CrimeNet -- the Australian site that sells criminal's details over the Internet -- may move off shore after being threatened with closure by the Victorian legal establishment.
Crime Net owner, Ken Shultz says he has had a number of offers to buy the Web site, including bids from Brazil and the United States.
"We're in negotiations at the moment to sell the entire operation overseas," Shultz told ZDNet Australia.
Last week a Victorian Judge aborted a murder retrial because of prejudice caused by information on CrimeNet detailing the previous two convictions of the accused. Justice George Hampel dismissed the jury and terminated the case, stating that CrimeNet and the publicity surrounding it had hampered proceedings.
The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General Rob Hulls have since issued a warning to Shultz stating there could be serious sanctions imposed -- including contempt of court charges -- if the Web site continues to interfere with the Victorian legal system.
Rather than face the possibility of a jail sentence, Shultz has been advised by his solicitor to write a conciliatory letter to the Victorian DPP and the Attorney General offering his cooperation.
Shultz has asked to be given updated information when convictions have been overturned and retrials are occurring so that he can remove the information from the criminal database.
"I need assurance from them so that I don't have this contempt of court charge hanging over my head. If I don't get that, then I will accept an offer from overseas and sell the database and operation offshore," he said.
The Victorian DPP and Attorney General have called for full amendment of the database to include every person in Victoria.
Shultz has already added a full fee paying service to minimise access since the last week's murder retrial was aborted, as well as amendment of the records to not include those persons in Victoria facing retrial or overturned convictions.
