Good & Bad Internet

I’m about to delve into something I deal with every day – technology.

Look, I’m a print person. If that makes me a dinosaur, so be it. I am learning new things about technology every day, and embracing the way it helps us deliver the news.

That does not mean I don’t have grave concerns about some of the technology we find ourselves swimming in every day.

Take, for instance, what happened over the weekend in Philadelphia.

A group of young thugs want on a rampage on South Broad Street, vandalizing car and businesses, and basically terrorizing anyone who got in their way.

This was just a few blocks south of City Hall along the Avenue of the Arts, one of the city’s showcases, and a place it would be easy to see any of us traversing on a Saturday night.

That young people would resort to this kind of activity is shocking in itself, but what is especially nefarious is the way it came about, you might even say organized.

Police believe the young toughs actually used several online networking sites to alert others of their intention to gather on South Street near Broad.

More than 100 youths wound up in the area, most of them up to no good.
What happened next was a series of attacks, including a hijacked taxi, a couple of assaults and a ransacked store.

Police say it’s a new twist, one they have yet to figure out how to attack, other than to beef up patrols in the area.

Wonderful. There’s a lot I’m learning to like about the Internet. This is not one of them.

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