New Zealand Police Capture Suspect By Posting Photo to Facebook
Various news sites have reported on an interesting story out of New Zealand. Police in Queenstown (in southern New Zealand) posted surveillance camera images of a burglary suspect to Facebook (a social networking site). “[W]ithin 24 hours of the break-in on Monday [a suspect] was identified and arrested,” says the Times Online.
This is not the first time Facebook has been used to attempt to catch criminals. CNN notes, ”In November, Facebook helped a seafood restaurant owner in Melbourne identify five customers who dined on oysters, trout and expensive wine and then bolted without paying the US $323 bill.” I have written about how data from social networking sites are being used against job applicants, applicants to colleges and graduate schools, current employees, and in criminal trials.
The New Zealand case raises interesting questions; some are raised by the Australian Privacy Foundation.
Privacy advocates, however, were concerned about the free-for-all way in which private information is often shared on such sites, and the potential for misuse.
“Because of the inherent insecurity and the known high-level of identity deception on Facebook, it won’t be very long before people start to abuse it,” said David Vaile, the vice-chairman of the Australian Privacy Foundation.
Anyone could set up a Facebook page claiming to be a police officer and post photographs of “wanted” people they sought to harass, he said.
Stalkers and harassers are using technological means to attack their victims. A recent report from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistic revealed that, “Approximately 1 in 4 stalking victims reported some form of cyberstalking such as e-mail (83%) or instant messaging (35%).” It is not unlikely that a person would use a social networking site or instant messaging to harass a victim, along the lines of high-profile cases that have been debated.
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