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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

#91
post #19

Not sure why swatting isn’t treated like attempted murder

Well he is facing 20 years

He's probably not facing anything resembling 20 years. Charged as an adult under the fact patterns we know about, I get something like 15 years. But he's being charged as a juvenile.

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#92
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Around 1000 people per year, which I absolutely agree is terrible - but at the same time, the population is over 300,000,000 so it stretches the meaning of the word to call it ‘regular’. https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-de...

[deleted]

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#93
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Around 1000 people per year, which I absolutely agree is terrible - but at the same time, the population is over 300,000,000 so it stretches the meaning of the word to call it ‘regular’. https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-de...

That’s more than two people per day. But sure, let’s nitpick the definition of “regular” because that’s absolutely the important issue, here.

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#94
From the Information he pled to:

    ALAN W. FILION,
        a/k/a "Nazgul Swattings,"
        a/k/a "Torswats V3,"
        a/k/a "Third Reich of Kiwiswats,"
        a/k/a "The Table Swats,"
        a/k/a "Angmar," and
        a/k/a "Torswats"
Seems like a fun guy. It looks like most of this story was covered a year ago:

https://www.wired.com/story/alan-filion-torswats-swatting-ar...

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#95
post #51

I'm unwisely and unadvisedly wading into this half-cocked. Swatting wouldn't even be a thing if - Anonymous calls should be treated with high levels of suspicion as to their legitimacy - First response training that's even moderately appropriate - Situational awareness beyond what one's been informed by third parties - Empathy for all humans - Any kind of notion of that a scenario may not actually be as described by…

It's a US cultural thing to either avoid blaming the police for anything, or make excuses for them. Brutal police behavior is seen as either acceptable, or what even desirable . I've seen reddit posts where a protester slightly taunts the police and gets pepper sprayed in the face, and all the commenters were gleefully saying things like "fuck around and find out", without even thinking that maybe there wasn't enough…

Exactly this.

There's no fixing the system when there is no onus on the police to act like they care. They enter a home that was a victim of swatting and kill everyone? Tough luck, "it's part of the job", "we told them to stand down and they didn't", "we couldn't risk the life of the first responders".

There's always a reason as to why police violence is fine. Its almost as if the police isn't really there to protect normal people.

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#96
In Europe this would have been a completely different story. It's highly unlikely (compared to the US) that a SWAT team equivalent would kill anyone. The guy could have got away with 5-7 years max. I know it's a museum, but I prefer to live here.

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This is a mischaracterization of what actually happens in the us. Using sensationalism doesn't help, instead let's focus on the actual numbers and be constructive on how to decrease them. In 2023 it's estimated police killed around 1,248 people. Notice I said killed vs Murdered as words matter. Out of that only 104 were unarmed. Now without looking at each case or example here, you can still account for the mass majo…

[flagged]

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#98
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but when you smash down someone's door and see them playing games on a computer, instead of cooking meth while making bombs by tying guns together, maybe you shouldn't continue treating the situation as an emergency.

And if they can't find the person who made the call to charge them for door repairs, then they shouldn't have busted down the door (and should pay for the repairs).

Over here (Greece), anonymous reports are generally given very low priority, to the point where if someone anonymous reports a suspicious vehicle, the police might not even investigate. A report by an eponymous reporter does generally get investigated, though, because there's a lower likelihood of the report being frivolous.

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#99
post #69
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a US cultural thing to either avoid blaming the police for anything, or make excuses for them. Brutal police behavior is seen as either acceptable, or what even desirable . I've seen reddit posts where a protester slightly taunts the police and gets pepper sprayed in the face, and all the commenters were gleefully saying things like "fuck around and find out", without even thinking that maybe there wasn't enough…

I'm pretty sure there are a number of people in the US who don't support the police in any way at all. There was a whole song a few years ago called Fuck the police, I'm pretty sure. It's like sweeping categorizations of an entire country are usually not accurate or something.

I live in America and while I have compassion for some individual cops, I hate them as a whole with a burning passion. I know lots of people that feel this way. It’s almost like social media comments sections are not an accurate representation of a population or something.

Re: Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

#100
post #69
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a US cultural thing to either avoid blaming the police for anything, or make excuses for them. Brutal police behavior is seen as either acceptable, or what even desirable . I've seen reddit posts where a protester slightly taunts the police and gets pepper sprayed in the face, and all the commenters were gleefully saying things like "fuck around and find out", without even thinking that maybe there wasn't enough…

I'm pretty sure there are a number of people in the US who don't support the police in any way at all. There was a whole song a few years ago called Fuck the police, I'm pretty sure. It's like sweeping categorizations of an entire country are usually not accurate or something.

> I'm pretty sure there are a number of people in the US who don't support the police in any way at all.

Yes, this is so trivially true of any place that it's not worth mentioning, as generalizations are meant as just that: Something that a majority (or at least a large minority) are like. For example, people do say "people in the US speak English", even though there's a number of people that don't. This doesn't make the generalization any less useful than "Americans like baseball" or "Americans wear shoes around the house".

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