Everyone likes a good mystery and the Internet seems to be chock full of super sleuths. When John Noerr and his son were hiking in the Adirondack Mountains looking for, of all things, snakes...they stumbled upon an old Canon Rebel XT, which had seen better days. Although semi-buried in a muddy creek and definitely not in working order, the memory card was still intact. When he popped it in his computer, he didn't find crucial evidence for a murder or anything particularly incriminating. He did however find 581 mysterious photos: The typical facebook miror shot, pictures of signs, and touristy pictures taken in Union Square (250 miles away from where they found it). Instead of dismissing the images and accepting a free memory card like any right-minded person, Noerr decided it was his fate to track down who these pictures belonged to.
Like a bloodhound, he scoured through the images in search of any sort of clue. The name on a random real estate sign led only to more questions, but he did notice that many of the pictures were taken in New York City. One image of a woman sitting in front of a strikingly purple door was the impromptu Sherlock's last thread of hope in finding the owner. Armed with Google Streetview, Noerr eventually found the matching purple door in Brooklyn. Through the magic Google searching public tax returns and social networking, the internet detective found and contacted the woman through Twitter. Turns out it belonged to her brother, who had clumsily fumbled it over a bridge near the creak. Although he had given up finding what remained of the camera, he was ecstatic that they recovered the memory card, as there were pictures of loved ones who have since passed away. Seems like a miraculous feat that this random guy used the internet to find the owner of a long lost camera. When asked why he went through all the trouble, Noerr stated "Because it's possible".
This story is kind of heartwarming, but the fact that one can find such information with a lot of free time and a few key strokes is kind of disconcerting. Sure they have the pictures, but now everyone knows where this woman lives. Indeed, Google street view is a powerful and scary tool. A while back there was a story about a tourist who took pictures of a mystery couple proposing in DC. After taking to the internet and starting a witch hunt on daytime news, the couple finally responded that they just wanted their privacy. To me, both stories raise the question: Should we be more aware of our information that is readily available on the internet?