The Associated Press is reporting that Attorneys General from eight states are requesting that MySpace.com turn over data on registered sex offenders that use the social networking site.

The request is for the names of registered sex offenders who use the site and the location where they live.

You can read the full story at AGs seek sex offender data from MySpace.

The TechCrunch blog is reporting on the use of the virtual social networking SecondLife.com by FBI agents to review the online gaming and casinos found in the Second Life virtual world.

From the post –

The FBI has visited Linden Lab and their Second Life casinos in order to figure out just what that giant teddy bear — really a Japanese exchange student — and the fat man in Spokane who looks like a Suicide Girl and calls himself Wendy Wild are doing over at the roulette table.

Source: G-Men Visit Second Life Casinos, Stay for the Brothels.

According to this Dec. 8 article in the Guardian Unlimited, organized criminal gangs are recruiting undergraduate college students for future corporate criminal activities by offering to pay for their college tuition and expenses.

From the article –

Organised gangs are recruiting the next generation of internet criminals by approaching undergraduates on university campuses.

In some cases gangs offer to finance undergraduates’ studies and plant them as sleepers within target businesses, according to a report on cybercrime which draws on intelligence from the FBI and British and European hi-tech crime units.

Source: Internet criminals signing up students as ’sleepers’

The AP is reporting this weird bit of law enforcement news. A thief tried to rob a gas station with a uniformed police officer waiting in line.

From the article –

SHREVEPORT, La. — A masked gunman walked into a gas station and demanded money, apparently not noticing that the line at the counter included a uniformed police officer.

L.J. Scott, a member of the Police Department’s armed robbery task force, told the would-be robber to put his own hands up.

Scott took the handgun and arrested Derek Pierson Jr., 21, of Stockton, Calif., police department spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave said.

Hargrave said Pierson was booked into the city jail on a charge of armed robbery with a firearm.

Wired News is reporting on a California law that will track convicted sex offenders for life via a GPS system attached to ankle bracelets.

From the article –

Just a few years ago, satellite tracking of convicts was a newfangled alternative to house arrest. Now, the number of American ex-offenders tracked through GPS-equipped ankle bracelets will likely triple to more than 30,000, thanks to the passage of a California ballot measure.

California’s Proposition 83, which easily passed Tuesday by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent, requires many convicted sex offenders to be monitored by GPS for life. Only those who committed felonies and served time in prison will be affected.

Source: Attack of the Perv Trackers

An NBC affiliate in Los Angeles is reporting that 2 Los Angeles police officers are being investigated by the FBI after a video tape clip showing them beating a man during an arrest was posted on the video sharing / social network site YouTube.

From the article —

Two Los Angeles police officers were under investigation by the LAPD and FBI Thursday over a videotape that shows them holding down and repeatedly punching a man during an August arrest in Hollywood.

The 20-second video, posted on the popular YouTube Web site, shows Officer Alexander Schlegel holding down William Cardenas, 23, as Officer Patrick Farrell places his knee on the man’s neck and punches his face with a fist six times during the Aug. 11 scuffle near the intersection of Gordon Street and Fountain Avenue.

Source: FBI Investigates Arrest Caught On Video

Texas has put a “Virtual Border Watch” test site online for public access. People can sign up for an account with a valid email address and password to start viewing eight different web cams on the Texas / Mexico border.

People are encouraged to report any illegal activities that are witnessed on the web cams to authorities via email.

You can access the Texas Border Watch site @ TexasBorderWatch.com.

Members of Congress are getting involved in the fight to stop extradition of bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman to Mexico, where he would face criminal charges for catching a fugitive rapist there three years ago. Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico.

From The Washington Times –

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been asked by 29 members of Congress to deny an extradition request by the Mexican government for Duane “Dog” Chapman, the Honolulu-based bounty hunter who faces charges there for his capture of a fugitive convicted rapist three years ago.

“Just days before the Mexican statute of limitations on prosecuting Chapman were set to expire, it seems the State Department is proceeding with efforts to extradite Mr. Chapman back to Mexico to face criminal prosecution,” the House members said.

“It makes no sense. It seems that Mexican authorities are pressing this case only because they are so stung by the embarrassment of failing where Mr. Chapman succeeded,” they said.

Source: Lawmakers urge denial to Mexico of bounty hunter

Shanghai Daily is reporting that the Chinese government is planning to require prepaid cell phone users to register their identity in an effort to fight cell phone-related crimes and fraud.

From the article –

CHINA may soon require more than 200 million prepaid cell phone users to register with mobile operators by showing their identity documents, the Ministry of Information Industry said yesterday.

The “real identity” policy, which has been effective in Shanghai since September last year, would require new handset buyers nationwide to produce identity documents before they’re given a phone.

“We hope to issue the regulations on mobile card registration by the end of this year,” said Wang Lijian, a ministry spokesman. He declined to reveal details about the policy.

The new regulation would be the latest move in the nation’s fight against unsolicited advertisements, fake educational certificates and bank fraud via short messages.

Except in Shanghai, China’s residents can obtain mobile phone service without providing personal details if they chose prepaid card services, making it difficult to capture those involved in phone-related scams.

Source: ID plan for cell phone cards

The Council of Middlesbrough, England has set up a system of public surveillance system of security cameras that watch people and also reprimand and yell at people who are causing trouble or engaging in criminal activity.

From thewest.com -

“It is like a public humiliation in a way, but it means that the person won’t do it again,” Cr Barry Coppinger said. “The voice addresses the person who is littering, for example, directly by saying, ‘Could the person in the green jacket please pick that up’.”

Mr Coppinger hopes the talking cameras, which cost £50,000 ($125,000) to set up, will act as a deterrent to troublemakers. He said feedback had been encouraging since they were installed last month.

The warnings are given by camera operators at a command centre.

Source: thewest.com