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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Here's a search tip

Google is good for anything.

That is where North Carolina investigators looked for information about Robert Petrick after his wife's decomposed body was found in Falls Lake. Prosecutors in Petrick's murder trial told jurors that he had searched Google for the words ``neck,'' ``snap'' and ``break.''

Four days before he reported his wife missing on Jan. 22, 2003, they said he also researched the level of the lake, water currents and boat ramps.

Petrick was found guilty largely on circumstantial evidence, including the Google searches.


On the serious side, this article has quite a bit of info on the use of search engine data by prosecutors and law enforcement. "AOL was receiving more than 14,000 subpoenas a year, not including search warrants or other orders related to suspected criminal behavior."

posted by mikevotes at 6:43 AM

2 Comments:

  • The search engines algorithms are constantly changing, but I think the basics are constant – from the known to the unknown; like following a trail.
    There is still a delightful logic to successful searching; I’m just amazed the logic doesn’t extend to what people put out there.
    Perhaps the perception of bigness lulls people into thinking their stuff will be buried in the mass.

    By Blogger Cartledge, at 9:42 AM  

  • I think the thing that gets me is I can see this guy's mind working.

    And, honestly, I'm not a very good searcher. When I'm looking for something specific I often have trouble. But, I would know enough to clean my computer.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:26 AM  

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