Social Safety Research Paper
Social Safety: Solving Crimes and the Rise of Digital Vigilantes
Social media is the media everybody uses to, essentially, be social with others (Safko, 2012). Since technology has had such a profound influence on society these days, the rise of mobile technologies and applications has had an impact with regards to crime and the rise of digital vigilantes. There have been several issues related to the use of social media in solving crime as well as with regards to the privacy rights of individuals. Authorities have used applications like Facebook, Twitter, and FaceWatch to help identify criminals, as well as allow individuals to help them solve crimes. They can make cases using any information posted on third party website applications …show more content…
Officers have arrested two people who were trying to sell their children on Facebook (Knibbs, 2012). Another interesting case was being built upon for a while, but officers could not present sufficient evidence against a gang to question and detain them. A police officer eventually created a fake Facebook profile and became friends or liked the gang’s page and learnt about an upcoming burglary they planned on their Facebook. They obtained evidence through following them and ended up arresting the gang (Knibbs, 2012). These cases used Facebook to identify criminal activity and punish those for being involved in …show more content…
A riot broke out after the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia. Cars were flipped and lit on fire, stores were destroyed and the city was in shambles. Mobile technologies helped authorities, however, as people posted videos and pictures on twitter; these tweets helped officers catch people involved in the riot and sentence them (Vardy, 2011). Twitter allows for hash tags to be seen instantly by anyone searching or on the discovery page. The hash tag that was trending during the riots in Vancouver was #riot. Once something begins trending, any user who opens the application sees it. Vancouver received horrible views after this event, all thanks to social media, but it did help authorities punish those involved as some people tweeted pictures of people involved, or comments about their
Social media is the media everybody uses to, essentially, be social with others (Safko, 2012). Since technology has had such a profound influence on society these days, the rise of mobile technologies and applications has had an impact with regards to crime and the rise of digital vigilantes. There have been several issues related to the use of social media in solving crime as well as with regards to the privacy rights of individuals. Authorities have used applications like Facebook, Twitter, and FaceWatch to help identify criminals, as well as allow individuals to help them solve crimes. They can make cases using any information posted on third party website applications …show more content…
Officers have arrested two people who were trying to sell their children on Facebook (Knibbs, 2012). Another interesting case was being built upon for a while, but officers could not present sufficient evidence against a gang to question and detain them. A police officer eventually created a fake Facebook profile and became friends or liked the gang’s page and learnt about an upcoming burglary they planned on their Facebook. They obtained evidence through following them and ended up arresting the gang (Knibbs, 2012). These cases used Facebook to identify criminal activity and punish those for being involved in …show more content…
A riot broke out after the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia. Cars were flipped and lit on fire, stores were destroyed and the city was in shambles. Mobile technologies helped authorities, however, as people posted videos and pictures on twitter; these tweets helped officers catch people involved in the riot and sentence them (Vardy, 2011). Twitter allows for hash tags to be seen instantly by anyone searching or on the discovery page. The hash tag that was trending during the riots in Vancouver was #riot. Once something begins trending, any user who opens the application sees it. Vancouver received horrible views after this event, all thanks to social media, but it did help authorities punish those involved as some people tweeted pictures of people involved, or comments about their