Germany to Fight Crime with Web 2.0
by
on March 19, 2007,
Germany's BKA (Criminal Police Office) and the German Ministry of the Interior are researching Web 2.0 platforms as a new and faster way to disseminate information about crime suspects. Hopes are that using services like YouTube, the organization could use the general public to assist them with identification of suspects as well as finding suspects who are currently at large.
The BKA currently has a blog format for their web site, where they post information about everything from wanted persons to warnings about phishing scams. Adding additional sites via sites like YouTube or MySpace would hopefully increase their audience and get the information out faster.
Christian Sachs, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, said that the BKA is very interested in Web 2.0 technologies. The main obstacle at this point is understanding where this new platform fits in with existing German law. Sachs says that the experts currently doing the research are also checking to see if "the Code of Criminal Procedure would need to be changed to make such searches via Web 2.0 possible."
It seems obvious that with more government agencies looking to use Web 2.0 technology to increase their audience, they are really going after a younger audience. While it's unspoken, appealing to a younger audience may make the agency in question appear "hipper" and more in tune with a younger generation, hopefully persuading them to assist the BKA with their investigations.
Source: Heise Online
