro, Oregon Police Department. |
Dr. Block practices psychiatry in Portland, Oregon and teaches at Oregon Health and Science University. |
TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Officers routinely view and treat the computer as a machine devoid of personality—a typewriter with memory. They come in, execute a warrant, seize the computer, toss it in the trunk of a cruiser, and haul it off to the dark recesses of the evidence room. From there, agency personnel process it, and images and communications related to the alleged crime become part of a report for the case officer and the prosecutor. The report and other evidence then combine to address the elements of the crime in question. After prosecution of the case, a conviction, hopefully, results. Then, the agency closes the case and disposes of the computer.
ALTERNATIVE VIEW
It sometimes proves important to consider what things mean to people, not just what they are. For instance, an old, rusted bicycle may hold sentimental value. To the owner, it brings back memories of adventure—painful falls and heroic rides. In the same way, the computer may represent far more to a suspect than merely a fancy gadget. Knowing the individual’s perspective can help develop key evidence and solve cases. To be effective, officers must strive to view the world as the subject sees it. Thus, the investigator should try to understand how important the computer is to a suspect and why.
Individuals relate to their technology much as they do to other people. They play with the computer. They attribute human characteristics to it, noting when the system “acts up” or “misbehaves.” Most of the time, they are unaware of feeling anything toward the object. However, moments arise when they abruptly realize that the technology intensely affects them. For instance, people often feel betrayed, anxious, and angry when the computer freezes up or the hard drive fails. Logically, computer enthusiasts who use their system 40 hours or more each week may feel strongly when separated or disconnected from the machine.
In July 2007, in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, two brothers, ages 16 and 13, played a video sports game. When the older sibling refused to hand over the controller, his younger brother grew angry. A fight ensued, and the older boy died of a stab wound to the heart.3 When people hear of such a senseless death, they search for some explanation. They discuss a longstanding rivalry or some such thing. Yet, interestingly, the children fought over a computer—a gaming console and the access it provided to the computer-human relationship—not a skateboard or other object.
People need to understand that the more intensely someone integrates with technology, the more “alive” the machine becomes. Not surprisingly, individuals without money and jobs still manage to keep their gaming consoles or maintain an Internet connection to play online games. Some users become closely linked to their technology, and investigators who realize this have an advantage. They can leverage what now is reality—that the computer has become the subject’s significant other.
IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP
Although the term significant other was intended to include only people, not inanimate objects, investigators should consider that often these suspects use their computers all day and night; time holds no sway. These individuals allow the machine to hold their full attention and concentration. People may use it almost exclusively to interact with others. Their computer serves as a companion, recording their thoughts, motives, and emotions. They engage with it in a comfortable, intimate, walled-off environment, perhaps, even to access pornography and for sexual gratification.
By merely observing the amount of time, energy, and money suspects spend in the cyber environment, investigators can recognize the importance of this alternate, virtual life. The computer serves, at once, as a social conduit, source of power, defense against loneliness and despair, companion in play, and portal to other worlds. Perhaps, this is the most important relationship in a subject’s life, and any threat to it creates a crisis. Regardless of whether individuals have a spouse and children and work out at the local health club, this machine is the prime focal point of their lives. It is their significant other.
The 2007 Nevada case of Michael and Iana Straw, parents of a 22-month-old boy and an 11-month-old girl, serves as an example.4 Authorities found the children severely malnourished and in poor health, victims of neglect. The 10-pound-girl’s hair was soaked with cat urine. Were the parents addicted to drugs, tending to their habit and not their kids? No. According to the prosecutor, they were too engaged by online video games to care for their children. “They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games.” Indeed, their fiscal priorities also seemed devoted to their virtual relationships. The couple spent their $50,000 inheritance on new computer equipment and a large plasma television.
This gives investigators important insight. When questioning or thinking about a suspect, they should consider the computer as another person and use that relationship to inform their investigative strategies.
Digital World
In addition to the relationship suspects form with their technology, agencies have other important considerations. If subjects have spent much of their lives dabbling in the virtual, investigators should understand the conventions that govern such worlds. Heavy computer users may apply some of these same rules to reality.
You are powerful and can do anything that others can.
Enough time or effort will make you as successful as anyone else.
If you fail, you did not act correctly; success always is possible.
If a challenge exists, there must be a way to overcome it.
Ethics are unclear, and misbehaving often is without repercussions.
Few actions are permanent; you usually can start over.
Although perhaps useful, other characters (people) are disposable.
Thus, in online games, monsters exist only to be destroyed, and tasks always prove possible. If you fail, you made an error, or your character has not gained enough skills. But, failure is a minor nuisance and without consequence; you just need to correct the problem and try again. To succeed at some goals, you may have to join with other people. These individuals are a means to a goal, to be used for however long they produce. Then, they become expendable. And, finally, cheating the system to finish some tasks is quite acceptable, as long as you are not caught.
People who emerge from the virtual with similar concepts of how things work in the real world face a problem. They will encounter insurmountable limits in reality. For example, they may feel unappreciated at work. Initially, they try to talk about it, but, being isolated, awkward, and socially naive, the situation just gets worse. They become angry, grandiose, and uncompromising, alienating those around them and making them uncomfortable.
Those accustomed to life’s imperfections simply would reduce their expectations and, perhaps, secretly vent about the boss to coworkers or friends. They would seek validation elsewhere and, if things worsened, move on to another job. Those wedded to virtual worlds, however, would try for accolades repeatedly, but with no success. Then, one of two things likely would occur. They might become depressed, upset with themselves for lacking the necessary skills to get what they want. Or, they would turn enraged, angry at the rigged “game” with no discernable solution. In both cases, however, they assumed the possibility of a good outcome. When this did not occur, either they were incompetent or the world was toying with them.
Essentially, cybercentric individuals still believe the childhood fantasy that anyone can fulfill even their wildest dreams. They just need to try hard enough and play their hand right. In the virtual, fate never deals people bad cards; if thwarted, someone always is at fault.
VIRTUAL TIMELINE
When forensically evaluating a computer, investigators catalog the files and images that reside on the system’s hard drive. As they characterize the data, they look for the criminal content. However, because computer files include date stamps that suggest their history, investigators should try to recover such details as when they were made or edited and where they reside. This information can serve as the electronic equivalent of a footprint. Of course, investigators will examine what files a suspect looks at or works on. But, by also studying the sequence of files modified on the computer, officers can generate theories as to the suspect’s thoughts and, perhaps, identify a motive.
An all-too-common situation can serve as an example: an adolescent modifies a computer game so that it now takes place in a highly realistic virtual mockup of the student’s high school. This “first-person shooter” program simulates a firefight in the school.5 Does the adolescent present a danger to other students? Perhaps. One important determinant might be the pattern of computer use discovered in the forensic examination. If investigators chart the teen’s recent activity, the individual’s intent may become clear. An increasing number of cached web pages on topics, like school shootings or weapons manufacturing, might arouse concern. Or, uncovering a pattern of increasingly disorganized or violent essays written as schoolwork might lead someone to surmise that the adolescent was struggling under the burden of a mental illness or dark secret. Of course, a teen may visit some web pages (e.g., pornography, gaming, or hacker sites) out of curiosity, rather than criminal intent. To discern threatening behavior, investigators should examine the sequence of when the subject opened or modified the files.
CASE STUDIES
A Cyber Significant Other
For over a year, the FBI investigated a subject who operated out of his home, enticing victims in financial straits to use his bankruptcy service. In exchange for several thousand dollars, the subject promised to file papers for the victims and help them keep their major assets. Instead, however, the subject took the money and did nothing. This effective scam, perpetrated on the Internet, generated millions of dollars.
Eventually, the day to execute the search warrant at the subject’s residence arrived. The case agent had no intelligence on the number or types of computers or how they were networked and expected that because the subject ran the operation out of a residence, it should be straightforward. On entry, investigators discovered over 20 computers, all networked and running multiple operating systems. The situation became worse when they also discovered a legitimate real estate business housed there. The agents grew uncomfortable; courts have tended to look askance when police seize and shut down a legitimate business and, in some such cases, awarded civil damages.
 |
With the primary subject not there, the agents located and questioned the system administrator. He seemed to know nothing of the fraud and was unhelpful. He sat silently at a desk and watched the agents as they cataloged the equipment. Fortunately, the FBI search team included a young computer-literate agent who also was a digital forensics examiner. The agent immediately recognized that the administrator lived and breathed networks and computers. The network in the house was diverse and delicate. It was the individual’s life, the focus of all his energies, his significant other.
The agent decided to focus on two aspects of the human-computer relationship: the administrator’s fear that 1) the system would become harmed and 2) the computer would reveal embarrassing secrets. He wagered that these fears would motivate the administrator to become more cooperative. The agent sat down next to the system administrator to hold a brief conversation.
Agent: Now, you know we need to get all the data related to the bankruptcy assistance business?
Administrator: Yeah, you have to do what you have to do.
Agent: And, from what we see, there also is a separate real estate database housed here, right?
Administrator: Yes. Look, I just run things here. I make sure the disks are backed up and that sort of thing.
Agent: Yeah, that’s what I was concerned about. You have done an amazing job building this network. Well, I’m sorry, I wanted to avoid doing this, but I guess we will just have to pull the plugs and yank these computers out of here. I wish we could shut them down in a more orderly fashion, but we can’t without knowing more.
Administrator: Oh, no! It would destroy the whole network, and I have months of work in it.
Agent: That’s what I was afraid of. Well, I’ll try to do what I can. Hey, there’s another thing you should know. You don’t store porn or anything like that here, do you? I just wanted to alert you—if we have to search everything, we will have to inventory it, and that gets shared with your boss.
Administrator: No, I don’t do anything like that. But, maybe I can get what you need. If I can do that, you won’t have to unplug the machines you don’t need or any of that?
Agent: We can’t guarantee we won’t unplug or take some machines. Some of them may be questionable, and we’ll have to take them. But, I promise you that we will not pull anything without consulting you first and getting your input on how best to do it.
Administrator: OK, that’s fair.
Agent: Great. OK then, you can’t touch any machines, but you can walk with me and help me retrieve what we’re after. If you do that and are up front with me, I believe there is a chance we can leave some, maybe even most, of your network intact.
The system administrator immediately became compliant. The search proved instrumental to obtaining a conviction.
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Investigators arrested a young man for breaking into a hospital database and stealing information on several thousand patients. The home search resulted in the location of four computers. A technician informed the investigating officer that all of them appeared well encrypted and that little could be learned from them unless the suspect cooperated. As the case was somewhat shaky, the individual’s cooperation proved essential.
The investigator asked the police technologist to assist him with a simple strategy. The technologist set up one of the subject’s computers on a lab bench. However, he connected the monitor to a lab computer, not the suspect’s. On the lab computer, the technologist ran a program that appeared to be cataloging the contents of the suspect’s computer. Of course, it was not. The subject’s computer was powered off, still encrypted and unreadable.
The investigator then led the suspect to an appropriate area for questioning. Along the way, he stopped at the technologist’s lab. With the suspect in tow, he asked the technologist, “How is it going?” His colleague answered that he was working on it. From the doorway, the monitor seemed to show output, suggesting that investigators disabled the password.
Upon questioning, the suspect faced the classic prisoner’s dilemma: “Work with us now, and there’s a good chance the prosecutor may go easier on you. If you don’t and we have to get it from the computer instead, the gloves are coming off.”6 Believing the computer would “crack,” the subject confessed to the crime and supplied all passwords necessary for data recovery.
CONCLUSION
Many people find the computer essential to their lives and place increasing importance on it. The machine offers a ready source of companionship, entertainment, diversion, education, distraction, and empowerment. Heavy computer users may find it so safe and secure that they begin to emotionally trust it, confiding in it more than, perhaps, even their closest friends.
Thus, subjects who commit crimes or plan terrorism consider the security of their computers essential. Modern law enforcement officers know this lesson and recognize the importance of data on computers to breaking cases or saving lives. Investigators still can fail, however, by underestimating the degree of attachment that occurs between people and their technology. Officers can use an understanding of that emotional connection to explore motive or gain the subject’s cooperation. If they consider that relationship cogently, investigators can turn difficult cases into convictions.
Endnotes
1 George Heuston, “Investigating the Information Super Highway,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education 6 (Fall 1995): 311-321.
2 The term significant other dates back to the 1953 book The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry by Henry Stack Sullivan. Rather than focusing on the conflicts and angst within a person, Sullivan focused on what happens between people. In other words, knowledge of someone’s important relationships—those with significant others (e.g., spouses, lovers, children, or close friends)—provides understanding of the individual.
3 Denise James, “Brother Kills Brother in Video Game Dispute”; retrieved from http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=5480557.
4“Parents Neglect Starved Babies to Feed Video Game Addiction”; retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289331,00.html.
5 Bob Dunn, “Computer Game Violence Level, Confiscated Swords Led to Student’s Removal”; retrieved from http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=results_content&id=11745-Computer-Game-Violence-Level--Confiscated-Swords-Led-To-Student-s-Removal&article-Computer-Game-Violence-Level--Confiscated-Swords-Led-To-Student-s-Removal%20=&widget=push&open=&.
6 William Poundstone, Prisoner’s Dilemma (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992).
Subscribe Now |
 |
April 2009 | FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
|
