Fergie's Tech Blog

IP address typo leads to a false arrest in Kansas

Pointer provided by Declan McCullagh's PoliTech Blog.

Ron Sylvester writes in The Witchita Eagle:

Brian and Sarah Doom were shocked when police showed up at their Wichita home accusing them of child pornography.

The Dooms had never been in trouble with the law. On Aug. 12, 2004, they found themselves being accused of activity that disgusted them.

But the police had the wrong house, based on mistaken information from the Dooms' Internet service provider, Cox Communications.

Now, Brian and Sarah Doom are suing Cox for invasion of privacy, breach of contract, defamation of character and "outrageous conduct."

The lawsuit emphasizes the tension emerging in recent years between the privacy of Internet customers and the ability of police to chase crimes down the electronic information highway.

"Cox did make a mistake, and we are sorry for that action," said Sarah Kauffman, Cox spokeswoman. "But due to the pending lawsuit, we are prevented from commenting further."

The suit was filed both in Kansas and in Georgia, where Cox maintains its headquarters.

posted by Fergie @ 9/13/2005 10:07:00 AM