from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Australian Big Brother CrimeNet a Big Success But isn't Interpol supposed to have a monopoly on this info? CRIMENET, an online database of criminal records based in Melbourne, caused a judge to abort a murder trial for fear his jury might be prejudiced by its contents. The website held information on previous convictions of the accused man, of which, according to Australian law, the jury is supposed to be unaware. Jeanette Morrish, the defence barrister, accused the site of publishing false information about the defendant, and argued the jury could not be trusted to refrain from looking at the site. Victorian Supreme Court judge George Hampel agreed, and threw out the case, opening a legal can of worms in the process. Attorney General Rob Hulls, the prosecution barrister, was outraged at the ruling and called for the website to be closed down immediately until a national approach to the issue could be agreed on. He said: "The operators of the site face charges for contempt of court if they continue to publish this information." But Ken Schultz, managing director of CrimeNet, was defiant. "We're not breaking the law. We removed the offending record, and added a terms of use contract in which you have to declare you are not a juror to be granted access, and relaunched the site." The following day, CrimeNet received 459,000 hits. "This is a witch-hunt by the legal establishment," said Shultz. "We've had hundreds of e-mails of support in our stance against the government." Schultz, a former accountant, and his partner, retired policeman Roy Hampton, launched the site on May 1. It boasts a database of more than 4,000 crimes, wanted and missing persons pages, lost and stolen property notices, unsolved crimes appeals and a long list of confidence tricksters. Teams of researchers compiled the data over the past two years from old court reports and newspaper clippings, and CrimeNet insists there is a huge public demand for the service. "You might want to know more about prospective business partners, look up a nanny you're thinking of employing, or check out new neighbours in the area," said Schultz. Hulls called it "vigilantism", but judging by the response to the site, CrimeNet hit a nerve. The server was swamped with 150,000 hits in its first 24 hours. The first credit card payment for information was made within 13 minutes of it going live. Within a month of its existence, CrimeNet had more than 1.5 million hits. It costs A$6 (£2.40) to view the first record and A$3 for each subsequent query. The Australian Council for Civil Liberties said it was "disgraceful". "We warned that mis-trials would be the outcome of CrimeNet," said Peter Weygers, president of the council. "People shouldn't be doomed to carry a stigma once they've paid their penalty. We should be focusing on rehabilitating, not branding them." But Schultz expressed surprise about these concerns. "They seem to be in favour of supporting the rights of criminals over the rights of victims of crime." CrimeNet has been a big hit overseas. It has had visitors from more than 50 countries and is actively seeking franchisees in the US, Britain, Canada and South Africa. "We've already had two discreet approaches for joint ventures in the UK," said Schultz. But UK data protection law may make the prospect a non-starter. Emma Bird, a solicitor with law firm Berwin Leighton, said: "It's inconceivable that this type of scheme could ever comply with data protection legislation in the UK. In this country you'd never get away with it." The police are equally wary. Keiran Sharp, detective chief inspector of the City of London police, said: "I would be very concerned about such a venture happening here. Things like that tend to whip up public opinion and can build up a mob mentality." In fact, a similar incident to the Australian uproar happened in Britain back in the early days of the web in February 1995. Reuters reported details of Rosemary West's committal hearing on its non-UK news feed. It is illegal to report some details of these hearings in the UK media. In the event, the reports were published on a website accessible in the UK, which was not actually hosted in this country. Gloucestershire Constabulary demanded Reuters cease coverage for fear the reports might prejudice the forthcoming trial. Reuters complied, in doing so acknowledging the legal problem the web presents: the internet knows no borders. In America, however, the Federal Bureau of Investigations' criminal records are classified information. Individual state criminal records are open to the public and are being used to serve companies similar to CrimeNet. But Lynn Peterson, who runs a public record research company PFC Information Services in Oakland, California, is not a fan of such businesses. "They falsely advertise that they can do nationwide criminal record searches to make money." There are also American vigilante groups who run sites "exposing" the past convictions of ordinary members of society for the "benefit" of good citizens. The problem is that information has a way of getting onto the web. Though the Government's Criminal Records Bureau will not be a public resource, a site such as CrimeNet could easily be constructed about British people, but hosted in a country with less stringent data protection laws. British law only applies to information and companies residing in the British Isles. In a letter, Hulls asked Schultz to be a "good corporate citizen and close the site". His request fell on deaf ears. If pushed, Schultz could simply move CrimeNet to servers outside Australia. What law will be created to cope with this international conundrum, and who will police it, is anyone's guess. But for now it's safe to say that crime pays. Electronic Telegraph, June 1, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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