Who said posses were a thing of the past?

The mainstream media is constantly reporting on the negative aspects of the Internet– that it is filled with pedophiles after you children, that it is lurking with identity theives after your social security number, and that it will fry your hard drive with a million Trojan horses. But luckily the Internet is also the perfect way to reach out and find people who share your passions and interests. When you plug into your clan of people, it’s amazing the lengths they’ll go to to help you.

It didn’t help that he was the dumbest car thief in Canada, but the arrest of Jamie Jacobsen is proof that most folks out there are law abiding people who want a decent world for all of us to live in. Within 72 hours, a rare tricked out sports car was stolen, spotted, and recovered, and the thief arrested, all thanks to bloggers and forum friends. The police can only do so much. They’re shackled by procedure and don’t have a high degree of expertise for spotting a specific kind of car, or even enough time to do it. A detective is just one person, and they can only do so much. So when the car’s owner, Shaun Ironside, turned to the Canadian sports car community, he suddenly found a posse of friends at his side in the hunt. Within a day of posting a plea for help, a friendly Netizen snapped a photo of the thief in the car. A day after that, his Facebook profile and Google maps to his house were plastered all over the Internet.

Like the case of evil mom Lori Drew who tortured Megan Meier to death using MySpace, this proves that the Internet is a powerful tool to expose the bad guys in our society and help bring them to justice. Luckily this kind of overwhelming reaction generally only occurs when there’s a compelling case– like death or grand theft auto. There are detractors who complain that this is a violation of privacy or even vigilante justice. My response is that it may be vigilante, but it’s justice.

So I say saddle up. Let’s round up some outlaws. Our camera phones and blogs can be the virtual eyes and ears that protect our real lives.