IGX

Posted: **Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:49 pm**

Looking at the recent image scanning feast of 4Chan on the Boston Massacre Deux,

and the Steubenville trial before that

http://daily-download.com/the-internet- ... ck-raking/

and the delicious harassment of Anonymous on the Westboro fucks,

http://www.dailydot.com/society/anonymo ... -shooting/

what's your take on this constantly evolving Hive Mind?

I would posit, in some ways, they are filling a niche which is lost in large part in our society, a sense of shame and outrage directed at bad behavior. OTOH...just like the traditional shame and outrage mechanisms of the Real Life world (churches, schools, intellectuals bully-pulpit nonsense to the degree you believe in those) it's prone to excesses and witch hunts. In this way, just like the old mechanisms, they are prone to uniquely Un-American behavior, specifically getting all up in other people's bidness.

What say you? Given the gradual erosion of the notion of privacy do you chuckle at 4Chan/Anonymous or do you look on with dread?

Posted: **Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:58 pm**

On one hand, everyone should be concerned about Internet vigilantism Richard Jewelling some poor schmucks wearing backpacks.
On the other, the FBI is pretty good at Richard Jewelling people itself, so fuck it.

Posted: **Thu Apr 18, 2013 1:00 am**

It is easy to portray them as vigilantes hiding behind a keyboard but I tend to see the way they are going as more of a modern form of activism that is needed or at least helpful.

In China there is a similar trend called the human flesh search engine (人肉搜索) that has done an incredible job of exposing corupt politicians and other people who would be otherwise untouchable in the system. However, they don't generally show any restraint and are as into humiliation as justice. Anonymous, on the other hand, has shown considerable restraint, most recently when holding back information about rapists who were let off the hook by police - they said that the case should be looked into again or they were going to let everything go public.

If they were calling for the people identified in the Boston pictures to be found and strung up, I would have a far different opinion but they aren't really doing that much (in this situation, at least) beyond what a responsible media or efficient judicial system would. As long as they stay on that side of the line, I am fine with them

Posted: **Thu Apr 18, 2013 1:33 am**

Wow. I think that was handled pretty well and the analysis was good.

Posted: **Thu Apr 18, 2013 4:26 pm**

More of same...

http://www.gormogons.com/2013/04/boston ... s-you.html

Evidently, a bunch of folks on Reddit got to discussing some of the various photographs of the Boston Marathon crowd, and began to see some suspicious similarities and odd behaviors in a few people in the crowd. They took their stab at some amateur sleuthing, and began to circle candidates and draw lines to interesting aspects. Before long, the best of the photos were posted up to 4Chan, and the armchair analysts made a fair case that more than a couple of folks need to be checked out.

Of course, the respectable news services—when they weren’t making spurious announcements that the bitter, lone wolf, white, domestic, right-wing extremist behind this was arrested and on his way to jail—decided this whole Reddit/4Chan thing was a load of laughable crap and cautioned people not to take any of this seriously.

Yeah. Well, know who did take it seriously? The FBI and other law enforcement agencies who reviewed the 4Chan photos and found that at least one of their subjects exactly matched up with a guy they were zeroing in on from a Lord & Taylor surveillance camera. And the quality of the photos was good enough to base an APB on.

Truly it is a matter of time, even mere days.

As if that weren’t enough, you probably heard that some whackjob sent some ricin-filled letters to a US Senator and the President of the United States. A third letter was intercepted by the FBI on its way to an unidentified Mississippi individual. Not many leads, unfortunately, so the FBI revealed the contents of the letter to the public, hoping someone could identify the author by his signature of “KC.” Every letter contained the phrase “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance,” followed by “I am KC and I approve this message.”

Not quite as stymied, a blogger decided to try something that is not being included in the official press releases. She googled that statement about exposing wrongs and found it was a quote from a chiropractor. Following that quote, she was surprised to see the same quote on another page—this time being quoted by someone else in an argument to an individual curiously named Kevin Curtis, out of Mississippi.

Too perfect a coincidence; the blogger than googled Kevin Curtis and discovered he was, among other things, a professional Elvis impersonator and—figures—a proud Democrat. And on his Facebook page, she saw the phrase “I am KC and I approve this message.” More damning—elsewhere on his Facebook tabs was that same quote from the chiropractor. Further sites found that Mr. Curtis was quite fond of both phrases, and sprinkled them all over his various posts and rants.

The blogger contacted The Blaze for advice, who assured her credit for the story but requested they take it from there. Using some more substantial source checking and conference with law enforcement, turns out she got him. Curtis was arrested shortly after, where law enforcement also learned that Curtis has an imagined hatred of the Senator.

Seriously, law enforcement might want to check into this Internet thing. Seems to be producing results.

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:25 am**

I flipped on both FOX and CNN a few days ago to see what they were saying and in the five to ten minutes I watched, they were both tossing out theories and begging people to send them leads.

The pictures posted by 4Chan were far, far, far better than anything the rest of the media came up with.

Why wouldn't the mainstream media simply rip them off or try to steal the scoop in some way? To wake up this morning and see people praising the FBI for their rapid work in identifying potential suspects when you have seen the same people IDd two days before is surreal.

I do notice that none of the news agencies nor the FBI want to talk to the guys with black backpacks and sunglasses who appear to be cops of some kind.

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:40 am**

A full-time bureaucracy cannot keep up with thousands of smart people with ten minutes to spare.

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:27 am**

I'm down with 4Chan. And Anonymous.

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:52 am**

Terry B. wrote:I flipped on both FOX and CNN a few days ago to see what they were saying and in the five to ten minutes I watched, they were both tossing out theories and begging people to send them leads.

The pictures posted by 4Chan were far, far, far better than anything the rest of the media came up with.

Why wouldn't the mainstream media simply rip them off or try to steal the scoop in some way? To wake up this morning and see people praising the FBI for their rapid work in identifying potential suspects when you have seen the same people IDd two days before is surreal.

I do notice that none of the news agencies nor the FBI want to talk to the guys with black backpacks and sunglasses who appear to be cops of some kind.

They're not the same people the FBI ID'db

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:36 am**

The Cunning Stunt wrote:
Terry B. wrote:I flipped on both FOX and CNN a few days ago to see what they were saying and in the five to ten minutes I watched, they were both tossing out theories and begging people to send them leads.

The pictures posted by 4Chan were far, far, far better than anything the rest of the media came up with.

Why wouldn't the mainstream media simply rip them off or try to steal the scoop in some way? To wake up this morning and see people praising the FBI for their rapid work in identifying potential suspects when you have seen the same people IDd two days before is surreal.

I do notice that none of the news agencies nor the FBI want to talk to the guys with black backpacks and sunglasses who appear to be cops of some kind.
They're not the same people the FBI ID'db

BOOM

GAMEOVER242!

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:22 am**

protobuilder wrote:
The Cunning Stunt wrote:
Terry B. wrote:I flipped on both FOX and CNN a few days ago to see what they were saying and in the five to ten minutes I watched, they were both tossing out theories and begging people to send them leads.

The pictures posted by 4Chan were far, far, far better than anything the rest of the media came up with.

Why wouldn't the mainstream media simply rip them off or try to steal the scoop in some way? To wake up this morning and see people praising the FBI for their rapid work in identifying potential suspects when you have seen the same people IDd two days before is surreal.

I do notice that none of the news agencies nor the FBI want to talk to the guys with black backpacks and sunglasses who appear to be cops of some kind.
They're not the same people the FBI ID'db

BOOM

GAMEOVER242!

Just because they aren't the same people doesn't mean that it isn't true.

The guys in the FBI videos are red herrings if I have ever seen them.

Posted: **Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:49 pm**

So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:16 am**

protobuilder wrote:So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?

That is what I have said would happen from the beginning.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:20 am**

Terry B. wrote:
protobuilder wrote:So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?
That is what I have said would happen from the beginning.

How pissed will this guy be if he ever buys a computer?

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:41 am**

So, according to the internet hive: You cannot be an Arab hanging out with his mom or a 40 year old dork or you get targeted as a terrorist. I better watch my back.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:44 am**

syaigh wrote:So, according to the internet hive: You cannot be an Arab hanging out with his mom or a 40 year old dork or you get targeted as a terrorist. I better watch my back.

It's Boston. I guarantee you that there were more 40 year old dorks in the crowd than they found.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:31 am**

protobuilder wrote:So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?

WHOA.

WHOA.

You mean to tell me... a group redditors or 4channers DIDN'T know what the fuck they were talking about?

Mind: blown.

Now this is truly surreal.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 10:14 am**

The comparisons of 4Chan to the FBI are laughable.

They were ahead of every major network though.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 11:39 am**

Terry B. wrote:The comparisons of 4Chan to the FBI are laughable.

They were ahead of every major network though.

It seems that to be a TV (only to be fair) journalist nowadays being an idiot is practically a prerequisite.

The Onion stuff posted in the other thread was pretty spot on.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:23 pm**

In retrospect I'm surprised that nobody here tried to pin this on Rant.

Posted: **Sat Apr 20, 2013 11:09 pm**

WildGorillaMan wrote:In retrospect I'm surprised that nobody here tried to pin this on Rant.

I had the thought of asking where Rant is but I've been too busy to post.

Posted: **Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:12 am**

The Cunning Stunt wrote:
protobuilder wrote:So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?
WHOA.

WHOA.

You mean to tell me... a group redditors or 4channers DIDN'T know what the fuck they were talking about?

Mind: blown.

Now this is truly surreal.

I don't like witch hunts but they weren't far off the mark and did successfully out some real lame undercover work by some alphabet soup agency.

Posted: **Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:23 am**

Blaidd Drwg wrote:
The Cunning Stunt wrote:
protobuilder wrote:So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?
WHOA.

WHOA.

You mean to tell me... a group redditors or 4channers DIDN'T know what the fuck they were talking about?

Mind: blown.

Now this is truly surreal.
I don't like witch hunts but they weren't far off the mark and did successfully out some real lame undercover work by some alphabet soup agency.

What constitutes being not far off the mark, successfully zeroing in on guys with backpacks?

Posted: **Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:23 am**

Just saw Quack starting to rant about the Government doing this

Posted: **Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:29 am**

The Cunning Stunt wrote:
Blaidd Drwg wrote:
The Cunning Stunt wrote:
protobuilder wrote:So, did 4Chan/reddit get this completely wrong?
WHOA.

WHOA.

You mean to tell me... a group redditors or 4channers DIDN'T know what the fuck they were talking about?

Mind: blown.

Now this is truly surreal.
I don't like witch hunts but they weren't far off the mark and did successfully out some real lame undercover work by some alphabet soup agency.
What constitutes being not far off the mark, successfully zeroing in on guys with backpacks?

Quick...tell me your old user name so I know whether to bother.

IGX

4Chan.

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