The Public Prosecution Service has used a so-called keylogger in the investigation into the Dutch sex suspect Aydin C., who allegedly blackmailed Canadian Amanda Todd via the internet. Nieuwsuur reports that the criminal file has been inspected.

A keylogger places software on the computer that records all keystrokes on the keyboard. In addition, the software regularly records chat conversations and webcam images via a screenshot.

Amanda Todd committed suicide in 2012. She did that after posting a video on YouTube telling how her life was ruined by a man who had taken sex images of her via webcam and blackmailed her.

‘On the edge’ According to professor of computer security Bart Jacobs at Radboud University, it is special that the judiciary uses such a heavy tool. “To my knowledge, it is the first time that the use of a keylogger is explicitly mentioned. And I wonder to what extent this fits within the current legislation, I think it is on the edge, ‘Jacobs told Nieuwsuur.

C. must appear for the second time at an interim hearing at the court in Amsterdam tomorrow. Justice suspects 36-year-old C., among other things, of blackmailing underage girls and gay men with sexually oriented or pornographic webcam images, in a number of countries. He would have threatened to distribute those images.

According to C.’s lawyer, Christian van Dijk, eight potential victims have been identified so far, including Amanda Todd. Investigations into victims hiding behind usernames are still ongoing. The exact number of victims is not yet known to Van Dijk. “Justice is talking about tens.” The victims are said to come from the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, England and Norway.

Aydin C. is said to have been busy for years: the charges cover the period from January 2008 to the day of C.’s arrest, January 13 this year. The police picked him up in a house at a holiday park in Oisterwijk.

Source: AD