If you were to witness a crime, but didn’t want to ‘get involved’, a new SMS service could make it easy for you to help the police without revealing your identity.
Already in use by Canadian CrimesStoppers, TipSoft SMS allows users to send information to an central number that strips it of identifying data and forwards it to law enforcement.
The anonymity is two way, so if the police want to ask for further details they can ony do so by using the service in reverse.
Unlike so-called ‘Zero Knowledge’ authentication systems, presumably there is some record connecting your phone number to a particular tip so that the reverse contact can take place. Even if the facilitating company promises to keep this information secure, it may be possible that a court order could force it to be revealed.
TipSoft SMS is to be rolled out in the USA later this year and may reach the UK soon after.
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