All Posts Tagged With: "Internet"

Many have the misconception that their activities in the internet can not be traced back to them so they engage in activities that they would never do if their identities were known.  As I’ve said before, the internet is not anonymous despite everything you see on your local news, on your favorite TV show or in the latest blockbuster. While the way the internet is designed provides technical information that can be used to determine someone’s identity, human nature (especially how it relates to social networking sites) also provides clues that can be used to find a person.

Two weeks ago Asia McGowan was gunned down by a classmate that happened to be obsessed with her. This classmate spoke of killing her and committing suicide in his videos on YouTube. This was reported to Detroit police, however, they were unable to see the video and therefore did not act to prevent her death. The fact of the matter is that most local police departments are ill-equipped to deal with any kind of crime involving the internet. That is where we as internet citizens come in.

I found out about a story from Jessie X where a teenager recorded himself abusing a cat and posted the video on YouTube. He was swiftly brought to justice because of the actions of internet citizens like you and me.  Here’s an account of what happened by Alan Ferguson:

I monitored the online discussion of the Anonymous with a strange sense of excitement about the endeavor.  It was interesting to see them:

• Track down the YouTube account’s zip code
• Facebook and MySpace search for the zipcode and username
• Confirm they had found his MySpace page (via an image showing the same carpet and background as found in the video)
• Confirm the boy’s Facebook page
• Confirm that his name is  Kenny Glenn
• Post the boy’s name, age, location, school everywhere
• Post the boy’s mothers’ name, cell #, work address and work phone
• Post the number to the local news station and the sheriff’s office
• Flood the news station and local law enforcement with phone calls and emails explaining the situation

The same day the teenager was arrested complete with news coverage of the arrest.  If all of that can be done to save a cat, shouldn’t we do the same to save the life of a human being?

Photo credit: Pinot & Dita

I just read the shocking story of how college student Asia McGowen was gunned down by her stalker Anthony Powell who then killed himself. He had been stalking Asia on YouTube and Facebook, leaving her nasty and threatening comments. He had also made videos about her as well as other videos railing against black women, atheist and other topics. While he used YouTube and Facebook to stalk her, he actually knew Asia from a class at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan.  Since he shot her at point blank range it was likely that she had no idea that Powell was her stalker (they were in a classroom together alone when he shot her).

According to YouTuber infamoustrag, Powell made a video saying that he had a shotgun and was going to use it to kill himself or the object of his affection, Asia. He reported it to Detroit police who were unable to watch the video.

A lot of the focus seems to be on her being on YouTube and Facebook (a lot of blaming the victim) completely disregarding that Powell actually knew McGowen in real life and was obsessed with her.  He knew her from school not Facebook or YouTube.  He most likely would have attempted to do this anyway without use of the internet. While YouTube and Facebook were the method Powell used to harrass McGowan, they could have saved her life if anyone had taken the threats seriously. Most times after incidents like this all the people come out of the woodwork to say “We never thought he’d do something like this,” but in this case it was all over the internet. The internet is not anonymous (even when you register for a site with bogus information they know where you are). Had they complained to YouTube and Facebook they may have been able to get information on the source of the threats to identify this guy before this happened. The police definitely could have gotten this information from Google or Facebook.

I think that we as internet citizens need to be more vigilant when we see threatening or other behavior that can hurt others. The video where the guys say what he’s going to do should have been on the news and police should have been at his door. Save the threatening material on your own computer and don’t trust that it will still be on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace or wherever later. Local police departments are mostly clueless when it comes to the internet so if we really feel that something is going to happen we might have to bug them to death (and hold their hands to understand) to get them involved in a case. There’s a lot that YouTube and Facebook can do as well but many don’t know that if they are contacted by law enforcement they can be compelled to give information about particular users. But I think the most can be done with users being vigilant about threats – take them seriously, report it to the authorities (not just to the service provider) and MAKE them respond.

I live near I-66 and even though there’s a sound wall, I can hear a lot that happens on I-66. For instance, there’s white noise 24 hours of the day which is great if you like that kind of thing. Many times if there are incidents, I hear those as well. About a half an hour ago I heard a lot of sirens. I had just finished reading a Dr. Gridlock chat session on washingtonpost.com where one reader was talking about how many of the traffic cameras are down and that it is not difficult for him to plan his route home from work. I decided to take a look on trafficland.com. Sure enough there was a huge accident on I-66. It’s hard to tell how many cars are involved but I can see that only the left lane is open. Looking at the other cameras on 66, I can see that traffic is backed up to the Beltway which is only about 4 or 5 miles. I hear a helicopter outside and I wait to see the helicopter land online. I then realize that it’s kind of sick for me to sit here and watch the accident scene play out online. But still, I can’t turn it off. I really hope that the people involved in the accident are okay. At least I’m not in my car holding up traffic to see what’s going on.