TIMES are changing quickly. In 1968, American artist Any Warhol said: "In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes."

Thanks to portable, digital recording devices, we're almost there now - although many people are destined to be infamous.

Anyone can be a film star in a movie they direct themselves and post for the world to see on the internet. The trouble is that if you are spotted pranking around with guns while filming your movie, you could find yourself faced by an armed police unit - and that is real danger.

We report how that happened to two Consett men on Page 3. On Pages 1 and 2, we tell of the mobile phone footage showing a 16-year-old girl being beaten up.

The footage is very good quality. About 15 faces of the gang which witnessed the attack are identifiable, although as many of them are 16 and technically juveniles, we are unable to show the video.

There is much talk at the moment about "yob Britain", and here it is on video. A teenage girl attacks another girl, egged on by a third girl, and breaks her nose. Of the large gang, only one - a boy - tries to stop it. He is pulled out of the way by the third girl and shepherded out of the scene by a fourth female.

In fact, the rest of the cast seem to enjoy the proceedings. There are smiling faces at the beginning, and, at the end, clearly audible laughter when the beaten girl tries to flee and is nearly run down by a passing car.

Imagine that: in her panic, she's a foot or so from life-threatening injury, and her "friends" laugh. And this isn't London or Liverpool, but Middleton St George, a comfortable village on the outskirts of Darlington.

Anti-social behaviour is not unique to this generation, but the easy means of recording it are. The digital camera's all-seeing eye can make us famous, but it can also record images we'd prefer no one to see.

In this case, those images should be used positively: all those involved should see the footage - hopefully with their parents - and be absolutely ashamed of their behaviour.