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In a recurring feature in this newsletter, I'm publishing stories and court documents that show what surveillance looks like in real life. I call it The Wire IRL.

In this week's edition: how parole officers monitor the online activities of convicts via a little-known company called RemoteCOM.

A search warrant details the case of Karl Peterson. Back in 2011 he was given 120 months in prison and two years supervised release for possession of child pornography. In January last year, he violated the terms of his parole, spent another six months in prison and was given a lifetime term of supervised release. Then, when he was out, he asked his probation supervisor if he could purchase a Lenovo laptop and permission was granted, as long as it had RemoteCOM software on it. This tool monitors everything the user does, so when, according to the warrant, Peterson started searching for sexually explicit material containing children, you can guess what happened next. (Peterson hasn't yet been charged in this case and remains innocent until proven guilty.)

As per the search warrant, Texas-based RemoteCOM doesn't just provide the software to monitor perps - its employees also keep tabs on criminals: "The company employs staff to monitor certain activity that may be captured by a monitored computer, and it populates an online database with content such as screenshots for U.S. Probation Officers to view." Looking at the company's website, it looks like they can monitor Android phones as well as Windows and Mac PCs. No sign of iPhone software, however...

Here's the search warrant in full, though be warned there are some very graphic descriptions within.

And if you have any tips on government surveillance or cybercrime, drop me an email on tbrewster@forbes.com or message me on Signal at +447837496820.

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Winner Of The Week

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Loser Of The Week

Oracle, Larry Ellison's software giant, has been accused in The Intercept of selling repression in China by marketing tools to the police, including in the Xinjiang province where Uyghur communities and other ethnic groups have been persecuted. Oracle said the files found by the reporter on its website didn't relate to real deployments, though a former Oracle employee indicated otherwise. Either way, not a great look for an American company that prides itself on ethics.

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