Worse than jail: sentenced to life on YouTube

This article was published in The Sydney Morning Herald 25 March 2011

In the digital age, there's a new controversial punishment for crime – sentenced to a lifetime of embarrassment on YouTube.

Our story yesterday about the laptop thief who returned it and apologised after an embarrassing clip of him dancing was posted on YouTube by the computer's owner, who had installed online backup software that the thief was unaware existed, has stirred an ethics debate.

The crook pleaded for the clip to be removed immediately, saying his reputation was being trashed. The laptop's owner is undecided, though our readers in a poll yesterday were overwhelmingly in favour of the video being uploaded, with 84 per cent of 14,653 voting in favour of the online shaming.