The FBI on Wednesday said it plans to launch an online manhunt for an alleged Boston mob boss, in a novel crime-fighting experiment in partnership with Web portal Terra Lycos.
As part of the effort, Terra Lycos has agreed to donate advertising space on its network carrying a likeness of FBI 10 most wanted fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger and messages alerting users of a $1 million reward for his capture.
Previously, the FBI had carried information regarding its most wanted list only on its own Web site.
In a release, the FBI said Bulger is a major organized crime figure in the Boston area, and is wanted on Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), Extortion, and Money Laundering charges.
The FBI said the initiative will help cast a global net for Bulger, who has been a fugitive since 1995. The pop-up wanted posters will be distributed in English across the Lycos Network and will be distributed in Spanish on Terra.com.
Lycos was the fifth most-visited Web property in October 2002 with some 37 million unique visitors, according to a report from online traffic measurement company Nielsen/NetRatings.
Free Web-based publicity could become an important tool for law enforcement, which has already turned the Net into an invaluable resource for investigations. Authorities now routinely subpoena Web records of suspects from Internet service providers. Law enforcement agencies have also pushed to extend surveillance technology such as the Carnivore e-mail monitoring system onto the Internet. In addition, the FBI has reportedly developed computer keystroke-tracking technology known as Magic Lantern