The good news about gang activity in Pittsburgh is less of it is spilling out to the streets. The bad news is the city's 41 gangs have moved their rivalries from corners where they have battled for decades to social networking sites where they hope to attract a new generation of cyber-savvy bangers.

The cops call it net-banging. It's as if the Jets from "West Side Story" have become the Jetsons. Instead of using old media like graffiti to mark territory, gangs on the East End post videos while their counterparts on the North Side build tribute pages on MySpace.com to fallen comrades.

Gang symbols still proliferate, but this time technology has become the means of dissemination. When gangs "burn" each other on the Internet, it has implications for what happens in the non-virtual world. A diss is still a diss even when it's digital.

As Pittsburgh gangs go online, the Pittsburgh Police Intelligence and Crime Analysis Unit is getting smarter about tracking their activity on the streets. Police have responded to the challenge with the creation of the Pittsburgh Intelligence Task Force, a 60-officer squad devoted to assembling and monitoring the latest information about gangs.

The task force builds data bases and circulates the information throughout the city's six zones. Gang control is no longer limited to particular neighborhoods -- it encompasses the entire city.

While gangs are getting smarter, it's good to know the police are evolving as well. A new age of gang activity requires a new response that uses technology and information gathering for the public benefit. We may be entering a brave new world, but it's still about fighting the same old crime.

First Published: February 22, 2008, 5:00 a.m.