I'd be interested to know if any actual SWAT operations happened from these calls. I know that it does happen sometimes.
Swatting people has gotten people killed… by swat
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Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
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Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#22It should really not be possible for a single anonymous phone call to dispatch a heavily armed response team to break down someone's door.
Aside from that, people who do so are despicable. 20 years is a light sentence. Taking money to put people in situations that could easily become deadly.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#23Okay so like, genuinely not trying to do a "back in my day" fuckin thing here, but also: what the fuck is wrong with kids? Back when I was coming up, pranking at it's absolute worst was like, filling a dudes shoes with yogurt in the locker room, or like, putting plastic bugs in people's desks n shit. Why the fuck are teenagers trying to get each other murdered by cops!?
To me it feels more like someone wanting control/power over others without being physically capable of bullying.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#24Not sure why swatting isn’t treated like attempted murder
That requires not only people wrapping their mind around the fact that death is likely when the cops kick in a door but also the state overtly codifying that reality.
It'll happen when pigs fly.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#25Okay so like, genuinely not trying to do a "back in my day" fuckin thing here, but also: what the fuck is wrong with kids? Back when I was coming up, pranking at it's absolute worst was like, filling a dudes shoes with yogurt in the locker room, or like, putting plastic bugs in people's desks n shit. Why the fuck are teenagers trying to get each other murdered by cops!?
Fair question, but I would also like to ask "What the f** is wrong with cops?".
Receiving an anonymous call claiming some not-particularly-plausible threat at a particular location probably DOES deserve a police investigation. I see no reason why it impels police to drag people from their house in chains, threaten to shoot them, or actually shoot them.
If police responses were reasonable and proportionate to the plausibility of the threat then swatters would not be able to use them as a weapon.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect its more about how much national information you're exposed to today than any sort of time based moral failing.
I cannot be convinced that swatting is something that used to happen. Is there a history of this? I legit do not remember seeing anything on the evening national news about that in the past, like from before 2000.
It became really easy and cheap to use a VPN and VOIP number.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#27Okay so like, genuinely not trying to do a "back in my day" fuckin thing here, but also: what the fuck is wrong with kids? Back when I was coming up, pranking at it's absolute worst was like, filling a dudes shoes with yogurt in the locker room, or like, putting plastic bugs in people's desks n shit. Why the fuck are teenagers trying to get each other murdered by cops!?
We would order pizzas to one person who complained about our skateboarding.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#28I'd be interested to know if any actual SWAT operations happened from these calls. I know that it does happen sometimes.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#29It should really not be possible for a single anonymous phone call to dispatch a heavily armed response team to break down someone's door. Aside from that, people who do so are despicable. 20 years is a light sentence. Taking money to put people in situations that could easily become deadly.
If one were to believe there are actors in our society bad enough to justify a service existing then one would also have to believe there are actors bad enough to abuse that service with a view to kill anyone. It’s paradoxical that such a thing exists.
Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges
#30Okay so like, genuinely not trying to do a "back in my day" fuckin thing here, but also: what the fuck is wrong with kids? Back when I was coming up, pranking at it's absolute worst was like, filling a dudes shoes with yogurt in the locker room, or like, putting plastic bugs in people's desks n shit. Why the fuck are teenagers trying to get each other murdered by cops!?
swatting is older than I am, and kids have been calling in bomb threats to get out of school for the better part of a century