ComputerForensicsDigest.com

This blawg, as most readers know, is primarily focused on computer forensics in the United States, but it is a worthwhile reminder every so often that CF is a global industry. Among other things, the stories of computer forensic investigations in other countries help underscore the importance of defending the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Case in point: in Britain recently, snow shut down flights from the Robin Hood airport in Doncaster. A man named Paul Chambers had gone to the airport intending to fly to Ireland to see his girlfriend. When he found out that his flight was canceled, he made what has since proven to be a life-changing comment on Twitter: "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

The comment is hardly the most outrageous thing seen on Twitter in the average day (or the average couple of minutes, for that matter, particularly if Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore are tweeting). But as various commentators pointed out, Chambers was enough of a "twidiot" to overlook or forget the fact that there's a little sensitivity to threats about airline security.

The degree of sensitivity was demonstrated about a week after Chambers's tweet, when British police officers, acting under the authority of Britain's Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2005, showed up at his front door. (According to reports, the police were tipped off by someone following Chambers's tweets; it is widely suggested that the tipster was an ex-girlfriend.)

Chambers was arrested, questioned by the officers for seven hours, and then put in jail until he posted bail. In the meantime, police seized his desktop computer, his laptop, and his iPhone (from which he presumably posted his tweet). They also logged into his Twitter account and deleted the offending tweet.

On February 11, Chambers will learn if he will be charged with conspiring to create a bomb hoax. But one punishment has already been handed down: He is permanently barred from flying out of the Robin Hood Airport.

For those wondering how this might play out in the United States, consider that there has already been a Twitter-related arrest in the U.S. In that case, however, the threat was more visceral. En route to a Tea Party rally in Oklahoma City, Daniel Knight Hayden sent a tweet that read "START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!" He also wrote "Locked AND loaded for the Oklahoma State Capitol. Let's see what happens." He was arrested by the FBI and is being held on charges of making interstate threats.

Presumably, the First Amendment will offer U.S. citizens broader protections than those in countries without an explicit constitutional endorsement of free speech. But given the amount of information that we all our storing electronically, we should be wary of creating an environment in which a clearly off-hand comment can expose our entire lives to governmental scrutiny. At the very least, we need more tech-savvy police officers that can put comments into their proper context.