Fusion reports on law enforcement using IP addresses to track potential criminals, only to discover they belong to innocent parties. Officers attempt to track down an individual involved in online criminal activity by tracing an IP address, but run into innocent people who either run a Tor exit relay, have an open Wi-Fi network, or have had their IP address reassigned. Privacy advocates are asking law enforcement to be more cautious when using IP addresses as leads. “Although IP addresses can sometimes be reliable indicators of locations or individuals when combined with other information, such as ISP records, use of the IP address alone, without more, can too often result in dangerous, frightening and resource-wasting police raids based on warrants issued without proper investigation,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in a paper.
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