Yorick Wilks

At the Web Science Trust meeting in Boston last week—a trust in which he OII is a partner site—the Chinese site (at ShenZen) described an interesting novel phenomenon on the Internet they are investigating that might call a Flash Posse (as opposed to a Flash Mob): where a good chunk of the citizenry collaborate on the Internet to hunt down a public malefactor.

This could cause hairs to stand up on the back of one’s neck, as images of the state’s enemies come to mind, but how different is it from what we do—with wanted posters and TV programs that feature suspects on the run and unsolved crimes—and how unpopular would such an Internet method be in our cosy countries if it were the search for a serial killer or rapist? And, to slip back a couple of generations in the US, would not Senator McCarthy have found this a perfectly acceptable form of mass action to root out communists in society and would not the majority of his compatriots have agreed with him? So perhaps no society can be smug about these new possibilities.

By coincidence the current issue of Wired Magazine carries a sort of Flash Posse
Experiment (http://www.wired.com/vanish/) In which a correspondent for the magazine tries to vanish and stay “on the run” leaving no Internet traces (except deceptive ones) while public compete (fro a prize) and collaborate on evidence so as to find him. It’s all good fun but gives some nice technical hints for public enemies at the same time.