Cold Case Network
I've already wondered why the connectivity of the Internet has not been used to solved the Zodiac Ciphers - and then I found that Amateur sleuths keep cold cases alive
There are 100,000 missing people in the United States alone and at least 6,000 unidentified bodies. With the authorities struggling to solve so many cases, thousands of volunteers are using the internet to try to match the missing with the unidentified.This idea of "cyber-sleuthing" - which involves both internet research and normal "shoe-leather research" in the real world - has been given a name: TechCriminologyOften people involved in using the Internet to help resolve crimes are called amateur sleuths. I think the amateur effort is becoming an actual science. Those of us who seek the technology of the Internet, but not only the Internet, to find resolve in cold cases have found a niche that truly deserves a name.
It sounds like a powerful tool - but it needs checks and balances - suppose a group of "cybersleuths" pointed the finger at you and you were innocent?
Right now I like the idea - but the possible negative effects on the innocent could be life shattering
It sounds like a 21st Century version of Hue and Cry
By the statute of Winchester, 13 Edw. I cc. 1 and 4, (1285) it was provided that anyone, either a constable or a private citizen, who witnessed a felony shall make hue and cry, and that the hue and cry must be kept up against the fleeing felon from town to town and from county to county, until the felon is apprehended and delivered to the sheriff.So - how far can an Internet based "Hue and Cry" go before falling foul of theAll able bodied men, upon hearing the shouts, were obliged to assist in the pursuit of the criminal, which makes it comparable to the posse comitatus. It was moreover provided that a hundred that failed to give pursuit on the hue and cry would become liable in case of any theft or robbery.
Those who raised a hue and cry falsely were themselves guilty of a felony.
Tags: hue and cry, posse comitatus, cold case, unsolved mysteries, unsolved murders, missing persons, techcriminology, todd matthews