It's filled with criminals, but people are pounding to get in. Since going live earlier this month, CrimeNet, a Melbourne-based website publicizing Australian criminal records, has been besieged by users. Creators of CrimeNet claim the high traffic levels underscore public hunger for this sort of information. Wired News delivered to your inbox or hand-held device. The website summarizes criminal court records and other public documents, and puts them online.
Web surfers pay to access the database.
It claims to be the first website in the world to offer such information. Other websites offer services to look up individual paper-based criminal records for a fee, but most do not have extensive criminal records categorized on a database, according to Ken Schultz, a spokesman for CrimeNet. And while CrimeNet has received hundreds of emails from supporters, civil libertarians, and privacy advocates are concerned about the site's content. They say CrimeNet raises troubling issues about punishment and rehabilitation in society. Most said they worry about potential problems arising from inaccuracies, mistaken identities, and rattling skeletons that could haunt one-time offenders for the rest of their lives.