New Yorkers Are Posting Creepy Cell Phone Pics of Hot Guys on the Subway Online [Privacy]

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Major Online Poker Site's Owners Gambled with Players' Deposits [Gambling]

Even though they've been shut down for months, online poker sites are still finding new ways to get themselves into trouble. Full Tilt Poker—probably the most popular site for high-stakes players—is accused of taking players' deposit money and gambling with it.

After several high profile poker sites were shut down earlier this year, most came to an agreement with the government to unfreeze their assets so that they could refund their players' deposits. Except Full Tilt's coffers came up well short, and when prosecutors looked into it, they found that owners and management had tapped the secure accounts—where $390 million had been deposited by players—for their personal use.

Oh, and those owners? They just happen to be some of the most visible high-stakes pros in poker, like Howard Lederer and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Federal prosecutors call it a "global Ponzi scheme," and the shoe kind of fits. The bill came due and the money wasn't there. But not so, say pro-online poker advocates! Full Tilt was simply lying to their customers and embezzling funds. Which makes all the difference, I guess? [NY Times]

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IAEA Says Fukushima Reactors Are "Essentially Stable" as Other Reactors May Come Back Online [Fukushima]

Six months after Japan's Fukushima reactors suffered a level 7 meltdown, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has declared that the reactors are "essentially stable."

Japanese trade minister Yukio Edano also announced today that after being shut down for stress tests in the wake of the Fukushima incident, other nuclear reactors may restart once their safety has been confirmed and their local communities have given them the green light.

Tepco is still working to bring the three damaged Fukushima reactors to a "cold shutdown" by January. Cold shutdown uses cold water to cool the fuel rods under 100 degrees Celsius, which stops the fuel from reheating. On Tuesday, they accomplished it on the second of the three reactors.

This is great news for Japan, which has made an incredible recovery and restoration effort over the past six months, but still faces an arduous amount of work. Still, it's got to be a considerable relief to be one step closer to being able to close the book on the threat from the Fukushima reactors. [Scientific American, The Hindu, IBTimes]

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Mexican Drug Terrorists Torture and Murder Online Critics [Mexico]

By Kelly Hodgkins and Sam Biddle Sep 15, 2011 1:15 AM 25,932 122

We know the Zetas drug cartel can be as sophisticated as any modern government. But the rest of the time, they're as mercilessly savage as the lowest criminal thugs. And now they're aiming the horrific bloodshed at online opponents.

A CNN report describes a gruesome double murder in which two young people in their 20s were disemboweled, mutilated and hung publicly beneath a bridge for all to see—all after being extensively tortured. The dispatch notes the bodies were so brutalized, their innards were visibly hanging out. Why? To send a message: next to their bodies sat a crudely-drawn sign denouncing the pair's use of social media: "This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet. You better (expletive) pay attention. I'm about to get you." The narcoterrorist poster board was signed with a Z, pointing to the notorious (and notoriously bloodthirsty) Zetas cartel.

Mexicans have increasingly turned to the internet as a last safe, anonymous place to discuss the drug war raging inside their country. Cops are corrupt. Local government's corrupt. Often, their ISPs are one of the few places not in the pocket of a drug criminal. But it's clear this safe haven was no such thing, and either through sloppiness or some online detective work, cartel killers have been able to track down dissenting citizens by their online outcries. And unfortunately, the grizzly killings seem to already be working: popular message board Al Rojo Vivo—listed by name on the Zetas sign—is no longer accepting public comments in the wake of the lynching, With fewer places to share their fear and report cartel crimes, drug terrorists tighten a fascistic grip on Mexico. [CNN]

File photo of cartel crime scene by Spencer Platt/Getty

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Real-Life Crime Victims Are Also More Likely to Be Victims of Online Crime [Hacking]

Norton put out a study on cybercrime, deducing that people who fall victim to acts of real-worl crime, such as burglary or robbery, are also more likely to have their identity stolen or fall victim to a phishing scheme.

According to Lifehacker AU, the report, which canvassed 20,000 people, says that while there is an increased there's no direct correlation between the two. But it makes sense: if you're not so smart and savvy in the real world, chances are you wont be so smart and savvy in the online one either. [Lifehacker AU via Lifehacker]

Image via Shutterstock/Pedro Miguel Sousa

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