email nick leth at gmail dot com. Need solutions? No worries. Now. |
It's just not safe to go anywhere, these days. It's not even safe to go nowhere, if that nowhere has access to the internet... My, my, don't we live in dangerous times!
Dangerous times? Or are times just as dangerous as ever -- with the same dangers but different means of access.
Men have always murdered other men. Not trying to be sexist, I mean that men/women have always murdered men/women. Means, motive and opportunity have always been there to be used and abused. If means and motive already exist, opportunity can be manufactured.
The more subtle murderers used to depend on darkness, disguise and lies to hide their intentions. Now the first two are provided very conveniently, by Facebook. We are used to using lights to overcome darkness. We are wary of people with the more obvious disguises, such as a long, dark, false moustache. Detection of lies can be more difficult; not every liar has obviously shifty eyes.
And now we have Facebook, with its electronic darkness, built-in disguise and inability to indicate lies.
Facebook is an area of "darkness". There is no light in Facebook, no light to show what murderer lurks in the shadows. Every aspect of a Facebook inhabitant is a disguise: height, weight, sex, intentions, all are self-described and -- as far as anyone can tell -- as false as any other disguise. The spoken word, with its supporting intonation and expression, is converted to flat, blank text. An ideal medium for lies.
In the murky dark of Facebook, murderers may lay in wait. Police will also stalk the darkness, hoping to prevent or at least punish crime. Just another dark and dangerous part of our civilised environment.
So what is the problem? Police have patrols in the real world, they have patrols in Facebook. There are witnesses in Facebook, as in the more real world. Facebook has its equivalent to the CCTV of the city streets... But the Facebook CCTV is not available to police.
According to The West, "State and Federal police say Facebook staff have been unwilling to provide police with intelligence." (Police blast Facebook, 26 May 10) Aside from the obvious opening -- to state that police should have their own intelligence...
Police need advice on gaining information from Facebook staff. An AFP (Australian Federal Police) assistant commissioner and an AFP head of high-tech crime operations have flown to Washington to "discuss their concerns". Don't they read the daily newspaper? Don't they understand Facebook?!
An assistant commissioner, flying to discuss concerns, is a waste of air fare. Adding a high-tech expert is also not worth the expense. Here's what will really work:
Offer to pay Facebook for all required information.
Facebook have announced that personal information is for sale. Companies buy the information and use it to target potential customers. Police could buy the information and use it to target potential criminals. It's a commercial world, with everything for sale. Offer enough money and buy whatever is needed.
Think Facebook... Think commercial... Think profit motive... Think purchasing power.
Simple, isn't it? Police just need to think.
I'm happy to do it for them. Free... this time :-)
Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com |
No comments:
Post a Comment