Do you know just what’s going on at YOUR library? Is that quiet, studious looking young person using the computer to acquire knowledge…or bling?
At the Collinsville Library in Illinois, Jason David Lingo, 28, of Granite City, admitted he purchased 131 credit card numbers in October and November of 2007, then used a Collinsville Public Library’s computer to purchase merchandise with 20 stolen cards, federal court records stated.
Lingo ordered merchandise, mostly electronics, over the Internet with customer names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, card verification codes and expiration codes, the court records stated. Carriers delivered the merchandise, occasionally to vacant lots, then Lingo would sell or pawn the items.
Last December, the librarian (unnamed in this article) became suspicious because Lingo used different names and credit card numbers to make purchases over the Internet. She called Collinsville Police, who arrested Lingo. He has subsequently plead guilty to the charges.
OMGWTFBBQ!
Kudos to the librarian! Good job!
I hope they don’t fire her.
Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes. Tycho (Jerry Holkins) @ Penny Arcade
Hmm … will this librarian
Hmm … will this librarian be fired like the one in the child pornography case?
Why
Why was the librarian paying so much attention to what the patron was typing on the computer? I can understand a quick look as you walk by, but it seems the librarian would have to spend quite some time looking at what the patron as doing to see different names being used to order mechandise over the internet.
If this sort of think keeps us people are going to worry that they won’t be able to use library computers in privacy … for their illegal acts.
Dumb crook?
Frankly, I’d be wondering if there was just a list sitting out of names and numbers to try. If you bought as many things as alleged I could imagine that a dumb crook would have such on a spreadsheet-like page to try. For that many data points, I would presume that it would not be a simple thing to obscure. If not sufficiently blocked or hid, that would just be blatantly apparently for anybody walking by to see.
From an area where stagecraft is key, it seems like the lack thereof on the part of the patron turned in to the feds is key.
________________________
Stephen Kellat, Host, LISTen
Damned right
You’ve got it said right there in a way that many people will miss. It’s those two words there, “library computers.” When someone comes over to my house and uses my computer, I have the right to sit right behind them and watch them. I don’t, of course, but dammit it’s my computer and I can do that if I want to.
Those computers at the library? They belong to the library! Yup, tax dollars might have purchased them, but the idea that means something special is nonsense. My tax dollars went, after all, to purchase cop cars and police helicopters too. Yet I can’t just pop down to the police station and go for a ride, can I?
Regardless of the library’s rules, and regardless of whether or not I agree with a library’s rules or not, those computers belong to the library and if they say I’m to wear a special hat while I use them, I’ll ask if they have a medium. (7 3/4).
Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes. Tycho (Jerry Holkins) @ Penny Arcade
There is no deeper meaning to this post
There is no deeper meaning to this post so please don’t anyone read into it anything other than what I have plainly written.
Those computers at the library? They belong to the library! Yup, tax dollars might have purchased them, but the idea that means something special is nonsense. My tax dollars went, after all, to purchase cop cars and police helicopters too. Yet I can’t just pop down to the police station and go for a ride, can I?
Probably, at least in the cop cars. I was a cop and we had people ride along with us from time to time. They did have to fill out a form saying if they got killed or maimed or something crazy like deciding to become a cop they would not sue. So yes you can probably ride around with the cops. You probably can’t drive due to the insurance regulations, but I suppose if you were to supply your relavent details and wait until people stopped telling you no … eventually someone will say yes everyone has a supervisor you might want to start there and work down. I know that you can try your hand on the training cop cars in my area, on their practice course if you ask.
Helicopter, well they can probably give you are ride there too, if you ask.
I like the special hat idea. I think a few of the regulars at the PL at which I was employed should be given this hat.
laws
The librarian was looking at all peoples computers from another terminal. They could see what anyone was doing .
the librarian the new nancy drew
i think she was being nosy, maybe she didnt like the way he looked or the color of his skin, i wonder what provoked her to single the guy out from anyone else?? Not condoning what the person did, but shouldn’t the public have a little privacy? what if i was emailing someone about an illness i had or i was sending my private information, now the librarians can have access to my life? Who knows maybe she knew the guy herself and had something going on and just turned on him, you never know with anyone, not even a librarian lol haha nobody take this seriously but maybe she could be involved?
Granite City identity thief snared by suspicious librarian
Maybe he was printing receipsts for his purchases–and left without paying for the print job. Happens all the time. Nothing sinister on her part, just observant and tired of the patron stealing.