The Nintendo Switch helped the FBI track down a missing 15-year-old girl after being abducted from her home. While the police had no leads for several days, they ended up turning on their console, at the same time that one of their friends was also online. Nintendo then helped authorities track down his location from his IP address.
When we think of geolocation, we generally imagine a smartphone whose data collected allows tech giants to track us. But these are not the only ones to determine the position of their user. Our game consoles can also do this job and in some it can even save a life.
On August 3, 2022, a 15-year-old girl was abducted from her home in Virginia, United States, by Ethan Roberts, a 28-year-old man who had become close to her via the Internet. For several days, his family remains without news and despite intensive searches, the police are unable to find any leads. And for good reason: the girl is already thousands of miles away, in Arizona.
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Nintendo helps the FBI find a missing teenager with the Switch
However, Ethan Roberts made a fatal mistake by allowing his victim to take his Nintendo Switch with him. Indeed, the console sends a notification as soon as one of her friends launches a game. By an incredible stroke of luck, she ended up connecting at the same time as one of her relatives, who was then able to see that she was still alive.
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His friend then rushed to contact the authorities. Following which, the FBI approached Nintendo in order to obtain the IP address from which the Switch in question was able to connect to the Internet. 11 days after his abduction, the police burst into Ethan Roberts’ apartment. The criminal was sentenced to 30 years in prison for possessing child pornography and kidnapping a minor.
Source: ABC 15 Arizona