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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

#121

Post by Nursie »

bruce511 wrote: post #119
Nursie wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree - community moderated quality floats to the top under such systems, exposing the better posts to more eyes and downregulating low-quality shitposting. It can certainly lead to echo-chamber mentality, but without it we'd see more low-effort, low quality posts drowning out discourse.

You're assuming that down-votes are used to assess the quality of the post, and not agreement with the content. I would suggest that both appear here. Personally I would prefer votes to be on quality of post rather than popularity of position as that leads to the possibility of examining an issue from multiple viewpoints. (When responding to a post that has been thought out, but down voted, I feel the need to point o…

> I would suggest that both appear here.

They do. It's not a perfect mechanism.

> But a better system might be

Yeah we've had 20 years or more of sites trying to find a good formula now. Slashdot's ratings and meta-ratings back in the day, where you rated something as Insightful/Informative etc, and then every so often you were asked to review other user's ratings so their future ratings could be weighted ... technically interesting but really cumbersome.

I like HN's choice not to display ratings on other people's posts, and I like the simple UI. I think it's better with up and down votes than without... I don't think we're going to find a perfect scheme but that doesn't mean we should abandon the imperfect ones.

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

#122

Post by jrmg »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #113
jrmg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 stat includes all shootings, not just murders

I think many would argue that all deaths by shootings are murder - even if it’s in self defense, and perhaps especially if society grants more power, in the form of immunity, to one ‘side’.

I didn’t want to open that can of worms. Even the inclusive stat I cited is small enough to support the point I wanted to make.

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

#123

Post by jakelazaroff »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #115
jakelazaroff wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 majority of police interactions ending in a death, the civilian was armed at a minimum. Does the Second Amendment not exist? Which other constitutional rights do you think we should use to j…

The 2nd Amendment doesn't give you the right to brandish at cops (or anyone else, outside of limited situations like self defense)

GP merely said “armed”, not “brandishing”.

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

#124

Post by kernal »

stavros wrote: post #51
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #41

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…

The only time I’ve seen police use pepper spray or aggression are when the protesters become violent. Do a YouTube search for Antifa protesters and tell me who the violent people are again?

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

#125

Post by kernal »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #73
stavros wrote: 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…

[flagged]

You should really qualify what you mean by murder because it’s very disingenuous. When a criminal uses deadly force against a police officer they will be shot.

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

#126

Post by harshreality »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #105
ganoushoreilly wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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 majority of police interactions ending in a death, the civilian was armed at a minimum. Does the Second Amendment not exist? Which other constitutional rights do you think we should use to j…

"Armed" is a proxy for criminals being criminals, and almost always reaching for, displaying, or using the weapon in some antisocial way prior to being shot dead.

Legal gun owners not committing obvious crimes are only rarely accosted by police, and shootings are exceedingly rare, and they usually make the news and result in legal action. They also usually involve the victim doing something that's not advisable, even if they're not doing anything legally wrong. Philando Castile, for instance, or Johnny Hurley.

"Unarmed" doesn't represent what the suspect was doing that got them shot. Were they resisting arrest or being noncompliant and reaching for their waist or a center console or glove compartment?

There are cases where police shoot suspects, armed or unarmed, unjustifiably. They're not as rare as anyone wishes they were. They're still fairly rare. Behaving civilly, even while recognizing that many police are like barely constrained wild animals, goes a long way toward ensuring that an accidental furtive gesture isn't interpreted as reaching for a weapon.

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

#127

Post by mrshu »

tptacek wrote: post #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...

https://archive.is/FozW8

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

#128

Post by archagon »

kernal wrote: post #124
stavros wrote: 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…

The only time I’ve seen police use pepper spray or aggression are when the protesters become violent. Do a YouTube search for Antifa protesters and tell me who the violent people are again?

I see news stories like this all the time: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/caron-nazario-army-lieutenant-...

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

#129

Post by brohee »

ganoushoreilly wrote: post #89
ClassyJacket wrote: post #73

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…

Going in details on how they were armed would be interesting. How many people with a limp "armed" with a cane...

Pretty sure they managed to sneak this one (https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/john-fauver-harford-c...) in the armed category

Also dogs are not any more armed in the US than in Europe, yet American cops shoot a lot more dogs. They do so because they are antisocial and know they'll face no consequences (and even if they get fired from on PD, another will recruit them). I'd say there is both a recruiting issue and an immunity issue.

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

#130

Post by scruple »

Loughla wrote: post #69
stavros wrote: 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 grew up in a small town and was on the wrong side of law enforcement (sometimes rightfully -- underage drinking, etc., nothing that serious -- but oftentimes not) around 2 dozen times between 16/17 and 21 when I got the fuck out of that town. I haven't so much as spoken to an on-duty cop in over 20 years. To this day I still get nervous when I see a police car. They earned their image problems and they haven't even begun to try to correct it. Even if they started tomorrow, it would still take them decades to fix it. I'm not hopeful that any meaningful change in policing in the US will take place in my lifetime.

And, for anyone who isn't reading between the lines here, without a doubt I'm only so lucky as to avoid their attention today because I made it and have spent the last 2 decades living in nice neighborhoods and driving nice cars.

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