Subway Spanker ID’d?

El Reg has picked up the story about the creepy dude busted on the NY subway I’ve been talking about the last few days. The article has an update saying the man has been identified, and if the identification is correct, he’d been busted on a similar charge back in 1994.

There’s a flurry of activity on the original Flickr photo recenty, too. An argument has broken out on whether or not she was right to post the picture (hope you have lots of time to read — I don’t). The photographer says she’ll be taking the pic down once the guy’s apprehended, which probably isn’t a bad idea.

David from Chicago made an interesting point via email: what’s creepier, what this guy did, or the fact that a photo can be doctored to publicly shame him?

I don’t think that’s the case here, as there’s a lot of facts in the story that can be readily verified, and at this point she’s going to have a lot more to worry about than charges for filing a false report. However, he does make a good point. Browse Worth 1000 and you’ll see a lot of amazing things that can be done with a little time and a copy of Photoshop.

Which will bring on the next big problem for prosecutors and law in general: “That’s not my client, your honor. The photo has been doctored. In fact, here’s one where our experts have turned him into a woman. And here’s one where Godzilla is your perpetrator.”

Rising Sun is on ten times a day on FX some months. Give it a looksee. Maybe it was ahead of its time?