Urban Exploration and Cyber Space

The biggest problem with urban exploration today is when people post their activities on the internet...you never know who is veiwing what you've done and where you've been. The following is a true story, it's a bit old, the name has been blocked out, but this is what happened to a former member of another site:

Web of intrigue surrounds man's arrest after photos posted of abandoned sites

By ELIZABETH MOORE
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
Date: Thursday, 01/29/2004

It was a Web site filled with dark images of abandoned homes, factories and buildings throughout New Jersey.

The site displays photographs showing buildings, walls and cars with the date and time the pictures were taken and detailed descriptions of the locations.

But police say the designer of the now-defunct site, abandonedandbeyond.com, was also breaking the law.

Fairfield police arrested 25-year-old Robert $@&%% of Wayne on Tuesday and charged him with burglary and criminal trespassing after the owners of a vacant factory in Fairfield discovered someone had broken into their building and posted pictures of its interior on the Internet.

Police said a building on New Dutch Lane, owned by Vibra Screw Inc. of Totowa, has been closed for several years and is surrounded by a fence with a "Private Property" sign. The owners contacted Fairfield police in December when they discovered someone had forced their way into the vacant building. Police said they believe the break-in may have occurred in September.

The owners were concerned about vandalism and somebody getting hurt inside the building, police said. Although the factory is closed, it is used for storage.

After the building's owners told police about the interior photographs, the investigation focused on the Web site and its creator, whom police identified as $@&%%.

$@&%%, who was arrested on his way to work at a food company, was charged with burglary and criminal trespassing and released on his own recognizance, police said.

Fairfield police believe that $@&%% was accompanied by friends on many of the break-ins and that the break-ins were done at various sites in New Jersey. Police said several municipalities in Essex and Passaic counties have gotten involved in the investigation.

Police were unable to offer a motive for the break-ins, since it did not appear that items were stolen from the sites.

Attempts to reach $@&%% were unsuccessful. A telephone number listed for him in Wayne had been disconnected.