Dateline - To Catch a Predator 3/14/2007
In the computer world there are really two worlds the real world and the virtual world.
Computer people know the difference.
Going to work is the real world. Shooting people in war games is the virtual world.
I am afraid the Luddites on the NBC series To Catch a Predator are getting
the two worlds intermixed.
With two million people in prison and counting we shouldn't start arresting people for crimes they have yet to commit unless we want to split the whole country in half ,one side the prisoners and the other the guards.
When one liar lies to another liar on the internet it may be ugly, it may be awful and it may be disgusting. But no one should go to prison for 5 years over it..
The sheer celebrity of the show, the seriousness of the alleged crime and the process of the sting may be forcing people into seeing a crime before it really happens. Even judges are being swept up in this over righteous campaign. Should people who commit crime in the virtual world get the same punishment as those who commit crime in the real world?
The whole problem could be better handled by Google or You tube and responsible parents instead of a overstressed ham handed legal system.