[extropy-chat] The end of crime as we used to know it?

[BillK]

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040319/ap_on_sc/crime_fighting_camphones&e=1>

Quote:

Fri Mar 19, 7:53 AM ET
By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - When Lisa Johnson saw a man exposing himself to her in a 
parking lot, she reached for her cell phone — not to call 911, but to 
snap a picture.

The images captured on her camera phone led police to the capture of the 
former principal of a nearby high school. After his arrest on public 
indecency charges last month, he resigned from a lower school job

Cell phones that can take pictures are becoming a more common way for 
victims and other witnesses to help police capture criminals. Because 
the phones are so portable and always on, it takes only a moment to 
photograph the face or license plate of someone in the act of a crime.

Highlight Quote:
* Their real impact will be in the future, when millions of phone users 
will be able to document any event at any time. *


So the idea of the open society is breaking through to your average 
man-in-the-street newsreader. That's quick. I expected it to take years 
for it to become common knowledge.

BillK