crime

In running for attorney general of California, Facebook executive Chris Kelly is returning to his roots.

"Ever since I worked in public life when I was very young, I thought it was something that I might do at some point," said Kelly, a former Clinton campaign and White House staffer who serves as the massive social network's chief privacy officer and head of public policy.

"Over the past few years at Facebook, it's become clear to me that the role of the attorney general is incredibly able to help make change in the world, and … Read more

In the wake of the murder of Craigslist-advertising masseuse Julissa Brisman, and the arrest of Philip Markoff, Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster of Craigslist gave interviews Friday to Martin Bashir of ABC's Nightline.

Their attitude was both defiant and a little uncomfortable.

Bashir asked Newmark whether he was a law-abiding citizen of America, to which the Craigslist founder said he was "very consistent" about that.

As the interviewer read out a few Craigslist ads and asked him if he thought they were ads for prostitution, Newmark replied: "Probably." He said that if there are ads … Read more

There are days when the mind is sluggish and the body votes for the Recalcitrant Party.

So I am grateful to Technically Incorrect reader John Wesley, who chose to point the parts of my eyes that might function today to a Web site called the Blotter.

Whoever is behind this criminally committed blog took it upon themselves, for reasons unbeknown to me, to scour Google Street View for crimes, misdemeanors, and simply strange, strange occurrences.

My first instinct was that these were entirely concocted images, made to amuse rather than amaze. Oh, me of little faith.

I have tried to … Read more

Correction 2:19 p.m. PDT: An earlier version of this story and its headline significantly mischaracterized a key metric used in the IC3 report. The overall finding of the report was that complaints regarding Internet-related crimes rose 33 percent in 2008.

Complaints of Internet-related crimes soared 33 percent last year, countering two years of consecutive declines, according to a report released Monday by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

The IC3 Web site received 275,284 complaints last year, up from 206,884 the previous year. The organization referred 72,940 of those 2008 complaints to federal, state, and … Read more

Correction: This posting originally misstated the Internet youth growth rate and population. Internet usage among youth grew from 73 percent in 2000 to 93 percent in 2006.

The news from a new online predator study is mostly good. Researchers from the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center (CCRC) found only a modest increase in the number of adults arrested for solicitation of actual minors, which could be accounted for by the growth in the number of youth Internet users.

In 2006 there were 615 arrests for soliciting a real child, compared with 508 in 2000 and … Read more

There has been a dramatic growth in arrests of online predators who solicit undercover police officers, but--on a percentage basis--a significant decrease in arrests for soliciting actual kids, according to a study released Tuesday by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

During a period where Internet use among youth increased from 73 percent to 93 percent, there was only a modest (21 percent) nationwide increase in the number of individuals arrested for soliciting real children from 508 arrests in 2000 to 615 in 2006.

To put this study into perspective and to help parents … Read more

There's no more @AustinPD on Twitter. That's because it wasn't actually the official Twitter account of the Austin, Texas, police department, according to the Austin Statesman.

The link to the account now reads that it was "suspended for strange activity," and city authorities have asked Twitter to keep tabs on the impersonator's contact information after both the police department and Texas attorney general's office complained to Twitter. The Statesman added, however, that criminal charges are not being sought at this point.

"Although some may dismiss the site as a simple prank or … Read more

If you're looking for someone wanted for murder, you could put up a wanted poster at a few post offices. You could set up Web sites with images of the felon or mail people the pictures. These days, however, we're bombarded with information, and the bulletins could--and most likely would--get lost in the static.

Or you could cut through the sea of info by putting the identities right in the public's face with life-size, talking, cardboard cutouts of the evasive culprits.

Such a test case is currently underway in Japan as police try to track down Tatsuya Ichihashi, a man wanted in the 2007 murder of 22-year-old British English teacher Lindsay Hawker. Ichihashi barely slipped out of an arrest situation and has been at large ever since. … Read more

Welcome to "Reality TV meets Tech In A Nasty Head-On Collision Week."

After the hard-shoe conspiracy shuffle danced by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak this week, I now bring you Kenley Collins, a finalist in season 5 of "Project Runway."

Kenley was arrested early Tuesday morning after allegedly assaulting her ex-fiance with, among other things, a laptop.

You will all collectively breathe again when I tell you that the laptop was not, apparently, her first weapon of choice. No, that was the cat.

She allegedly threw poor Tiddles (yes, name made up by me) in her ex'… Read more