I'm currently in India working with an NGO building software for surveying, rebuilding their website, and trying to work with a group at IIT who are building an open source GIS software.
There are plenty of NGOs who could use your skills. Governments are coming to expect computer work, GIS maps, survey data etc. This puts NGOs who are behind the times at a real disadvantage for getting funding and getting on with their projects.
There are plenty of things you could do outside your field aswell. Some research and finding some people in the know is all it would take. Have a look at Engineers without borders.
I don't know about this site, but the photos in the UK newspapers are released by the police - so they are probably linked to evidence on that person. So if you could identify someone the police would just have to find them.
I'm on a pretty slow connection here, so If I want to try identify some rioters, I need to sit and wait for a whole page to load with the new image? I could do that once, maybe twice before getting bored.
Why not just follow the "old school" method and just make a page full of faces, like the newspapers are doing. There is nothing new or innovative about this site, if anything it's backwards!