BBC Uses Skype Links In Murder Hunt

Nico M writes "The highly publicized UK murder hunt for the serial killer(s) of five young sex workers in Suffolk is using Skype to ask the public for information. BBC News is embedding freephone Skype links to both the police incident room and Crimestoppers UK. Is this the first time Skype has been used in this way?"

Sex workers?

Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?

Dan East

Why yes...will grab for code.

"And, of course, not all prostitutes are "sex workers". For example the average CEO..."

Or the average slashdotter...once they hit daylight that is.

Re:Why yes...

And, of course, not all prostitutes are "sex workers". For example the average CEO...

It's always struck me as a strange comment on our society that those who are willing to sell their bodies are regarded as lower than those who are willing to sell their souls.

Re:Sex workers?

Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?

I am amazed that so few slashdotters (reading the first 10 posts or so) are unfamiliar with that term. (Do you all live under rocks or something?)

Its basically a superset of prostitute - including people in the industry who don't actually fuck for money, ie strip dancers, porn stars, topless waiters, dominatrixes (sp?) etc.

Nothing PC about it.

Re:Sex workers?

including people in the industry who don't actually fuck for money, ie strip dancers, porn stars, topless waiters, dominatrixes (sp?) etc.
What kind of boring non-fucking porn do you watch?

Re:Sex workers?

Yep, I will second that. Here in Oz we have something called the sex workers union [google.com]. Personally I think the "deadhookers" tag is extremely bad taste, it is disrespectful toward both the dead and their greiving relatives.

Re:Sex workers?

I am amazed that so few slashdotters (reading the first 10 posts or so) are unfamiliar with that term. (Do you all live under rocks or something?)

A lot of Slashdotters are American and the term isn't really used in the USA, probably since prostitution is illegal in most parts of the country (excepting Nevada but not Las Vegas city). So terms that "legitimize" it are less likely to be used.

-b.

Re:Sex workers?

prostitution is illegal in most parts of the country

Seriously? Illegal? (not just regulated?)

Why is it illegal to sell a (much in demand) service in the land of the free?

Re:Sex workers?

Seriously? Illegal? (not just regulated?)

Yeah, illegal, except for "rural" Nevada. Enforced to various degrees depending on where you are, and there are always loopholes for people setting up brothels ("it's a massage parlor, dammit!"). As to why - probably due to religious taboos to a large extent. After all, the USA *was* founded by Puritans.

I hate to say it, but better illegal than legal *and* legally recognized by the State as a "normal" profession like in Germany. There was the recent case of an unemployed lady there who was refused continuing unemployment benefits because she didn't take a job as a "sex worker." (Cite: [telegraph.co.uk]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2005/01/30/wgerm30.xml [telegraph.co.uk] ) I'd be ok if it were legal for the purpose of harm reduction but not overtly encouraged by the State.

-b.

Re:Sex workers?

Agreed about the "legal but voluntary" part. As far as US police, I don't think that they try *that* hard. They may run an occasional sting operation in some cities to look like they're doing something or if the residents of the neighborhood complain, but the law isn't enforced all that severely.

The big advantage of having prostitution legal and recognised as such is that you can require regular checks for STD's, as well as enforce standards for working conditions.

Re:Sex workers?

I hate to say it, but better illegal than legal *and* legally recognized by the State as a "normal" profession like in Germany. There was the recent case of an unemployed lady there who was refused continuing unemployment benefits

Note there are no names or dates in that stpory. It's an urban legend. Never happened. http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp [snopes.com]

...a story was sensationalized for political purposes and passed from one news source to the next, and somewhere in the rewriting and translating process what was originally discussed as a mere hypothetical possibility has now been reported as a factual occurrence.

Re:Sex workers?

Sex worker, is that the PC term for prostitute?

No. The term you're thinking of is Penile Stimulation Engineer, or something to that effect.

Mike.

sex workers?

Well although my nick is Puto, which is technically male whore in spanish, and for the umpteenth time I am not gay and I know what it means it some countries.

But when in the hell did hookers become "sex workers"? What happened to prostitute?

Whore, escort, streetwalker, lady of the night, etc. Sex workers?

I guess this is like the "sanitation engineers"(garbagemen) or "network engineers"(i got a website and a linksys router and have 15 workstations to manage at work.)

Puto

This is probably a really bad idea

This is probably not a good idea, because there is no anonymity with Skype. It is trivial to log the IP address of anyone calling. At least with a normal phone number, you can just use a public payphone and there is no real chance of being identified.

Anonymity is really important, especially if they want other sex workers to contact them. After all the recent "crack-downs" and "zero tolerance" policies, not to mention the bad reputation the police have, is it any wonder that prostitutes dont want to talk to them?

Re:This is probably a really bad idea

This is probably not a good idea, because there is no anonymity with Skype

1) They have a normal number in addition to the skype links.
2) You can anonymously use skype from an internet cafe (most have it installed, with mic + headphones these days)
3) Its for convenience sake, so someone who doesn't think it's worth calling (for the little thing they remember seeing walking past) will just click on the link when reading a story.

i cant see them

nowhere in the article can i see Skype mentioned or see any Skype links, perhaps the submitter has a Skype BHO (browser helper object) or a Firefox plugin that creates Skype links from phone numbers

iam on WinXP with FF2 and IE7 but i have Skype 2.5 (not the hideous mess called v3.0) perhaps Skype V3.0 installs such a facility by default

Re:i cant see them

Same here. No Skype links for me, with Safari and the near-latest Mac version.

Why do people suddenly care?

This women have been suffering for ages now. And have been killed by all sorts of people before. Why do people suddenly care about them? Society is very wierd. I personally think these women needed help long before one dude started taking them out.

Re: Why do people suddenly care? Answer & Cont

pembo13: Why do people suddenly care?

The answer: This case involves a large number of murders within a short space of time in a quiet semi-rural area where murders are exceptionally rare and crime very low.

Let's not kid ourselves that anyone (significant) cares about prostitutes, especially not drug-addicted ones. This is about five murders within a fortnight in a middle-class provincial town (100,000 folks). Ipswitch [wikipedia.org], contrary to London-based journalists misunderstanding, doesn't have a "red light district". It has a corner of a road near a truck stop. Not even one whole street. Think almost the furthest town you can imagine from The Bronx. Think Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple".

To give context, the town is only a few miles from where Constable painted The Hay Wain [wikipedia.org], possibly the most famous English countryside scene of all time. Imagine five naked dead women on the banks of that painting- the bodies were found in similar locations. THAT is why people suddenly care, because it is so incredibly unusual given the semi-rural location.

First time for what?

Is this the first time Skype has been used in this way?

For making phone calls? Probably not.

Mobile Phone Tracking

I wonder if the murderer was stupid enough to have a mobile phone with him when he dumped the bodies. All you would have to do is do a search of all mobile phones that have been in those particular cells at the estimated times of death of each victim. The bodies were dumped in the surrounding countryside so it might narrow it down to a few phones. Another possible line of attack is that the murderer's mobile phone would have been in the same cell as each victims mobile phone for some amount of time. Once you have his mobile number, the game is up. Even if it was not purchased in his name, the phone would spend most of its time where he lives, so it would be simple to narrow it down to the row of houses where he lives.

Besides, there's no need to kill them

Most of them already dead inside.

google

I must make it a point to recommend this awesome tool called a "Search Engine" to you. In my humble opinion (IMHO), the best "Search Engine" I know is named Google and is available at www.google.com [google.com]. It's free and easy to use.. To go there, please click the text that is underlined in the previous sentence. There is a rectangle that us geeks call a "text box" where you can type "words". For example, why don't you type "skype dead hookers" or "skype police investigation" into it and click the button named "Google Search"? You will then be magically transported to a page with lots of things on it that you can click and figure out the answer to your question.

Fellow slashdotters, please add to this comment with more detailed instructions on how to search using Google (screenshots welcome).

There are NO SKYPE LINKS in TFA

Anyone with information that would help Ipswich detectives is urged to contact the incident room on 0800 096 1011 or speak to Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.

Which idiot wrote the headline without even looking at TFA?

Re:There are NO SKYPE LINKS in TFA

Looks like the submitter has this [skype.com] installed, which turns the phone numbers into Skype links. This toolbar was distributed with the latest version of Skype.

Story is false

(I posted this further down as a reply to an anon comment, so it got buried.)

Guys, this story is false. I see no Skype links. Do you see any Skype links?

Slightly Offtopic

There was a great interview with one of the Chief Constables involved in this case about the number of calls they were receiving from the public

Interviewer: There's been a massive public response to your request for information hasn't there, how are you coping with the sheer volume of information you are getting ?
Police: Obviously we're very pleased with the positive response and we're working through everything we receive.
Interviewer: A lot of its very helpful but you were just telling me you're also getting a lot of calls about peoples dreams and what cards or dice have told them ?
Police: Er, yes we are. That sort of information isn't a high priority
Interviewer: Clearly you're being polite, it's just a waste of your time isn't it ?
Police: We would rather concentrate on serious information
Interviewer: These people are just getting in the way of your investigation by phoning up with this, frankly, nonsense aren't they ?
Police: Well yes, we would rather they didn't bother us with superstious nonsense.

Slashdot's most offensive moments

So, someone posts a non-story about Skype being used by the police and bbc to report infomration on murdered women. Slashdot users don't discuss the fakeness of the story, or the skype marketing angle, or the future of telecoms. They feel it appropriate to make declarations and guenuinely offensive 'humour' about murdered women.
Seriously, these women may be prostitutes, but the key facts are: 5 people were murdered in a market town in the space of a couple of weeks. These people were people; daughters, mothers, sisters. They were all, I believe, hooked on drugs. And one day they may have got off drugs and enjoyed a normal life. Not now. The fascination some /.ers have shown for the 'sex angle' makes me worry about who I'm associating with here, and says far more about the writers than the victims.

advertising

If the BBC is using Skype - and there seems to be some doubt about this - then someone should be asking serious questions about their charter. The BBC is forbidden from advertising and is directly funded by a license fee.

To the point where kids TV show "Blue Peter" would have handcraft items on making things out of old packaging, any branding or logos on the packaging had to be blacked out.

No way should the BBC be promoting skype - blatantly or otherwise. Brits, ask the BBC for your license fee back. Ask your MP why this is happening. If the BBC wants to be honest about their advertising then fine, scrap the license fee.

Of course, the BBC smuggles PR, payola, and viral marketing into news, tech and entertainment items all the time - and I'm sure someone somewhere gets a nice backhander for those. The News dept is the one most guilty of marketing products.

However, to be this blatant should result in someone being fired.

Sex Workers Okay?

It can seem like an enjoyable way to make alot of bucks if it wasn't that it often destroys there self-worth. There is something about intimate contact and cash that makes women just feel like things being used. People naturally look for respect, even from strangers. Somehow I think sex workers get little of that.

Offensive tag

tagged "deadsexworkers" in response

Murderers MySpace Profile!

The murderers myspace profile is here [myspace.com]. Found it after reading this article [bbc.co.uk]

Re:Murderers MySpace Profile!

Important correction: The man has been arrested on suspicion of the five murders; he is not, unless proven guilty, "the murderer".

Sex and Womens rights

I am going off at a tangent here, but as the post have mainly gone towards the sex angle, I thought I'd bring it up.

Here in the UK, I was reading a Littlewoods mail order catalogue (just for christmas gift ideas) and came across a new toy for young girls.

It's a *POLE DANCING* kit !

What is wrong with this picture ? I mean, have the womens liberation movement ceased to exist ? I mentioned this to a friend of mine and he replied that he already knew about it, and that his daughter had been doing it as a course at school ! WTF.

I am all for liberisation etc, but surely this is a bit over the top. I mean, do they teach these children what the fucking pole represents ?

I tried to get to Littlewoods website to find a link, but the net is slow here right now, google has some good links to a story on it though, as it appears Tesco [google.co.uk] had a similar product. I remember a time when women got pissed off if you bought a young girl a pram and a doll, now apparently we can train them to be erotic dancers, at public expense ! Jesus H Christ, on a bike. What's next, My Little Pony Fuck 'n' Suck outfits, Crotchless panties (age 5 to 6), Leather gear for the discerning 8 year old ?

Amazon have the same product [amazon.co.uk] and it even includes toy dollars ! They also have a toy lapdancing kit, which seems to have the words "not a toy" hastily tacked onto the description.

Sometimes you do actually have to think of the children.

Regarding bad taste...

Have you heard about that dyslexic santa in Ipswitch? He keeps leaving prozzies under the trees.

Yeah .. hilarious

Imagine if every anti-U.S. story on /. were tagged with deadiraqis. The /. left would be up in arms. Dead hookers is ok though. Because you know, they weren't human.

Re:Yeah .. hilarious

Then replace "nigger" with "baby".

Baby jokes never get old...

Aisle seat please.

Re:Finally

Not particularly funny.