Did you know that in the US, police can use Xbox 360 consoles—and Xbox Live—to trace and catch criminals? And that there are often law enforcement officers posing on the service undercover in an effort to catch child porn offenders?
A report on Ars Technica, using recently-leaked correspondence from a digital forensics mailing list, shows how authorities across the US can and do work with Microsoft to snag criminals with Xbox 360s both on and offline.
There's examples of console hard drives being searched for incriminating video evidence, IP logs and billing information helping track down suspects and even Microsoft-supplied guidelines on how cops can build their own capture rigs with which to record gameplay and conversations with other users.
Fascinating stuff.
CSI: Xbox-how cops perform Xbox Live stakeouts and console searches [Ars Technica]