Bizarre Story of the Day: 'Wrong IP Address' Leads to Shaq Attack on I nnocent Family

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via ARS Technica.

[snip]

Anyone who follows the slate of lawsuits against music fans is
cognizant of the crucial role that IP addresses play in attempts to cow
suspected file sharers. But as we have seen time and time again, IP
addresses are not consistently reliable means of identifying users. Law
enforcement officials and a family in Gretna, Virginia and learned that
lesson the hard way after their home was searched by a law enforcement
team that included Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, according to a
law enforcement official.

The spectre of an angry, uniform-wearing Shaq, let alone an entire team
of deputies and federal marshalls would be enough to turn one's knees
to jelly. That's the sight apparently witnessed by farmer A.J. Nuckols,
his schoolteacher wife, and three children last month when their home
was raided and their computers, DVD, video tapes, and other belongings
were confiscated after they were connected to an IP address reportedly
used to access child pornography on the Internet.

It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Nine days after the
raid, an investigator told Nuckols that "the wrong IP address had been
identified" and that he and his family would not be charged in the
investigation. It's great that the Nuckols family is off the hook, but
they now have to live with the stigma of having been the targets of a
raid by law enforcement.

[snip]

More:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061024-8062.html

Originally reported over on techdirt.com:
http://techdirt.com/articles/20061023/123049.shtml

- ferg

--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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