The Limits of Traceability

Traditional “traceability” (the flipside idea to “anonymity”) on the Internet attempts to identify the IP address that caused an action to occur. This is sufficient for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to take action against the authorized user of that IP address. Law enforcement agencies usually need to go beyond this in order to identify the individual concerned. However, shared accounts, unavailable Caller Line Identification (CLI), and spoofing on Ethernets, mean that in the real world there is poor traceability for the “last hop”. This means that it is not possible to consider the information gathered as “conclusive evidence” suitable for a Court, but just as “intelligence”; an investigative tool, albeit a valuable one. Law enforcement officers should be especially wary that a sophisticated opponent might be able to frame an innocent bystander.