BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk) announced on October 19 that an Australian journalist kidnapped in Iraq was freed after his captors checked the popular Internet search engine Google (www.google.com) to confirm his identity. John Martinkus was seized in Baghdad on October 16, the first Australian held hostage in Iraq since the US-led invasion. But his captors agreed to release him after they were convinced he was not working for the CIA or a US contractor.
John Martinkus was reported to be making his way home to Australia on October 19. His executive producer at Australia's SBS network, Mike Carey, claimed that Google probably saved the freelance journalist. Carey stated that the captors Googled Martinkus and then went onto either his own or his book publisher's web site and saw that he was who he was, and that that was instrumental in letting him go or swinging their decision.
