Every other day there's a story in the news of some dangerous prank or criminal activity being aired on YouTube. Whether it's speeding, swinging from a mechanical digger or skiing down escalators it appears that video-sharing sites are actively encouraging crimes, rather than merely displaying them.
Today's YouTube crime caught on video is the sickening sight of two young boys (both apparently under 12) smacking each other up while goaded by an adult.
Whether this is 'real' fight footage or not (and I suspect plenty of YouTube clips are as set up as anything from 'You've Been Framed') how stupid does that make the person who videoed the fight and then posted it on YouTube?
If he isn't caught then the coppers are even more thick.
No one ever claimed criminals were anything but stupid – remember that 'The Thomas Crown Affair' and 'Oceans 11/12/13' are fiction - but are today's crims even more stupid than the old lags of yesteryear?
Or would the Great Train Robbers have uploaded scenes of their overflowing money bags to YouTube, Peter Sutcliffe showed off his victims on Flickr, or the Krays sought new friends on MySpace?
