Murder, Disappearance Cast Pall On Internet Liaisons
from the the-story-of-the-summer dept
Two years ago it was shark attacks. Last summer it was kids being snatched from their homes by kidnappers. This summer, the overhyped story of the summer appears to be the dangers of meeting someone online. Last week there was a flurry of stories about a variety of young girls who ended up running off with much older men they met online. Now there are stories of people being murdered by someone they met online. Not that these aren't horrible stories, but they certainly don't happen to everyone online. Yet, the press has picked up on these stories during the slow summer days, and they make it sound as if every person you meet online is likely to kidnap and/or kill you. People certainly should be careful, but the percentage of people who end up getting kidnapped or killed thanks to the internet is so small that it's barely worth noting.
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What about super-crimes?
The phenomenon of "flash crowds", mentioned on Slashdot, could work the other way too -- mobs of criminals could decide to rob or rape a random person.
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