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Internet Community Catches a Car Thief
COredneck sends us a NYTimes story (registration may be required) about an Internet community solving a crime in less than 48 hours. An auto dealer in Calgary lends a car for a test drive — a 1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R. The test driver and another person don't return the car. The dealer then files a police report, but also posts a message about the stolen car on Beyond.ca, an automotive fan board. Many people who read the board keep their eyes out and find the car. They also use Facebook to find the suspect and his high school; and they use Google Maps to pinpoint the thief's location. They film the collar and post the video on Beyond.ca. The dealer says, "This guy has worldwide recognition for being a car thief for the rest of his life. The Internet is not going away."
The internet is *not*, I repeat *not* going away! Film at 11.
Obligatory blog plug: http://www.caseybanner.ca/
Reminds me the "24" episode of South Park.
The only problem is that the guy they blamed turned out to be innocent. Of course, the Internet heroes won't ever mention that.
The only reason this worked as well as it did was because of the type of car. You don't see Skyline GT-R's driving around all over the place and it's very well recognized by car enthusiasts (especially the sport compact/drifting crowd).
If it was something like a Honda Accord then they never would have found it this way.
So basically his life is ruined, even if he honestly tries to redeem myself afterwards, because he'll be forever known as the infamous first criminal to be caught thanks to the almighty Internet.
...but Vigilantism shouldn't be encouraged. While a few cases of internet Vigilantism have made news, overall, it is still a bad idea. If stuff like this continues, we are going to end up with mob rule. And who is to say that the mob has the right guy?
"Internet vigilante group charged with 5 counts of murder"
I'm glad these thieves were caught. Law enforcement could take a few notes.
What troubles me is the implications of internet vigilantism. Look at Perverted Justice to see a prime example of how it can go wrong. When the NYtimes is reporting on this, it's just a matter of time before we see internet vigilante groups doing all kinds of suspect activity.
There is nothing wrong with helping the police catch thieves, but when vigilantism gets so much play in the media without a counterbalance, you will undoubtedly see citizens setting people up for the thrill of it. Perverted Justice is a perfect example. PWNing n00bs in World Of Warcraft gets old, so they try something with higher stakes...'hunting' bad guys in the real world via the net. It's the perfect escalation of a video game, and it WILL get out of control (more than it already has).
Thank you Dave Raggett
Now can the Slashdot community help me find my missing Porn? Shes about 5'8", nude, has many "Talents". Last seen on 'D:\pr0n\"
A morning without coffee is like something without something else.
Might as well say "The test driver and 6.6 billion other persons don't return the car."
First off as a dealer you should not allow anyone to test drive without proof of insurance and license. Your dealer lot insurance may cover an uninsured/unlicensed driver's accident, (I've been hit by someone that way before) but your insurance co is not going to like you after the fact. That license has your name and picture on it. You should at least record their name. Better would be a photocopy of both before you give them the keys.
Second, why are they letting someone go for a test drive unaccompanied by someone from the dealership, someone they don't personally know?
This should not have happened in the first place. I can't say I would have felt sorry for them had it not gone this well. It does not set a good example to show how you can be stupid and get away with it due to the marvels of modern technology.
I personally hope their lot insurance rates go through the roof for a year over this. Roundabouts, it's people doing stupid things like this and NOT getting lucky that result in MY rates going up to spread the loss coverage.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
...from the initial post about the car being stolen, to posts from various members sighting the car, to the eventual arrest video and hilarious photochops to go along with it all. At one point, there were 400 members and 5000 guests viewing the thread. Every refresh would bring up 5-10 more posts instantly. This wasn't so much a case of internet vigilantism. The thief had literally been spotted driving like an idiot by multiple members of that board - before the post was even made. At that point people started chiming in with "holy hell, i saw that guy too, he was driving 90 down a residential street near ". All of these sightings eventually led to a sighting right outside the guy's own home... case closed. I highly suggest logging into beyond.ca and reading the thread, there is some serious photoshop comedy gold in there.
Doesn't this just show how easy it is to stalk someone using the internet?
Let's see 'em: ytmnd, *chan, worth1000, etc. Let the people laugh!
When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
New Agent: All right, people, I'm in charge now and we will find the terrorists. Jarvis, I want you to check for any terrorist chatter on AOL. Marley and Greggs, try searching for nuclear devices on askjeeves.com. ...Not anymore you're not.
Kyle: Ask Jeeves? Nobody uses Ask Jeeves! Just Google-search it!
New Agent: Are you tellin' me how to do my job?
Kyle: Yes. There's a Russian guy named Vladimir Stolfsky who's got search engine hits all over this thing.
New Agent: Chase, search the name Stolfsky on YouTube and cross-reference it with JDate!
Chase: Checking.
Stan: Look, these Russian guys all have blogs talking about this like it's just some big diversion for something much bigger!
Female Agent 2: Sir, these kids are right. We've just received intel that Russian terrorists are believed to be responsible for the threat.
New Agent: Where's the intel from?
Female Agent 2: We just read it on Drudge Report.
Kyle: Look, we already have the guy's blog. Maybe we can find an address and check it out on MapQuest.
New Agent: We do this my way! I'm the one in charge!
Kyle: [he and Stan look at each other]
New Agent: Oh, snap.
What about the rest of us? If somebody posts my car's pictures online and asks people to help them find me, the same tricks will work. It will be even quicker, because I will not even be expecting any sort of pursuit...
When police try to use these methods, we are full of "big brother" gloom. When "the mob" does it, we are cheering...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Vigilantism can be a dangerous thing, but I think in this case they did it as correctly as they could have. At no point did they actually confront the perp, and basically left all confrontations to the police. All they did was help track him down and then let the proper official channels handle him from there. At the very worst, they might have been called out for harassing the guy by hiding outside his house etc. But then again, if the perp really was innocent, he could have called the police himself for possible harassment and stalking charges against the groups that sat outside his house, but he didn't. I think these guys deserve some credit for doing this as "properly" as vigilantes possibly could. Well done.
I still consider the ultimate classic 'P-P-P-Powerbook' to be the prime example of creative internet community vigilantisim. Allways a funny read indeed.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
The best I saw was someone solving a burglary in something like 2 hours on the internet. The stolen goods were recovered in something like 4 hours or so.
No, in about 3 days everyone involved will COMPLETELY FORGET about this whole thing. Haven't you noticed there's an awful lot of stuff on the ol' internet?
"This guy has worldwide recognition for being a car thief for the rest of his life. The Internet is not going away."
We are legion, for we are many.
We do not Forgive.
We do not Forget.
Expect us.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
A german fan-forum of the Mercedes Benz 190 (or W201) solved a similar case when one of the member's car's interior was stoled from within his garage. It's a very rare original car.
One member found the interior on eBay, where there even was an image of the bottom of one of the seats showing the exact serial number the other forum member's car has.
He bought it with a ridiculously high bid, went there with the police and it turned out the woman who tried to sell it on ebay bought it very cheap from some other guy.
It wasn't solved in 48 hours, but pretty quickly anyway.
Indeed.
I recall seeing this at first... two weeks ago.
I'm not real impressed with the used car dealer selling the thief's hat after he was arrested. Yeah, the kid was a dope, but that doesn't make it any more acceptable to steal his stuff.
-Rich
It's a 17 year old specialty imported sports car.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Jonathan Henry Klok
aka Jamie Jacobson
Also, vigilantism will be this:
[quote]Originally posted by rmk
VIDEO TAPE THIS FUCKING SHIT[/quote]
DO IT! lol Get his faggot ass on video/camera and ruin him for life! haha
Really, the important part her is not catching the thief - people help police all the time. The important part here is the role of internet.
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Welcome to The Transparent Society.
And, yes, I have mixed feelings about it too.
This is vaguely reminiscent of an episode of South Park. Strange.
If he posted it on 4chan, they would jack the car from the thief, fill it with excrements, put it on fire and leave at the owners driveway.
I caught this story on autoblog the day after it all went down. I spent most of an afternoon reading the beyond.ca thread. The seriousness of a car theft with dashes of Photoshop hilarity thrown in for good measure. I highly recommend it.
Also, the beyond.ca "mob" showed a lot of self-restraint, and they showed a lot of class in helping out a fellow citizen.
It's mandatory to wash your hands before returning to the land of Dairy Queen.
The latest Search Engine podcast (direct download) has an interview with the car dealership guy. Interesting story.
"Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
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