The New York Times peeks in on I Saw Your Nanny, "a 15-month-old New Yorkcentric Web log that has recorded hundreds of anonymous posts, or 'sightings.'"

When people see someone they assume is a nanny having an unpleasant interaction with a kid, they can submit an account to the site.

"Posts describe restless children strapped into strollers while caretakers chat idly on the phone, or nannies feeding children junk food, and some posts are simply bizarre. One claimed that a nanny at the Billy Johnson Playground, near the Central Park Zoo, had tossed a screaming child’s live goldfish, encased in a water-filled plastic bag, into a garbage can.

"Since its launch in August 2006, ISawYourNanny has had 1.7 million hits, according to the blog’s counter. While the blog is national in scope, New York is the top state contributor, and most of its postings come from New York City, primarily Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn."

It sounds like an icky concept, even though the anonymous proprietor's reason for launching it is somewhat understandable:

"ISawYourNanny was founded by a 37-year-old woman from Greenwich, Conn., who had worked as a nanny for more than a decade. The impetus for the blog, she said, was a conversation with a child she had once cared for; the child told her that her new nanny, whom the woman had helped select, was 'one way in front of you and different when she’s around us.'

"'To me, that was a warning,' said the woman..."

But there are problems with the site, which one critic compares to East German Stasi informants:

"The blog does not confirm posts — anyone can post an item, and anyone can read it — and Jane Doe rarely removes them, a policy that can lead to errors and unwarranted invasions of privacy.

"Further, in the opinion of legal experts, the blog dwells in a potentially libelous area."

Other than that, it's peachy.