Internet postings: here today and gone tomorrow

In the "Avatar" episode of Law and Order (29 Sep 06), an Internet photo of a murdered woman provokes a lot of 911 calls. As the episode progresses, we learn that the hit on the woman/mother was orchestrated through the daughter by a posting on a friends-like internet site.

The issue of the changing nature of internet-posted content came up. After securing her hit man, the daughter removed the murder solicitation from the website, which removal tricked McCoy and friends for a while. Reminds one of some of the removals/alterations of patent data by the USPTO on their website. Also is a signpost along the way for future problems with internet based prior art in patent law.