CALABRIA, ITALY - Thanks to his Facebook contacts, suspected Italian mafioso Pasquale Manfredi was apprehended. To ascertain Manfredi’s whereabouts, Italian police contacted his network of connections from the social networking page. Reports indicate that Manfredi, one of the country’s top 100 most-wanted suspects, was arrested trying to escape from the rooftop of an apartment complex in the city of Crotone.

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PARIS, FRANCE – In movies, PIs often do surveillance work by peeking through holes in newspapers. A new French discovery, however, may eventually change the way real-life PIs do surveillance. A new discovery has allowed researchers a way to possibly see through opaque objects. Researchers have analyzed the way light passes through a zinc oxide layer and believe the data may help them eventually create a light beam that can pass through solid objects and emerge on the other side.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – The House Of Commons Culture, Media And Sport Select Committee has released its report about the News of The World phone spy scandal, a scandal involving PIs who allegedly used illegal techniques to gather phone data for journalists. The report concludes that News of the World editor Andy Coulson may not have known of the phone hacking – or that there is no evidence of his knowledge. The report also claims that the scandal represents a “serious management failure” for which Coulson was ultimately responsible as editor. The report also slams other employees and workers at News of the World, who displayed “collective amnesia” in denying their own knowledge of the hacking, even though presumably several workers there knew what had been going on.

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MILAN, ITALY – A phone spying case which involved the hacking of top Italian celebrities has finally been settled after dragging on since 1997. That’s the year that Telecom Italia was accused of playing a role in illegally accessing telephone records of private customers. The company was eventually controlled by tire company Pirelli but the scandal continued. Now, the two companies have agreed to pay $10.4 million for their role in the scandal.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – Thanks to the bad economy, fraud is on the rise in the UK and is now costing that economy $30 billion a year. For PIs, this has meant good news as more clients work to track down fraudsters and recover lost assets. According to experts, much fraud takes place in the private sector, where businesses are increasingly willing to pay for PIs in order to crack down on those who attack their businesses financially through theft and fraud.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – British filmmaker David Bond is trying to determine how far surveillance has gone in our society. His latest project, Erasing David, is his attempt to outwit a group of PIs. Trying to determine whether privacy is even a reality any more, Bond challenged some top British PIs to track him using only public domain information. Considering that the average British citizen pops up on at least one of the four million public surveillance cameras in England daily and is registered on over 700 databases, living off the grid might be challenging.

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BRASILIA, BRAZIL – A Brazilian company named Lindelucy has created GPS lingerie, which keeps track of the location of the lingerie wearer at all times. Although the item may prove popular with suspicious spouses and partners, it might be more effective to hire a PI or attorney rather than rely on underwear to keep track of a straying spouse.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – Elin Nordegren, wife of troubled golfer Tiger Woods, has hired a PI, allegedly to check Woods’ assets and wealth, possibly as a precursor to divorce proceedings. Nordegren will likely divorce Woods in California, where divorce laws tend to be more generous to ex-spouses. Nordegren likely wants to know the full extent of Woods’ wealth before filing. Experts believe the pro golfer is worth about $1 billion.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – The European Union (EU) has implemented new data sharing terms. A report suggests that the new arrangements may allow foreign officials to access motorists’ data, and some are concerned that this data can be misused. The EU has suggested that sharing the data can help stop crime, but a National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) report suggests that the information from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) will not be controlled. Member states will be able to access a number of facts through DVLA data about individual motorists, including medical information, driving violations, addresses, names and more. Some are concerned that the new data sharing will mean a further erosion of privacy and a step closer to a surveillance state.

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ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – Last week, PInow.com staff reported about news from Australia suggesting that parents there are hiring PIs to keep tabs on their children. Recently, a new technology, Bully Stop, was released in Australia to help parents do just that. Bully Stop allows parents to use a computer program to control a child’s incoming information. Parents using the system can create a “block list” and approved list of contacts, check their children’s text messages, and more. Bully Stop is created by Virtual Mobile Application Development.

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