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Web, Social Networking

Students Create 'Pro-Rape' Facebook Group

You can learn a lot in college. Apparently, though, courses in common sense and decency aren't offered at the all-male St. Paul's College at the University of Sydney in Australia. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, authorities and experts are in an uproar over a highly offensive Facebook group called "Define Statutory," which was created by a number of current and former students. The group's members described themselves as "anti-consent" and "pro-rape" on the page, which was listed under the sports and recreation category.

Although the page was taken down at the end of October, many people are still upset about the group. Linda Burney, New South Wales's minister for women, says it made her sick. "The idea that a group of young men that are going to become leaders within our community, leaders in the law, leaders in medicine, leaders in business, studying at an elite college, at an elite university, think it's okay to post information like this encouraging rape on a Web site is absolutely abhorrent," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The university's vice-chancellor Michael Spence even spoke out to the Herald. "I am appalled by the reported behavior and apparent attitudes of some students," he said. But despite this uproar, the creators of the public group haven't been punished by the university.

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Web

Viruses Secretly Downloading Child Pornography

Malware and viruses have a lot of tricks up their sleeves -- from stealing passwords and harvesting credit card information, to simply destroying data and crashing PCs. But of all those nasty abilities, the worst and most confounding is the ability to secretly load a PC with child pornography.

It's difficult to understand the motives for dumping boatloads of child pornography on the hard drives of unsuspecting Web users. It is possible, though, for pedophiles to secretly store their highly illegal collections on other people's PCs, view them remotely, and thus avoid incriminating themselves. Another possibility is that the programs are designed simply to wreak havoc on the reputations of others, framing them as collectors of underage filth. The first publicly recognized case of such an infection, in 2003, involved a British man who was arrested on child pornography charges, only to be cleared later when it was determined that a virus loaded the illegal content on his PC.

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Cell Phones

Wanted Thief Texts Mugshot to Local Paper, Old Pic Too Ugly

Fugitives, take note. If you're disgruntled over that unflattering mugshot, follow Matthew Maynard's lead and send in one of your own.

Last Monday, the 23-year-old Welshman took cheekiness to the next level by texting The Evening Post a shot of himself, posing in front of a police van and dressed in matching neon yellow trousers. Maynard, wanted in conjunction with a burglary in Swansea, South Wales, was apparently unhappy with the official mugshot, according to The Daily Telegraph.

South Wales Police had originally issued his mugshot, along with those of seven other suspects, as part of a larger crackdown that eventually led to 81 arrests in 48 hours. Four of the pictured suspects were picked up within hours, but Maynard remains one of the four still at large. After receiving his sensational new photo, The Evening Post responded in kind by splashing it all over the front page of today's paper. "He thinks he's being clever by showing off like this, but we'll have him in soon now," said one officer. "Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now." Prison time is a big price to pay for your vanity, Matthew. [From: The Evening Post, The Daily Telegraph, and The Daily Mail]

Cell Phones

Texts to Wrong Number End in Shooting

Dialing a wrong number is always awkward. Though the exchange of obligatory apologies only lasts a few, fleeting seconds, it's pretty uncomfortable for all involved -- and invariably makes you just a bit nervous about your next attempt. Believe it or not, though, some unintended phone calls can result in more than brief formalities. If one recent case is any indication, the consequences can be violent.

Scott Allen Elder, 22, of Georgia, is facing aggravated assault charges after allegedly shooting another man over a series of angry text messages and phone calls, local NBC affiliate WSAV reports. According to Savannah police, the entire incident was the unfortunate result of a wrong number. Police spokesperson Veda Nichols told WSAV, "[It] was just a mistaken phone call. The two men did not know each other prior to that and they allowed a text conversation to escalate to physical violence so it was just a senseless act." Luckily, the 24-year-old victim Brian Matison wasn't killed. As of Thursday evening, he was hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

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Cell Phones, iPhone

'Scanner 911' Brings Live Police Feeds to iPhones

Next time you're sitting on the couch and thinking about what you can do to be a better citizen, just take a little stroll through the iPhone App Store and dive right into the lurid world of real-time crime fighting.

For both the vigilante and the voyeuristic, Scanner 911, a recent addition to the iPhone app megalopolis, provides dutiful citizens with live feeds of police radio from around the country. For more local fare, users can use a special "Near Me" button on the app display to get radio directly from their county (or parish, Louisiana) precinct. Listeners can even record those especially salacious or memorable feeds that stick out from the less scintillating reports of fender benders and cats stuck in trees. It may seem a little weird, but a lot of people are actually crimo-philic enough to buy the app. It's currently holding strong at number 19 in the App Store's most popular list, and its cousin app Police Radio is number 7.

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Web

Teen Charged for Ketchup-Soaked Suicide Prank Video

A 17-year-old boy from outside of Buffalo, NY, has found himself in a world of trouble after he faked his own suicide over his Web cam. Though details are slim, WIVB 4 reports that the unnamed teen used blogTV (a video broadcasting service like Justin.TV or Stickam) to beam his "suicide" around the word.

According to the Buffalo News, the teen used ketchup as fake blood to make it appear that he had cut his wrists. Apparently the illusion was quite convincing, as the local police fielded several phone calls about the incident, including one from an Israeli viewer. Of course, when police arrived on the scene, they discovered the boy was unharmed and claiming he was just playing a prank on people, that it was a joke.

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Video Games

Boy Set on Fire Over Video Game Debt

Normally, we're of the type who would defend the youth of America. Sure, they're not the brightest crayons in the box, but we think, at heart, they're generally well intentioned. But we're done defending them after hearing about 15-year-old Florida boy Matthew Bent and his four hoodlum friends, who set fire to classmate Michael Brewer this past Monday.

The incident unfolded thanks to the $40 Brewer borrowed from Bent to purchase a video game. In retaliation for this unpaid debt, Bent attempted to steal a bike, belonging to Brewer's father, on Sunday. The crime was thwarted when Bent was observed by Brewer, who promptly called police.

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Web

Fugitive Arrested After Moronic Facebook Friend Request

Remember the story about the New Zealand authorities who located a fugitive couple, thanks to the misguided Facebook status of their relative? While that mistake was out of the criminals' hands, Maxi Sopo made his own bed with the social networking site.

In 2003, Sopo went from selling roses in Seattle nightclubs to committing bank fraud, making him about $200,000 richer. A natural career move, right? According to Huffington Post, he soon fled in a rental car to Mexico where he lived a playboy lifestyle. He'd sun on the beaches of Cancun till dark and throw down in the nightclubs till dawn.

But just living this MTV spring-break life wasn't enough for Sopo. So, he started bragging about it on Facebook, too. The AP quotes one Facebook as reading, "LIFE IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!!!!BUT SOME OF US HUMANS MAKE A MESS OF IT...REMEMBER AM JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE."

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Web, Social Networking

Man Accused of Propositioning Teen Daughter on Facebook

Facebook is great for staying in touch with people or reconnecting with lost friends or family. Apparently, though, it's the perfect forum for incestuous innuendo, too.

In a case that would make even John Phillips blush, a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania man has been accused of sexually propositioning his own estranged 13-year-old daughter on Facebook. 39-year-old John Forehand was one of five accused online sexual predators recently arrested by Philadelphia police. Forehand, who hadn't been in contact with his daughter for 10 years, allegedly proposed meeting her for sex, telling her that "not many other fathers and daughters are this brave, so not many of them are so lucky to experience all these pleasures." (Ew.) He also called himself "Bad Daddy" online. The girl, being, um, normal, told her mom about it, and authorities arrested the man at the place and time that he had proposed to meet her.

We're gonna go take a shower now. [From: Philly.com and LancasterOnline.com]

Web

FBI Busts Up Worldwide Phishing Ring

FBI Indicts 100 in Identity Theft CaseThe FBI has busted up a major spam and bank fraud ring that spanned from coast to coast, and even had ties to Egypt. Fifty-three suspects in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Charlotte, North Carolina have been indicted, with dozens of them already in police custody. An additional 47 Egyptian suspects have been named, and authorities there are working to apprehend them now.

The scam centered around phishing spam e-mails, in which the crooks posed as representatives from a bank and asked the victims to update their personal information by following a link. If targets followed the link, they were taken to a bogus banking site that harvested their personal and banking account information. The 100 criminals, working in concert, immediately withdrew money from their victims' accounts, transferring their spoils to fraudulent accounts.

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Web

Webcam Wife Catches Stateside Burglar From the Philippines

Criminals caught in the act on a webcam? Boring. We've seen it before. But if you add that the criminals were spotted by a woman over 8,000 miles away, in the Philippines, you'll peak pique (Ed. note. Thanks, Regina!) our interest.

Maribel Chouinard was sleeping in her Filipino home when a loud noise coming from her husband's apartment in Midwest City, Oklahoma woke her up. The noise was carried over 8,000 miles by the couple's webcams, which, according to The Oklahoman, are up and running 24 hours a day to allow communication between the two while Maribel's visa is being processed. When she looked at her computer, Chouinard saw one young man crawling through the window of the apartment and opening the door to let in his accomplice. She immediately called her husband, Air Force Master Sergeant James Chouinard, who called 911 and then relayed a description of the intruders to police.

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Cameras, Web

Web Game Rewards Voyeurs for Monitoring Real Security Cameras

In what he says is an effort to combat petty crime, a British businessman is asking wannabe spies to take part in a revolutionary Internet game. Next month, Tony Morgan will launch the crime-fighting service Internet Eyes, which will allow regular citizens to watch for criminal activity through closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed in businesses around town.

According to The Daily Mail, if someone spots something questionable, he or she will simply click a button on the Web site, alerting the business owner via text message. Then, the owner will be able to decide whether or not there's enough evidence to report the activity. Players are awarded points for correctly identifying a crime and deducted points for incorrectly reporting one. At the end of the month, the player with the most points will receive a cash prize. It's free to spy play, but businesses will be charged around $31-per-week for each camera they list on the site.

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Cameras, Celebrities, TV, Web

Erin Andrews Stalker Banned From Internet

Even the most casual of male sports fans is probably familiar with the stellar career of ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews. When she's not delivering spellbinding, up-to-the-minute reports about the finer intricacies of a coach's halftime speech, or interviewing B-list celebrities in attendance at a Yankees game, she's... well... just looking like Erin Andrews. Which, for most, is more than enough.

Her wide following of devoted fans, though, does include the occasional pervy stalker -- namely, one Michael David Barrett of Westmont, Illinois. Besides having the obligatory three-part name that has become the status quo of so many famous nutjobs throughout history, Barrett has also been charged with videotaping the reporter through a hotel room peephole while she was getting dressed and doing squat exercises. According to the Associated Press, prosecutors claim Barrett filmed the video with a cell phone camera after tinkering with hotel peep holes with a hacksaw (yes, a hacksaw). He then allegedly tried to sell the video to gossip site TMZ.

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Web, Social Networking

Burglar Arrested After Checking Facebook During Robbery

The saddest part about this story is that this isn't the first time this has happened -- a burglar stops in the middle of his robbery to log on to his Facebook account from his victim's PC, leaving behind evidence leading to his swift arrest.

This time is was 26-year-old Italian man who was arrested after he broke into a home in Albano Laziale outside of Rome. According to the Telegraph, when police came to investigate the scene, after the 52-year-old victim reported the crime, they noticed the computer was on. When they pressed a key to bring the screen back to life, the browser was still open with Facebook loaded. When the victim told police he was not a member of the social networking service, the authorities realized the last person to log on to the machine was the burglar.

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Computers, Web

Convicted Hacker Left in Charge of Prison Computer System


In a twist of Alanis Morrissettian irony, a man serving a six-year prison sentence for stealing millions of dollars through online credit card fraud recently succeeded in (surprise!) hacking into his prison's computer network, effectively paralyzing the entire system. The really incomprehensible part, though, is that officials at Ranby Prison, close to Retford, Nottinghamshire, England, gave him access to the computer.

Apparently in dire need of an internal TV station at the facility, officers decided against hiring a third party (e.g., not a convicted hacker) to set up the system. They instead opted to keep the operation in (the Big) house, delegating the duty to one Douglas Havard. So, as convicted hackers are wont to do, Havard, left unguarded, worked his way into the prison's hard drive, and set up a labyrinth of passwords to lock everyone else out of the system. And, just a week ago at this very same prison, an inmate actually got his hands on a master key.... Yeah.

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