There’s a new software application named TipSoft that allows you to report crimes anonymously via text messaging. The obvious target market is the texting generation who already live by their thumbs. This same group also witnesses more crimes than the average middle aged person, so the idea is have them help law enforcement agencies by anonymous reporting.
Be a Narc via texting
Just how anonymous can a texter be? The article from Democrat and Chronicle.com reports that when someone texts a message to the call center, the software TipSoft gives the user an alias name and the investigators can not trace who sent the text message. The text crime tip should start with SAFETIP, which alerts the call center that it’s a crime tip. The TipSoft software system then sends back a message to the texter with their alias so they know their tip was received.
Just how gullible do they think we are? Anonymous texting? Yeah sure… just like the anonymous calls to 911. I seriously doubt in this day and age of “Big Brother Watching” there are any anonymous communications happening. Not only can they track the texter’s phone number, but with the GPS chips in the phones, they can track the location of the texter. Of course this could help with fraudulent reporting if the texter is in an entirely different location than the crime reported.
Is this crime reporting software a good thing? I think it is, but please don’t insult me by trying to assure me it is anonymous. Really, do you believe in the tooth fairy?
[...] The only way this guy could be any more cooperative with the cops is to text in his own robbery tip… (See blog posting: Be a Narc via Texting) [...]