Opinion: The Internet hunts a bomber

The Boston bombing was not the first tragedy to unfold online. Most of us experienced a similar narrative after the Newtown or Aurora or Tucson shootings; keeping multiple windows with Twitter, CNN.com or perhaps an online police scanner up to monitor the event. But with Newtown, Aurora and Tucson, the perpetrator was caught immediately or perished in the attack. The Boston bombing may be the first time that a manhunt played out online, and not only did webizens observe the hunt, they also wanted to participate.The notion of crowdsourcing law enforcement is perhaps the sharpest of double-edged swords. On the one hand, America and its justice system should never function on the basis of mob rule. Not to mention that the idea of a million eyes looking for terrorists in every pixel of every picture is the essence of Orwellian. But on the other hand, this technology and the generation that uses it seem to be the target of derision and reticule in times of peace and praise in times of tragedy.Soon after news of the explosions at the Boston Marathon began to spread, Erik Wemple of The Washington Post wrote an interesting piece about how Twitter has become online journalism’s “ombudsman” during disasters. Wemple writes that although false information spreads through Twitter at an alarming speed, the truth can move through Twitter at roughly the same pace. Wemple writes with irony that “The platform that’s most effective at churning out breaking news has become a place that preaches caution in breaking-news scenarios.”When it became clear that the marathon explosions were part of a terrorist attack, and that the attackers had evidently escaped, the internet transformed itself suddenly from an army of casual journalists to an army of casual detectives. Threads appeared on Reddit and 4Chan as users sifted through all the pictures that could be obtained showing the crime scene, pointing out everyone who happened to be carrying a backpack or bag or otherwise appeared suspicious. This online manhunt ultimately proved fruitless, but once again it showed the eagerness of webizens to help out, and in some cases, correct their own mistakes. Immediately after the FBI released security camera photos of the Tsarnaev brothers, Reddit removed all pictures and posts related to other theories and instructed Redditors to focus only on the two FBI suspects.Unable to completely decide how to feel about these events, I needed to talk to a participant in these types of online activities; @AthensScanner. The Scanner admits certain failures on the part of the internet, but he remains optimistic.“Though the internet ultimately failed,” said the Scanner, “it helped to gather and submit countless photos, videos, and other pieces of information to the FBI. This effort could certainly be of benefit in the future.”The Scanner also pointed out the discretion that he and his associates use when reporting scanner news.“For example, there was a time recently when police got a tip that an assault suspect was in a dining hall. Since we could reasonably assume that he may have access to social media, we did not post about it until the police had apprehended the suspect.”There are things to fear about online participation in law enforcement investigations like the hunt for the Tsarnaev brothers. The internet is a powerful tool, and like most powerful tools, it is dangerous to wield without discretion. There is reason to hope, however, that people like @AthensScanner will remain actively caution and determined at times when the internet decides to scare up a posse. There is no escaping the power of the internet; a warning, perhaps, to bystanders and criminals alike.