IDK? (Photo: Inquisitr)

Here's the thing about building a massive platform for social interaction: You don't just get the high school graduation pics and the wedding announcements. You get all ugly stuff, too. Hence the threat reportedly made this weekend against one of the NYPD's more digitally savvy cops.

The New York Post broke the news this weekend that someone had stopped by the 73rd Precinct's Facebook page and left a detailed threat against commanding officer Joseph Gulotta. The post, which was promptly taken down, described both Mr. Gulotta's car and the hours he works--not exactly the sort of information you want bandied about the Internet, even if you don't make many enemies in the course of your daily life.

The Post suggests the call for violence against Mr. Gulotta was prompted by the precinct's aggressive trawling of Facebook as a way of rooting out possible gang members, which Daily News covered just last week. Yeah, using Facebook to threaten a cop might be the only thing less wise than betraying signs of one's gang affiliations on Facebook.

It doesn't seem the would-be desperado got very far, though. The Daily News reports that a 19-year-old with 13 prior arrests has already turned himself in (though his lawyer says he's innocent and denies he actually put out a hit). Nor does it seem the original threat got much traction:  "While cops feared the post might prompt a brazen criminal to try to murder Gulotta, it did not appear to generate much of an online stir."

It's never the posts you think are gonna go viral that actually do.

A hypothetical Silk Road customer. (Getty Images)

Australian authorities have put supposedly anonymized users surfing Silk Road for weed and other sundries on notice: the coppers are one step ahead of you. A joint press release published by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service on Wednesday may serve as notice to anyone who is happily booting TOR and using the miracle of the Internet to score weapons-grade kush:

Silk Road is an overseas based illicit e-commerce website which facilitates the sale of drugs, weapons and other items prohibited under Australian law.

Law enforcement is well aware of this method of drug procurement and other illicit e-commerce platforms and are committed to identifying and combating users importing narcotics via this website into Australia.

This warning comes after a Melbourne resident was snagged for allegedly using Silk Road to transport unspecified narcotics into the country.

The most interesting part of the release might be a quote from customs official Alana Sullivan, who said, "Persons who buy or sell through online market places, on so-called 'anonymous' networks should understand that they are not guaranteed anonymity."

Ms. Sullivan's words may be a splash of cold water in the faces of  TOR users and Silk Road consumers around the world, or at least in the United States and Europe. If Aussie cops know where your Bitcoins go, who is to say American or European authorities are in the dark?

Don't turn around officers, the ultimate capitalist is laughing at you!

This is neither here nor there but strange enough to note: a screengrab from a Chinese documentary, Chinese Police, which features at exactly 30 seconds in a photobomb from no less than Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg, who reportedly visited Shanghai at the end of March, is shown walking with Ms. Chan behind a pair of grim-faced Chinese cops, looking oddly amused if not downright tickled by the scene in front of him.

The site that originally reported the photobomb (docu-bomb?) translated the subtitle on-screen during Mr. Zuckerberg's appearance as "Many problems impelled the Chinese police to find way (sic) to increase efficiency."

More fun still are the comments on Chinasmack.com, which prove the eternally devolving nature of Internet commenters rarely changes, regardless of language or nationality:

• "The head of an illegal foreign website, and they even planted an advertistement for him!"
• "The highest net worth background actor ever."
• "This is the prelude to Facebook entering China."
• "This is clearly American imperialists deliberately interfering in our internal affairs."

If the last quote is true Mr. Zuckerberg may be informing his handlers at the C.I.A. at this very moment that Operation Docu-bomb (Photobomb?) is--so far--a bigger success than Facebook's IPO.

Another dissatisfied customer.

If you answered 'Fight crime and intimidate thieves into the idea that they will inevitably be caught,' you're wrong.

If you answered 'Entrap low-wage workers as they purchase other people's stolen gear even though they know it's stolen,' you're right.

Via the New York Post, of course:

Undercover NYPD officers walked into stores in all five boroughs and offered merchants the electronics – asking $50 to $200 for iPhone 4s and iPad 2s - clearly stating that the popular gadgets were stolen. The stings began Tuesday and continued through today, and followed decoy operations in the subways to catch the thieves that steal electronics from straphangers. Most of the stings yielded one arrest, though at some locations two merchants were arrested and one location near 178th Street and Fort Washington Avenue netted six people.

For the record, as you could imagine, these aren't exactly high-income neighborhoods. Regardless, the entire tactic seems a little...exploitative? Entrapment-happy? Then again, having your iPhone stolen sucks. So there's that.

New York City is generally shady on the whole, is the point.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek