Modern technology can open flood gates of information, but it can also get you arrested. One harebrained thief recently tried robbing a Bedford-Stuyvesant Chinese food joint, but made a few critical mistakes. While attempting to hold up the restaurant, neighborhood man Raymond Williams, 21, shot two employees before dropping his cell phone at the scene of the crime. In hopes of retrieving it, he called the phone repeatedly until a police officer answered. Pretending to be an innocent stranger, the cop arranged a pick-up point where he would return Williams’ phone. Police immediately arrested him when he showed up at the undisclosed location, ensuring the next phone call he makes, will be from a far less portable phone.

Also, three Long Island girls were recently arrested for beating an eight-grade girl. They might have avoided punishment, if not for the Internet. After the girls filmed the ruthless beating on the grounds of a North Babylon elementary school, they posted the video on YouTube, MySpace and other Web sites. The clip, which shows the victim acting entirely defensively without fighting back, eventually fell into the hands of local police. An investigation followed, after which the three girls were charged with attempted assault and released to their parents. Hopefully this ordeal taught the girls the important lesson that crimes are much easier to deny when you don’t broadcast them to millions of Internet users.