Manhunters Beware

A gay Brooklyn man is on life-support with probable permanent brain damage, after being lured to Plumb Beach for sex by four straight young men who contacted him on what police are calling a "popular internet chat line". Michael Sandy, 29, fled his attackers by running onto the Belt Highway where he was struck by a car, which left the scene without stopping. The young men were then seen rifling through Sandy's pockets. Police used Sandy's computer to trace the IP of the four young men, who are under arrest.

I have been hearing more stories like this over the past year. In the old days, gay activists used to advise not leaving a bar or club with a stranger without letting someone you know and trust meet them and see who you are leaving with. Not that many of us actually did that. What procedures could be put in place to make internet hook-ups safer?