crime

Two members of the Philadelphia City Council are considering legal action against Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace in the wake of a "flash mob" earlier this week that turned violent, according to a letter sent to the city's mayor and obtained by CNET. They claim that social-media sites don't do enough to keep tabs on violence that could be organized through their communication channels.

No charges have been drawn up, in the letter the council members ask the permission of Mayor Michael Nutter to "pursue the possibility" of a lawsuit.

"It is disheartening; to … Read more

Many organizations are focused on stopping random hackers and blocking pornography when they should be concerned with bigger threats from professional cybercriminals, according to a new cybersecurity report.

In a survey conducted last year of 523 IT and security managers, top-level executives, and law enforcement personnel, hackers were rated the biggest threat, followed by insiders and foreign entities--probably because hackers are the "noisiest and easiest to detect," the 2010 CyberSecurity Watch Survey concluded.

However, attackers from nation-states and organized crime syndicates use more sophisticated techniques that can do more economic damage and go undiscovered, said the report, sponsored … Read more

Masters of Mystery: Crime of Fashion demo follows rookie detective Carrie Chase as she tries to solve the murder of a fashion designer in New York City. In each scene of the game, players help Detective Chase find items that will help solve the crime. This game is a fresh new take on games that feature a classic seek-and-find motif.

The game's interface is well designed and resembles comics and graphic novels. As you begin, Detective Chase's boss instructs her on how and where to begin. The game starts in Chase's new office, which its former occupant … Read more

Facebook seems to have contributed to countless broken love affairs, divorces, and insane levels of jealousy. People pry into your friend lists and updates until they sometimes reach conclusions far beyond reality. How lovely, then, that a mere status update appears to have saved a Harlem man from jail.

According to The New York Times, Rodney Bradford decided to update his status with a call from the soul. "Where's my pancakes?" is the Times' translation of a status update it says was written in "indecipherable street slang." The fact that Bradford did this at 11:… Read more

We all, at one time or another, fail to think straight when under pressure. However, when we decide the time has come to rob a bank, arrow-like mental functionality is imperative for our tool belt.

I mention this only because of the tale of Garry Lee Damon. Damon is currently being subjected to the police's careful hospitality on suspicion of having robbed a Citibank in Santa Clara, Calif.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the police looked at surveillance photos of the robber and wondered who he might be.

They showed the photos to a parole officer, who seemed … Read more

IBM on Tuesday announced that Canada's Edmonton Police Service is using IBM business analytics technology to help reduce crime, improve force effectiveness, and increase public safety.

The goal of the software is to help law enforcement agencies "obtain the right information at the right time--even before a crime may have been committed--to inform police officers so they can stay on top of and prevent criminal activities, identify crime 'hot spots,' and ultimately reduce crime rates."

With business analytics technology, Edmonton police are able to see data in near-real time. They put crime information directly into the hands … Read more

Facebook may have 300 million members, but a news story this week makes one particular member stand out from the crowd.

Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pa., is alleged to have burgled a house of two diamond rings. However, according to the Journal of West Virginia, Parker is alleged to have done something of a highly modern nature during this burglary.

For the victim, examining her computer after the burglary, noticed that her computer was logged into someone else's Facebook account. This might seem strange in itself. However, the person who logged on (perhaps to update his … Read more

Edited 1.20pmPST to include quotes from Indiana BMV's Deputy Communications Director

Sometimes he was Eric Nicholson. Sometimes he was Vernon Eugene Lyons.

However, according to authorities in Indiana, his real name was George Helms and he assumed at least 10 different names in that state alone.

According to CBS2 Chicago, Helms walked into the Hobart, Ind., license branch to obtain an 11th ID. No one seems really sure why he would want an 11th license.

What Helms appears not to have known is that Indiana has invested in new facial recognition software.

Helms allegedly had all the correct … Read more

Kenley Bradstreet joins the show to fill in Justin's shoes, after he has an unfortunate accident with a missing bike seat. On today's show, Jeff rants about Digg's new ads while he gets new Hoboken Twitter followers. Wilson doesn't feel too hot about James Cameron's new movie "Avatar." Violet Blue starts her own URL shortner. And Kenley brings us a story about a murderous Brazilian talk show host. Yes, it is yet another episode of The 404.

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let's explain today's show title. Apparently, there is a blog called "Skanks in NYC," and someone called a Vogue cover model, Liskula Cohen, a skank. Using words like "psychotic," "lying" and "whoring" to describe Ms. Cohen, a judge ruled that the model has a right to know who was defaming her. Beyond the First Amendment questions that this ruling raises, Kenley wonders if this undermines the whole point of the Internet?

James Cameron has been on hiatus for the last couple of years after his massive success with "Titanic." Turns out, he's been working on "Avatar" for the last 10 years, inventing all sorts of new technology to bring his vision to the big screen. While the project has been hyped in Hollywood, The 404 gang remains unimpressed with the blue people with tails. Kind of looks like a cross between a PS3 game and Halo, doesn't it?

Before we leave, we mention the new URL shortening service from Violet Blue, sex educator and columnist. At first, we were a bit confused as to why one would need another URL shortening service, but after a few hints from the chat room, we figured out that it's a warning that the link you're about to click on might be a bit NSFW. Bravo! Finally, Kenley alerts us to Wallace Souza, a Brazilian television host. On his top rated show, he features crime busts. Turns out, he was calling hits on people to get the ratings in the first place. We think the police were tipped off when a Steadicam operator, crane and lapel mic were found on scene.

Everyone have a great weekend! Wilson will be out for most of the week next week, so expect more awesome guests to keep his seat warm. In the mean time, please, please, please call in and leave a message at 1-866-404-CNET (2638) or write to us at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com.