Police

The Internet is the last refuge of free speech, but governments aren’t too keen on keeping it that way. The latest offense comes out of Germany, where police raided the home of a Wikileaks volunteer. The police also seized the wikileaks.de domain, which the man owned.

The Internet is certainly maligned enough as a place of general depravity and poor etiquette, but all shadows have a lighter side. The Toronto Police, for example, have launched a website where visitors can check out cold homicide cases and provide new clues.

A Sheboygan, Wisconsin woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the mayor of the town and other city officials after being ordered to remove a link to the city's police department website. If it goes to trial, it could be a landmark case settling the right to link. Odds are it settles, though, because it looks pretty bad for Mayor Juan Perez.

If at first it seems creepy, go with that gut instinct. You're probably right. Microsoft's patent application for "digital manners policy" (DMP) technology is part iRobot, part destined-to-be-used-for-nefarious-purposes. Here's how it is supposed to work: You walk into a movie theater, the movie theater sets your mobile phone to vibrate for you. You stroll into a museum, the museum disables the flash on your camera or disables your camera altogether. You get too close to the cockpit, any wireless device at risk of interfering is shut off.

The Arlington County Police Department in Virginia is using YouTube to help catch criminals. Surveillance video from crime scenes is being uploaded to the Web site in an effort to receive leads and identify suspects. A two- minute video of a bank robbery received more than 1,000 hits and could be responsible for providing a lead in the case.

When approaching a speed trap, one should always try to look responsible.  Put both hands on the wheel, keep your eyes on the road, and try not to make a horrendous squeal and a lot of red light if applying the brakes becomes necessary.  Unless you want to get in trouble.  But even then, you can do it from the comfort of your home office.

A group focused on British police car crashes has existed on Facebook for quite some time, and a number of the wall posts don't make it look so bad - the original members (self-proclaimed officers themselves) just seemed to commiserate with one another.  Others created a sort of game about injuries and property damage, however, and not all onlookers are amused.

The Internet is helping citizens to take the law into their own hands, and if the trend continues, it may lead to online registries devoted to more than just stolen bicycles.