ComputerForensicsDigest.com

Software giant Microsoft is assisting in the search for a missing Canadian teenager named Brandon Crisp. At the request of Ontario law enforcement, Microsoft has agreed to release confidential information about the teen's online activity while playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In addition, the company has added $25,000 to the award offered for information about his whereabouts.

Microsoft will release private game information to law enforcement, but its internal procedures can cause some delay, police said. In this case, the teen's dad made a personal plea to the software company, which expedited the release of the information.

The push to get access to online gaming activity underscores once more the extent to which the scope of computer forensics is expanding beyond individual devices and onto the Web.

Update -- 6 November: Tragically, the body of Brandon Crisp was found in a densely-wooded area approximately a mile and a half from his home in Barrie, Ontario, a town roughly 60 miles north of Toronto. Foul play is not suspected; although an autopsy is pending, police suspect that the teen died from exposure.