NTI has listed the following article with full attribution to the Portland Tribune. We think this is a very good article written by Jon Bell and it gives a good example of how a large county probation and parole agency is putting NTA Stealth to good use in managing convicted sex offenders. It has been posted here for the benefit of probation and parole officers in other parts of the United States. The article follows:
Tuesday August 24, 2004
The Portland Tribune
Snooper software monitors offenders
Gresham firm helps probation officers track parolee Net use
By JON BELL
In just a few minutes last week, a computer program designed by the Gresham computer forensics firm New Technologies Inc. detected 42 traces of suspected pornography on the computer of a convicted Multnomah County sex offender.
ThatÕs a no-no for many of the countyÕs 880 supervised sex offenders, and local law enforcement officials are hopeful that NTIÕs Net Threat Analyzer Stealth program will help keep them honest about their Internet activities. Offenders who prove otherwise could find themselves losing their computers, performing community service or even going back behind bars.
"This really gives us a new tool so that we can go in and look at the computers," said Robb Freda-Cowie, policy and communications manager for the Department of Community Justice.
An offshoot of NTI programs designed to help law enforcement officials track potential hate crimes, school shootings and, eventually, terrorist connections, the Stealth software examines hard drives for key words and links to prohibited material.
Even if a user attempts to erase his Internet history or reformat the hard drive, the software can identify Web browsing habits, e-mail communications and photographs that could violate probation or parole orders.
"You can erase, but you canÕt hide," said Jeff Snyder, manager of the countyÕs central parole and probation office.
Since officers began using the program, which NTI donated, Snyder said theyÕve found several computers in violation. He said the Stealth software allows forensics experts to differentiate between pop-up advertisements that may linger on a hard drive and repeated visits to known pornography sites.
Some of the companyÕs other technologies have been used by United Nations weapons inspectors and the U.S. military, according to company President Mike Anderson. NTI, which has about 10 employees in Gresham, is a subsidiary of Armor Holdings Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla., manufacturer of security products.
As far as privacy rights go, Anderson said the county uses the software primarily to scan for prohibited Web sites and hard drive content.
In addition, Snyder said, sex offenders on probation or parole are subject to court-ordered rules that prohibit them from possessing sexually explicit materials. For a supervising officer not to examine an offenderÕs computer for prohibited content, he said, would be like walking into a room full of file cabinets and ignoring them.
