Scotland Yard Police Taking Anonymous Facebook Tips

Following the London looting and riots last week, Scotland Yard police launched a new initiative today called “Made From Crime” that allows users to report criminal activity anonymously on Facebook.

This follows the New York Police Department’s move last week to create a Facebook crime watch unit.

Scotland Yard’s Facebook initiative is the first scheme of its kind in the country and is backed by the government.

It makes full use of the country’s Proceeds of Crime Act, which allows officers to seize assets that have been purchased through criminal activity.

More than 41 million British pounds ($67 million) have been seized since enacted in 2002 and reinvested in community projects in Scotland, according to the Scotsman.

Police Assistant Chief Constable Iain Livingstone told the BBC:

We know there are people living beyond their means on the proceeds of crime… and that communities are suffering from the side effects of drug dealing, violence and other associated crimes. I personally appeal to local communities that have any information to come forward immediately… We will act on intelligence and bring offenders to justice.

According to the Edinburgh News, those who are unable to show exactly how they were able to pay for expensive goods could be pursued even if they are not convicted of a crime.

“I am delighted that this new initiative will allow people to use social media to report anonymously those who they see flaunting ill-gotten gains before them,” Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC told the BBC.

Readers, would you report an anonymous tip to police if you suspected a Facebook contact engaged in criminal activity?

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5 Things To Watch With Google+ Games

When Google released its third party game platform on Google+ last Thursday, it was its first major expansion of the service. With 25 million users, Google+ is still much smaller than Facebook and has few of the features that Facebook now does with its latest upgrade. But the platform for games–and other third-party applications–is a step in making Google+ a legitimate social network to compete with Facebook.

The Google platform also gives a first real social gaming alternative to Facbeook. After the Google+ launch, there are a number of areas worth watching, since Google+ is a key part of Google’s overall strategy.

Will Games Get Viral Growth On Google+?

Facebook games such as Zynga’s FarmVille originally grew to massive scale with the ability for developers to send large numbers of email invites and post game notifications in the Facebook News Feed. Facebook later clamped down on these viral notifications.

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