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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

#401

Post by cyanydeez »

lenerdenator wrote: post #149
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...

Are you meaning to tell me that people who make references to the Nazis a part of their identity might not be the most well-adjusted people around?

In this case it's also lord of the ring

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

#402

Post by LargeWu »

valval wrote: post #388
LargeWu wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe just sending out a single squad car first to get a credible assessment?

I'm not sure who aided in constructing this mental representation for you that the number of cops is directly proportional with the scale of conflict that's about to happen. I'd challenge that view by claiming that if the threat is of someone holding their family hostage threatening to kill them (just a guess at what these "swatters" might say to the dispatcher to get cops to actually kick in some doors, I don't know…

Just to be clear, your version of the ideal response to an unverified claim of a hostage situation is to immediately escalate?

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

#403

Post by whtsthmttrmn »

a96 wrote: post #391
acureau wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fairly obvious for those who've spent enough time online, I'd say most people would only recognize that first sentence. The Unabomber Manifesto has become something of a copypasta

In my four decades or so, I've never seen that.

Are you US-based?

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

#404

Post by slothtrop »

rendall wrote: post #383
slothtrop wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and it's not At least try to be persuasive. There are a myriad of ways that jobs can be stressful without endangering your life, that should not be difficult for you to imagine. Shift work, demands for quotas and metrics (sales people can tell you this), dealing with violent and erratic individuals in the public with sometimes insufficient support, etc. Correctional Officers face similar circumstances and have a li…

You're not demanding evidence that the job of police officer is high stress. Interesting, that bias. On what basis do you support that claim?

All of which would be self-reported and not persuade you. But behaviors that correlate with stress (like I provided) are present.

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

#405

Post by slothtrop »

danaris wrote: post #318
slothtrop wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But a very large percentage of the "high stress/pressure" of being a police officer in the US is literally manufactured by the police themselves. This is conjecture with no measurable basis.

....It is supported by specific facts in the rest of my post. I'll grant I didn't cite sources, because this is HN, not a scientific journal, and if you're interested enough you can Google it (or DDG it, or Kagi it) for yourself, but the basis really is right there in my post .

None of your "facts" support your claim that the large majority of stress is manufactured by the police.

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

#406

Post by whtsthmttrmn »

LargeWu wrote: post #402
valval wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure who aided in constructing this mental representation for you that the number of cops is directly proportional with the scale of conflict that's about to happen. I'd challenge that view by claiming that if the threat is of someone holding their family hostage threatening to kill them (just a guess at what these "swatters" might say to the dispatcher to get cops to actually kick in some doors, I don't know…

Just to be clear, your version of the ideal response to an unverified claim of a hostage situation is to immediately escalate?

It's because they have to assume it's real. Same reason behind weather warnings. They can't know for sure if it's real, but it's 'better' to assume it's real and respond accordingly only to discover it's a hoax, than it is to assume it's a prank and show up unprepared only to have it be real and they aren't ready to handle it. It's Schrodinger's hostage.

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

#407

Post by whtsthmttrmn »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #278
cptskippy wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "military model" goes so much further than that. Claiming that police are being militarized is a very broad statement. Depending on your perspective it can be positive or negative. You could argue that consistency and having a common operating model with accountability is a good thing. Unfortunately many would argue the adopted model is very flawed and that the level accountability is tied to public outrage or…

> You could argue that consistency and having a common operating model with accountability is a good thing. Why would that require that a "captain" has several subordinates ranked "Lieutenant" and "Sergeant"? Why do the highest ranked police have caps with brocade, and gold braid on their shoulders? Is that part of the consistency? Why does the NYPD have dress uniforms? Why do they give military style funerals for th…

> Your comment doesn't just suggest you are mistaken about this or that, but that you aren't in a frame of mind where you could recognize or appreciate that there is a problem.

Popping in here to say that it's funny how you said this then go on about baby sacrifice.

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

#410

Post by tptacek »

otterley wrote: post #397
tptacek wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police didn't hurt anybody in this case, despite this person's attempt to make them do so. What are you holding them accountable for?

In criminal law, attempted crime is treated the same as successful completions. That’s because we don’t want to encourage people to make attempts: many such attempts could be successful. Imagine a world in which someone is trying to murder you or your children. You know who they are, and you even have incontrovertible evidence they are doing it. Yet they get off scot-free every time because their bullets missed the m…

Yes, I agree. The SWAT-ter attempted to kill people. The police did not. I'm not sticking up for the accused; I'm saying the facile "this is a police problem" argument doesn't apply in this story.
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