Fighting Crime With YouTube

Last week, the British Broadcasting Corporation published a story about how police officials in the UK have been monitoring the video sharing site YouTube for evidence of crimes.

The story, entitled Judge YouTube, describes a number of incidents where videos posted to the site have led to arrests. In many cases, perpetrators of illegal acts filmed themselves and then posted material to the Internet, perhaps as a way of showing off.

Incredibly idiotic, but certainly very helpful to police authorities:

"The person might just confess to the crime when asked by police, he says. But if they say the picture is not them, then officers can get voice analysis and facial mapping experts to prove it is, provided the images are of sufficient quality (...)"

"As well as a YouTube video police would still need further evidence, she says, either a confession or corroborating evidence, but it's a good start."