crime

A New York man known for stirring up controversy on YouTube was arrested Thursday by federal authorities after allegedly claiming he had instructed Gerber employees to lace baby food with cyanide.

Anton Dunn, a 42-year-old from Manhattan who goes by "Trashman" on YouTube, has a moderate following on the video site, but probably not for the right reasons. Earlier this year, some of the tabloid press picked up on a video he posted in which he claimed to have purposely infected more than 1,500 women with the AIDS virus. He has also claimed to have killed two … Read more

On Wednesday, the FBI and its partner, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), warned against a new e-mail campaign being used by the creators of the Storm Worm botnet.

The e-mail uses the the phrase "F.B.I. vs. Facebook" in its subject line and contains a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook, a popular social networking website. Clicking on the link downloads malicious software onto the victim's computer.

"The spammers spreading this virus are preying on Internet users and making their computers an unwitting part of criminal botnet activity," said … Read more

Perhaps it's a sign of an economy on the brink: I'm getting pitches for sites about crime. This week I heard from reps of both CrimeReports.com and CriminalSearches.com. Together, their services will help you find crime and criminals, let you look for police records on anyone, and illustrate how pervasive crime is in every community in the U.S.

All these crime reporting services take their data from public sources. It's tax dollars, after all, that fund police departments and the courts. The trick is in the packaging. CrimeReports does a nice job of placing … Read more

Improved e-mail filtering and government crackdowns might've deterred some of the once-ubiquitous spammers peddling prescription-free Viagra on the Web, but a new study from Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has found that many of those sites are still alive and kicking.

The CASA study, resulting from its fifth annual "You've Got Drugs!" investigation, did find that there has been a decline in the total count of Web sites hawking controlled drugs: 365 of them, compared to 581 in 2007's study.

But it's still alarming, CASA said, because few of … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif.--The body that Linux programmer Hans Reiser led police to Monday has been positively identified as his estranged wife Nina Reiser, whom he is convicted of killing, police revealed at a press conference here Tuesday afternoon.

That development not only brings some closure to family and friends of Nina Reiser, but also brings Hans Reiser one step closer to a reduced sentence as part of a deal in the works with the prosecution that would still need a judge's approval, according to Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hora.

Reiser--known to the technology world as the founder … Read more

Hans Reiser, the Linux programmer convicted in April of murdering his estranged wife, has led police to what is believed to be her body, authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday.

The remains were found Monday afternoon buried next to a deer trail in the hills of Oakland, Calif., Reiser's defense attorney, who accompanied his client to the site, told the newspaper. Police said the body has not been identified. A news conference is planned for Tuesday.

In April, following a drama-filled six-month trial, a jury found Reiser, 44, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2006 killing of … Read more

A man arrested in connection with a rampage Sunday that killed seven people in Japan's popular Akihabara electronics district allegedly posted messages on the Internet warning of such events, according to news reports.

Tomohiro Kato, 25, was arrested on suspicion of driving a two-ton, rented truck into the crowded Akihabara district, then jumping out and stabbing 17 bystanders, according to the Associated Press.

In the hours prior to the rampage, Kato allegedly posted dozens of warnings on the Internet. A Reuters report that cited Japanese newspapers included these alleged messages from Kato:

"I will kill people in Akihabara.&… Read more

It's looking like there could be a deal in the works in which Hans Reiser, the Linux programmer convicted in April of murdering his estranged wife, would lead authorities to her body in exchange for a reduced sentence. That's according a Wired report confirmed in part Friday by the prosecutor in the case, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff.

"The defense has made overtures" to that effect, Orloff told CNET News.com Friday, declining to comment further because "it's still very preliminary."

In April, following a drama-filled six-month trial, a jury found Reiser, … Read more

RICHMOND, Calif.--Taking a cue from surveillance camera-laden London, this San Francisco Bay Area city is installing security camera systems for the police and at the port to reduce crime and protect against terrorism.

The systems are being built and maintained by ADT, known for its home burglar alarm systems, and use a high-speed wireless mesh network.

Clusters of video cameras transmit data to wireless radios, which then send it over a 1-gigabit back-haul feed to servers in the Port of Richmond's security office, and for the city to police headquarters and the dispatch center. Eventually, the video will … Read more