Police, citizens and technology factor into Boston bombing probe - The Washington Post: "In addition to being almost universally wrong, the theories developed via social media complicated the official investigation, according to law enforcement officials. Those officials said Saturday that the decision on Thursday to release photos of the two men in baseball caps was meant in part to limit the damage being done to people who were wrongly being targeted as suspects in the news media and on the Internet."
A very real example of crowd sourcing and its limitations. It seems like even when the police did release the photos, the brothers actions themselves created a trail, rather than people locating them. I guess though there is an indirect impact from social media, despite the noise, in that any criminal would be driven to act faster, knowing that everyone's smartphone is a potential camera, broadcaster and location finder.
A very real example of crowd sourcing and its limitations. It seems like even when the police did release the photos, the brothers actions themselves created a trail, rather than people locating them. I guess though there is an indirect impact from social media, despite the noise, in that any criminal would be driven to act faster, knowing that everyone's smartphone is a potential camera, broadcaster and location finder.
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