Netherlands: Police accidentally grant data access to man, then arrest him
In South Holland, police accidentally sent a man a download link instead of an upload link. When he used it, he was arrested.
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A 40-year-old man has been arrested in the Netherlands after police accidentally sent him confidential documents and he refused to delete them even after being asked. The Dutch police made this public and explained their version of events. According to the police, the man was supposed to receive a link to upload information relevant to an investigation. However, a link for downloading was mistakenly sent. The man exploited this, even though he was asked to stop downloading and delete the data. He apparently wanted to "get something back" for it, which led to the police intervening.
Recipient set conditions
According to the announcement, it all happened quickly. Last Thursday, the man contacted the police and stated that he was in possession of image material that could be relevant to investigations. An officer intended to send him a link via which he could upload the files to a special portal. However, a mistake was made, and a download link was sent instead. This gave the man the opportunity to download confidential police documents. The man decided to do so and stated that he would only stop if he "got something back" for it. The police intervened on Thursday, arrested him, and seized data storage devices. This happened in the municipality of Ridderkerk in South Holland.
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In the announcement, the police explain that the man could "reasonably" have assumed that the download link and the data accessible through it were not intended for him: If someone receives a download option when an upload link was expected, and is explicitly asked not to download anything, they may be guilty of illegally accessing data if they obtain the data anyway. In Dutch, the offense is called "Computervredebreuk," meaning "computer trespass." In this specific case, according to their own statement, the police have no indication that the data in question was further disseminated. The data protection violation has been reported, and investigations are ongoing. The version of the arrested man has not yet been made public.
(mho)
