http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/aug/26/sleuthing-on-ebay-by-law-enforcement-not/
Sleuthing on eBay by law enforcement not uncommon
By Laura Snider
Sunday, August 26, 2007
When police stormed a south Boulder home to search for an ecstasy lab
early in
the morning on Aug. 14, they were armed with a warrant issued largely
because of
suspicious, albeit legal, purchases on the Internet auction site eBay.
Trolling eBay and its sister company, PayPal, for red flags is hardly a
new
law-enforcement technique. In fact, the cyber-sleuthing of just one
federal drug
enforcement agent in San Diego has led to the discovery of more than three
dozen
clandestine methamphetamine and ecstasy labs in the last two years,
according to
an affidavit filed by the Boulder County Drug Task Force.
"People that are involved in illegal drug trafficking are going to try to
find
ways that will not cause them to come under suspicion — whether it's
online or
whether they go to a third party," said Mike Turner, an agent with the
DEA's
Rocky Mountain Field Division.
As potential drug traffickers search for anonymity and suppliers in the
online
world, federal agents are close at their heels, and eBay extends law
enforcement
officials a helping hand.
The eBay purchases
Purchases made on eBay by the e-mail account freebasing@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
tipped
off
the Drug Enforcement Agency to a suspected ecstasy lab in south Boulder,
police
said. The items were legal, but known components of a lab. They included:
June 30, 2006 600-gram tabletop balance $51.01
July 4, 2006 lab vacuum pump $123
July 13, 2006 four-neck lab beaker $51.23
July 17, 2006 temperature controller $70
July 17, 2006 2-liter reaction flask with indents $121.23
July 21, 2006 five-neck 500-ml reaction flask $55
July 24, 2006 1-liter pressure-equalized funnel $51.01
July 25, 2006 stirrer/hotplate $24.99
July 26, 2006 5 grams of mercury chloride $50.01
July 27, 2006 vacuum pump $119.99
July 28, 2006 500-ml dimethylformamide $33.92
Aug. 5, 2006 fitted gas dispersion tubes $20.34
Aug. 6, 2006 lab vacuum gauge $5
Aug. 17, 2006 4-liter separatory funnel $170
Oct. 10 temperature controller $30.99
Oct. 11 250-ml powder-dispensing funnel $120.99
Oct. 23 1 gallon nitromethane, 100 percent pure $54.95
Nov. 12 military-issue gas mask $34.99
Nov. 29 4-inch reaction flask clamp $61
Jan. 5 thermometer with threaded adapter $16
Jan. 17 essential oil $879.78
Jan. 18 hydrogen gas cylinder regulator $120
Jan. 20 round-bottomed boiling flask $14.99
Jan. 25 ace bearing trubore $80
Feb. 22 stopcock flow control valve $50
March 11 fire extinguisher $30
April 21 1 gallon vacuum pump oil $8.95
May 6 32 ounces sassafras oil $305
June 9 10 grams palladium chloride $140
June 11 1 pound copper chloride n/a
June 27 gas regulator valve $24.99
July 11 stainless steel vacuum filter holder $110
July 26 1 pound sodium metabisulfate $5.99
Police also said in their request for a search warrant that the account
made a
$2,595 purchase from a Canadian known to sell sassafras oil, a key
ingredient in
manufacturing ecstasy.
Source: the search warrant affidavit
"We have a global Fraud Investigations Team who collaborates with law
enforcement to assist them in their investigations," said Nichola Sharpe,
an
eBay spokeswoman. "We've been working with the Drug Enforcement Agency as
far
back as 2006. People buy items that are completely harmless — law
enforcement
can look at that and see it's suspicious."
That was the case with Carl DuBois, 29, who used the e-mail account
freebasing@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
to purchase thousands of dollars worth of
chemicals,
essential oils and lab equipment on eBay — all legal, but known
ingredients
orhardware for making ecstasy — and sent them to his home address at 720
S. 46th
St. The combination and amount of the purchases was enough to launch the
investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of DuBois and his
girlfriend,
Debra Cerio, 41, when police say they found enough chemicals in their
house to
manufacture 80,000 doses of ecstasy.
Of course, anyone who was looking could have seen what bids the person
known as
"freebasing" was making on eBay, a public site, but the DEA had to file an
administrative subpoena to access Dubois' personal information — name,
address,
credit card information, etc.
Administrative subpoenas, which allow the DEA to get quick access to
"business"
do***ents, are not as difficult to get as a court-ordered subpoena issued
by a
judge. But no matter what kind of subpoena was used to gather the
information,
the agents had to make their case before a judge to win a search warrant.
"We couldn't get an administrative subpoena to search a home," said
Turner.
The process of getting the necessary information for police investigations
has
been streamlined by eBay, which actually has a dedicated page on its site
especially for law enforcement. There is a link on the page for the
"blotter,"
which displays all the recent busts connected with eBay across the world —
most
have to do with stolen property.
"Selling illegal or prohibited items is neither permitted nor welcome in
eBay,"
Sharpe said.
But even if eBay didn't go to these measures to accommodate
investigations,
there is no expectation of privacy on that type of site, according to the
Center
for Technology and Democracy, a nonprofit that lobbies for Internet
privacy.
"If you are openly forwarding your illegal enterprise on an open-auction
Web
site, you can't expect that to be hidden from the world," said Dave
McGuire,
director of communications for the center. "You have to exercise some
common
sense. For this case, though, it doesn't set off any alarm bells for us."
The Center for Technology and Democracy is much more concerned about
police
operations in which large amounts of personal information from the
Internet are
made available without any suspicious cir***stances.
"You should research who you're doing business with and what their policy
is,"
McGuire said. "There's a certain concept of online hygiene."
When people sign up to buy or sell on eBay, they agree to a privacy policy
that
explicitly states eBay will share their personal information with law
enforcement if they receive a verified request.
But the DEA's Turner doesn't think any of this should cause the average,
law-abiding eBay user concern.
"Police are not going to be kicking in someone's door just because they
bought
the chemistry kit," he said. "There's a lot more to establi****ng probable
cause."
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