Forensic web watch 4.
Finding dedicated sites on the World Wide Web (WWW) touching upon issues related to the autopsy which could be of use to forensic practitioners is, as with other areas of forensic medicine and science, a time-consuming task. Unfortunately, one has to wade through lists related to 'Alien autopsy' sites and even 'Furby autopsy' sites that are generated by the most commonly used web search engines, which have been featured in earlier web reviews. Numerous sites containing large archives of autopsy photographs are available on the web. However, many of these sites represent the darker side of the WWW as they are often presented purely for titillation. Unfortunately, one can equate these sites to the modern-day version of the Victorian 'freak show'--Typically, these sites ask for your Visa card number to view their contents, and several have links to pornography sites; one even links to a Satanist site. Luckily a few of these sites do now require age confirmation codes. As many of these sites show autopsy photographs from real cases one has to ask how these were obtained and who is placing them on the WWW. This review does not list any of these sites for obvious reasons, but it does draw the reader's attention to sites touching upon issues related to autopsies which forensic practitioners may wish to visit or use.
Department of Forensic Pathology, Medico-Legal Centre, Sheffield, UK.
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