If They Hadn't Done What I Told Them Not to Do... They'd Still Be Alive

Sanchovilla has an interesting post on Internet search engines as an investigatory tool - in the context of public defense work, but the implications are broad:

...we had a huge discussion on the ethical/legal implications of using Myspace.com, Blogger, and every other personal blog creator out there as an investigation tool.

I told him I had been having a lot of success recently using Myspace to collect background information on several key witnesses and even a victim on a few cases I had been assigned in the last 6 months. He said he did not find the sites useful or easy to use, he felt that it was infringing on the individual's privacy, and he felt it was leaning towards unethical using information culled from a personal (Adult or Juvenile's) website.

I told him he was an idiot.

Nahh, of course I didn't tell him that...

Sheesh.

The rest of the post is a case study in Internet searching... and it's obvious and simple. In fact, the shocking thing is just how obvious and simple it is. If that makes sense.