Data for the Boston Marathon Investigation Will Be Crowdsourced
The investigation of Monday’s deadly twin bombings in Boston will rely to an extraordinary extent on crowdsourced surveillance, provided by Marathon spectators’ cellphone photos, Vine videos, and Instagram feeds.
Investigators in Boston, led by FBI special agent in charge Richard DesLauriers, want to see any and all imagery taken by anyone and everyone where the blasts occurred Monday. In an unusual move, the team of local, state and federal authorities investigating the crime openly called for spectators to provide any images or video they might have, all of which could potentially provide leads or evidence in the case.
“We’d like to review any type of media,” to include “video [and] photographic evidence” of the attack that killed three and injured more than 150 people, Gene Marquez of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said today.
Within minutes of the twin blasts, photos and videos of the bombing flooded Twitter, Facebook, Vine, YouTube and other social media. All that adds up to a vast, distributed unwieldy trove of potential information for the inquiry.
More: Data for the Boston Marathon Investigation Will Be Crowdsourced