As a human being, fellow Web Developer, and Blogger (notsomuch), it is hard to see another person's property ransacked and taken from their hard working hands.

On March 12th 2008, Jesse McPherson, a Web Designer and Blogger's house was burglarized, and some personal belongings were stolen, including an Apple G4 Powerbook (which probably contained precious material for his web design business), an Xbox 360, a copy of Halo 3 and a Plasma TV. Jesse gathered himself, calmly blogged about this event, thanked his lucky star that his dog wasn't hurt, and went about his daily life.

A few days later, Jesse contacted a few places, and got word of a pawn shop that had a customer try to unload an Apple G4 Powerbook that fit the description. With little help (not "a little help") from the local police, Jesse was able to obtain surveillance video of this kid (or "Xbox Moron", as he is comically referred to) trying to sell his laptop to the pawn shop.

"He immediately discovers that someone has left a voice message on [Xbox Live] taunting him and demanding money for the stolen Xbox 360. The "caller" left his Xbox LIVE info for payment purposes... which, once Digg folk got hold of it, delivered up everything from the boy's name (Joseph Grone Jr.) to property information on his parents' home."

At this time, Jesse is unaware that Digg has picked up on his blog posts, and Digg members start their own investigation. Once the Diggers got a hold of the kid's name and Xbox Live handle, true justice really went to work. Hours later diggers were uniting, posting blogs, forming IRC Chat Lines, and 'digging' up any and as much information on this kid as they could. Including, home address, phone number, parents' phone numbers, attending school, MySpace account, Facebook account, girlfriend, girlfriends' MySpace account, and much more.

Digg users then use these newfound resources to call/message the kid, and, by the hundreds might I add, warn the kid of the prison rape that ensues. This in many ways was borderline harassment (hilarity?), but it did not stop the Diggers.

Results!

A few days later, the kid's parents drop the Laptop, Xbox 360 and copy of Halo 3 off at Jesse's doorstep in a white plastic bag. I guess his parents got tired of the Arrest comments, Sodomy threats and the Office Space references (pwnage).

Apparently, the "Xbox Moron" says he bought the Laptop, Xbox 360 and copy of Halo 3 off of the streets for $200. Now, nobody knows if he is telling the truth, or if he is lying. However, if you consider the time frame from when the items were stolen, to the time where he is caught red handed, his alibi seems slightly moronic, he is, after all, the Xbox Moron.

What matters, is that everything was returned to Jesse, who in a later blog post, thanked the internet for being on his side, and that the kid is "already immortalized by the internet as a MORON!".

It just goes to show, the internet can be a powerful thing, just ask Rick Astley.