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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/
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.
Even though they got a picture of him driving the car the next day? And the description the car dealer gave was that the guy was missing a few fingers, and lo, the guy they caught was a regular Dr Zoidberg too? Did I miss something?
...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
So, now we know his slashdot UID too!
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?
Can't type. Must have early dementia. No wonder I got caught so easily.
Dude officer, I bought this car from my friend.
Yes... it did come with the screwdriver in the ignition, why do you ask?
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.
I am not sure how you can be mod insightful, I could've mod you down but I would rather reply to your rather insightless comments. They very definitely did catch the right guy, I read the forum on beyond.ca and the people involved in catching the thief were not some retard retards, but rather some good guys helping out a fellow enthusiast.
They decide to post pictures because in the original description, the owner of the right-hand drive GTR (a very rare car in Canada) said that one of the thieft hand had two of its fingers cut off. So what happened was that one of the members, when spotted a similar GTR, flashed the 'rocker' hand-sign and the thief did the same, showing his hand which completely matched the owner's description.
And actually they did contact the police from the beginning, but the police only did show up in time the 2nd time and they BOX in the car.
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.
Nope it was the guy.
1. The person who let him "test drive" it remembered the guy was missing fingers. And after the arrest, he was identified as the person who went on the test drive. He even had a fake id that they let them photocopy.
2. The person photoed driving the car the day after it was stolen was missing fingers.
3. The person who photoed him told him he knew that he stole the car. And instead of talking to him about it, he recklessly takes off in a blaze of glory eluding them.
4. The night before he was arrested, he sprayed mud all over the back of the car, so that the license plate (dealer plate) would not be easily recognized.
This is an open and shut case. It's not even close to "mistaken identity".
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.
I don't think the above issue (in general) can be understated. There isn't a person alive who hasn't once done something that is embarrasing, in bad form, wrong, or even illegal, or otherwise said or wrote something that wasn't poorly worded, taken out of context, intended as an off-colour joke, or simply a case of temporary stupidity.
Why is this a big deal? Now the average person is subjected to the same level of scrutiny given to, for example, a candidate running for political office. Dunno about you, but my family and friends tend to be forgiving of my failings and shortcomings, but I sure don't want a million random strangers participating in the dissemination of information that is then recursively subjected to the judgment or actions of another million random strangers, with a prospective employer or someone similar thrown in for added fun. And that's assuming we're talking about disinterested parties and not angry ex-girlfriends, wives, schoolmates you teased, or hookers you didn't sufficiently tip.
When talking about "folks on the internet", we're mostly talking about mobs and mob mentality. In this case it seems the mob was right, so we're free to cheer for its leaders and the outcome.
"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."
Alternative interpretation:
"So this person who has proven that he does not care about the property rights of others (at a minimum!) is identified so it will be more difficult for him to rip off more people in the future."
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Hardly the first - about a year ago, someone on Beyond.ca got pics of some kid that did a hit and run, and said kid got caught because of it.
And you would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids and their internets!
Surely not the first... P-P-P-POWERBook!
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
Well, the missing fingers probably don't help, either.
I agree fully. Internet vigilantism basically amounts to a "guilty until proven innocent" result, with the punishment irrevocably carried out before the suspect has a chance to say "hey I bought the car from someone else!".
In this case it may be the case that the guy they caught was guilty, but as you rightly point out, there are a number of things that can happen hat could cause these internet schmucks to get the wrong guy under many circumstances.
The false positive rate would be high. It is often said that 100 free guilty men is better than 1 incarcerated innocent man. With this system of "mob sourced" justice, you'd likely end up with 1 condemned innocent for every 10 guilty parties. Using vigilantism to social problems is like using a backhoe to remove a brain tumour; it's just not clean or accurate enough.
I hate printers.