Darren Kenny has been wanted by police since he was mistakenly released from the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in late August. (RCMP)

A fugitive from Deline, N.W.T., has been using a social networking website to keep in touch with friends while on the run from authorities for the past three months.

Darren Lee Kenny, 27, has posted and received at least a dozen messages on his Bebo account since he was mistakenly released from custody in August.

Corrections staff accidentally released Kenny from the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River, N.W.T., while he was awaiting trial on charges of sexual assault and failure to comply with a probation order.

The mistake was caught this month when RCMP called the correctional centre to make arrangements to transport Kenny to a court appearance scheduled for Nov. 16.

A warrant was issued for his arrest, and authorities have been searching for him since. Corrections officials say Kenny is not considered to be a threat to the public.

Posted contact information

Even after the arrest warrant was issued, Kenny has continued to use Bebo. In one case, he used the site to notify someone of where he was staying, even posting a phone number where he could be reached.

Most of the RCMP's computers in the N.W.T. are blocked from accessing social networking websites because connecting with those sites could make them vulnerable to hackers, Sgt. Wayne Norris said.

Some RCMP computers in Yellowknife can access such websites, but Norris would not say how many.

"I think what's important is that we are able to access that information," he told CBC News.

"How many computers we have, I don't think is the point here. I think the point is that we have that tool to allow our members to get that information."

Websites rich in information

Police in Toronto regularly mine information from pages on social networking websites during criminal investigations, according to Avner Levin, a cyber crime expert at Ryerson University's Privacy and Cybercrime Institute in Toronto.

"They're fully aware of the potential to reach out through the social networks and gather information," Levin said, adding that young people in particular post a lot of personal information on sites like Facebook and Bebo.

Avner said people often assume that the information they put on their profile is for their friends' eyes only, when it can actually be accessed by the public.

As for restricting RCMP in N.W.T. access to social networking websites, Levin said he is skeptical that security is the only reason.

"I would suspect that the banning is not just because of that, but also because a lot of employers usually are reluctant to allow access to these websites because they view them as an exercise in time-wasting," he said.

In January, a Yellowknife woman used her Facebook account to lead RCMP to one of three men who attacked her and her boyfriend at a downtown bank machine on New Year's Eve.

The woman told CBC News in an interview that she went to Facebook to look up the man, and recognized him by his profile picture.

The man has since been charged in relation to the attack.