Police investigations in Internet open sources: Procedural-law issues

Analysing large amounts of data goes to the heart of the challenges confronting intelligence and law enforcement professionals today. Increasingly, this involves Internet data that are ‘open source’ or ‘publicly available’. Projects such as the European FP7 VIRTUOSO are developing platforms for open-source intelligence by law enforcement and public security, which open up opportunities for large-scale, automated data gathering and analysis. However, the mere fact that data are publicly available does not imply an absence of restrictions to researching them. This paper investigates one area of legal constraints, namely criminal-procedure law in relation to open-source data gathering by the police. What is the legal basis for this activity? And under what conditions can domestic and foreign open sources be investigated?     

An unusual case of 3 fatal, accidental CO poisoning cases by re-routed ventilation

A case of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning is presented where three members of a family, aged between 23 and 66 years, died while having dinner. After analysing the scene and evaluating the personal circumstances there was no doubt that death was due to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. The fact that three persons of different ages died almost simultaneously as well as the technical reconstruction appears noteworthy to the authors. Scrutiny of the technical circumstances revealed that the waste air containing carbon monoxide was re-routed because of the oppressively hot weather conditions. The fumes from the stove heating in the living room flowed into the chimney and from there via another pipe into the kitchen oven and finally reached the atmosphere of the kitchen where the three members of the family died.     

Postmortem dog bites after sexually motivated homicide with multiple stab wounds--differential diagnostic aspects

The body of a 20-year-old woman that had undergone significant putrefaction was found lying on the bed of her apartment in a supine position. The legs were straddled and apart from a T-shirt, she was naked. The inner side of the right thigh showed a circumscribed 20 cm x 40 cm defect exposing the underlying muscles. The wound margin was ragged and superficial scratch-type abrasions were found in the vicinity of the injury margin. The investigating police officers classified the injuries to be caused postmortem by a crossbreed dog that was inside the apartment. No other signs of external force were found on the body at the death scene and due to the previous history of the deceased, a drug death was assumed. Autopsy revealed 13 vital stab wounds in the neck and aspiration of blood in the lungs as well as signs of manual strangulation. The observed coincidence of injuries due to postmortem animal depredation and stab wounds, although in different localization, can be regarded as a rare entity in the light of the literature. The morphological appearance of traumatic injuries due to other causes can be modified by the simultaneous presence of postmortem injuries caused by animals and difficulties can arise concerning the differential diagnosis especially under poor conditions (e.g. advanced putrefaction) at the death scene.     

Pathologic features of suicidal deaths caused by explosives

Suicidal explosions that lack a terrorist background are only rarely encountered in the field of forensic pathology. The investigation of explosion-related fatalities can be a substantial challenge in medicolegal casework. Determining whether the manner of death is suicide, homicide, or accident in such cases can present an especially difficult task to the forensic pathologist. This study considers the pathologic features of suicidal deaths caused by explosives without a terrorist background. The modus operandi of the decedents reflected familiarity and proficiency, or at least a degree of specialized knowledge, with the construction and use of explosive devices. All explosions were set off in confined spaces. The injury patterns consisted of a combination of primary blast injuries (e.g. decapitation, traumatic amputation of limbs, gross lacerations of the body surface, blast injuries of gas-containing and hollow organs), secondary blast injuries (e.g. splinter-induced penetrating trauma), tertiary blast injuries (e.g. abrasions and contusions), and burn injuries (mostly of the flash type). The previously described symmetric distribution pattern of injuries in suicidal explosions was apparent only to a certain degree in the present series. Our observation of superficially sharp-edged wound margins with bridging in the depths of the lesion in blast-induced lacerations of the skin should deserve further attention in forthcoming cases of explosion-related fatalities because this finding is a diagnostic possibility that may support the theory of an explosion-related fatality under special circumstances, e.g. when the body has been dumped away from the place of death. Because a terrorist attack may be initially suspected in each case of suicide involving explosives, the importance of a joint inquiry based on expertise from police investigators, bomb experts, and forensic pathologists is evident.     

Privacy regulation cannot be hardcoded. A critical comment on the ‘privacy by design’ provision in data-protection law

‘Privacy by design’ is an increasingly popular paradigm. It is the principle or concept that privacy should be promoted as a default setting of every new ICT system and should be built into systems from the design stage. The draft General Data Protection Regulation embraces ‘privacy by design’ without detailing how it can or should be applied. This paper discusses what the proposed legal obligation for ‘privacy by design’ implies in practice for online businesses. In particular, does it entail hard-coding privacy requirements in system design? First, the ‘privacy by design’ provision in the proposed Regulation is analysed and interpreted. Next, we discuss an extreme interpretation – embedding data protection requirements in system software – and identify five complicating issues. On the basis of these complications, we conclude that ‘privacy by design’ should not be interpreted as trying to achieve rule compliance by techno-regulation. Instead, fostering the right mindset of those responsible for developing and running data processing systems may prove to be more productive. Therefore, in terms of the regulatory tool-box, privacy by design should be approached less from a ‘code’ perspective, but rather from the perspective of ‘communication’ strategies.     

Iatrogenic hemorrhagic complications in gynecologic laparoscopies--report of 2 cases with a fatal course

Endoscopy and laparoscopy are part of modern gynecology. Using them, however, implies the occurrence of certain complications. The rate of complications, according to international statistics, about 3.5 per thousand with a lethality rate of 0.02 per thousand, is significantly influenced by the practitioner's personal experience and skill. The most relevant complication is hemorrhage. As a result of the patient's position, the aorta and pelvic arteries are most endangered. The symptoms of complications should be kept in mind by the physician, as well as the methods of rendering immediate medical support. Two cases with a fatal outcome are illustrated, which were caused by ignorance of an acute and slow hemorrhage, respectively. Publishing them could help to prevent further such cases.     

Shaping the European External Action Service and its post-Lisbon crisis management structures: an assessment of the EU High Representatives’ political leadership

ABSTRACT

This article assesses the role, influence and core aspects of the EU High Representatives’ (HR/VPs) “political leadership” in the context of their efforts to advance the institutionalisation of the EEAS and its crisis management structures in the post-Lisbon era. By combining analytical lenses from the literature on “European political leadership”, foreign policy analysis (FPA) and political psychology with insights from a wide range of semi-structured interviews and primary sources, the article analyses how the leadership approaches of Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini were influenced by core aspects, such as institutional setting, situational factors and “personal qualities”. By examining how both HR/VPs and their chosen advisors sought to shape the EU’s EEAS and crisis management institutions, scholars can gain important insights about how “personal qualities” and prior foreign policy experience can influence the HR/VPs strategic choices and their impact within and across the EEAS. Finally, the article considers the differing effects between “maverick” and “orthodox” leadership and approaches and concludes that whilst outside perspectives can bring fresh ideas and institutional innovations, they will fail to be of lasting significance and permanence if not accompanied by sufficient support from the dominant foreign and security policy conventions.     

Skin and soft tissue artifacts due to postmortem damage caused by rodents.

Five cases of postmortem bite-injuries inflicted by rodents are presented (five males between 41 and 89 years; three cases caused by mice, one case by rats, one case of possible mixed rodent activity by rats and mice). The study presents a spectrum of phenomenological aspects of postmortem artifacts due to rodent activity to fresh skin and soft tissue: the majority of the injuries have a circular appearance. The wound margins are finely serrated with irregular edges and circumscribed 1-2 mm intervals within, partly showing protruding indentations up to 5 mm. Distinct parallel cutaneous lacerations deriving from the biting action of the upper and lower pairs of the rodents incisors are diagnostic for tooth marks of rodent origin but cannot always be found. No claw-induced damage can be found in the skin beyond the wound margins. Areas involved in the present study were: exposed and unprotected parts of the body, such as eyelids, nose and mouth (representing moist parts of the face); and the back of the hands. Postmortem rodent activity may occasionally be expected on clothed and therefore protected parts of the body. The phenomenon of postmortem rodent activity to human bodies can be found indoors especially under circumstances of low socioeconomic settings; outdoors this finding is particularly observed among fatalities among homeless people.