Anonymous Helps Find Evidence In Gang Rape Case 436
jfruh writes "Evidence of a gang rape committed by members of an Ohio high school football team, including video, was, in the way of digital native teenagers today, put online on various social media sites — and was quickly taken down as students began realizing the magnitude of the situation. The hactivist group Anonymous has been able to find archived and cached versions of the damning content, which may help prosecutors make their case." (The original story from December at the New York Times adds more detail.)
Anonymous has become Batman. (Score:4, Interesting)
No boundaries, no jurisdictions... just results.
All of the power of the harnessed internet with the face of the silent auction bidder.
And still no death penalty for rape (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been half-heartedly following this story once I heard the initial reports and what took place was almost, but not quite, as bad as the Indian student who was attacked, raped and beaten on a bus in India and later died.
This girl was, apparently, passed out drunk (she was 16) and while passed out, was raped by at least 2 members of the football. Her limp, violated, body was carried by her arms and legs, all while being recorded and while others stood by and did nothing.
Some people present tweeted what was taking place, some took pictures and one shining example of the human race was recorded for a length of time bragging about how much she was fucked (worse than in the movie Pulp Fiction according to him). No one called the police.
Further, when asked about how he would feel if his daughter was raped (he apparently at the ripe of a late teenager had a daughter) in 10 years, he pontificated that in ten years his daughter would be raped and dead. What a wonderful guy.
While the death penalty cannot undo what was done to someone, we as a society can no longer continue to coddle people who refuse to live with the basic bounds of society. There isn't something new in not raping, murdering, shooting, tealing from, beating or otherwise doing something to someone, and people such as this who have no regard for others do not deserve any sympathy or regard from the rest of society.
Re:Finally... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, if the video can be forensically shown to be un-tampered with then it will be admissible. The nature of the evidence is taken into account as well as the methods of collection. In the case of video, anyone can find it under just about any circumstance because the actions depicted in the video is the evidence itself, which tends to avoid the issues associated with other types of evidence that can be planted which is why they have to follow a strict chain of custody and procedures.
Its a lot more difficult to plant video evidence of you raping someone as opposed to me walking in and claiming I found this illegal gun with the serial filled off in your home.
Re:It would appear... (Score:5, Interesting)
The authorities aren't overtly apathetic, they're seem to be in full-on coverup mode. According to the narrative that Anonymous/Localleaks/Knight Sec are telling, they have a vested interest that goes well beyond preserving hometown pride. One of the players implicated is the son of the county prosecutor attached to the case, and allegedly the girl transported to the prosecutor's residence during that night and raped before being transported to another location.
Re:And still no death penalty for rape (Score:5, Interesting)
What's next, cutting off a thief's hands? Death penalty is not proportional to the crime. Yes, rape is bad, but it's not murder.
Obviously, castration would be proportional to this. :-)
Re:Tainted evidence (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The really disturbing part (Score:5, Interesting)
Because sex with drunk chicks is a major past time in America. Parties are arranged with alcohol specifically because people want to get drunk and fuck. It is well known that women do not go to bars to get laid; they go to bars to have fun, which is why we have wingmen--distract the girl's friends so she is isolated, because she's not there to get picked up. That's why guys take home so many drunk chicks: they did not come there to get taken home, they're just too drunk to think straight!
Guys go out to the bar to find drunk bitches to fuck. Guys arrange parties and tell their friends to find chicks to bring so they can get them drunk and fuck them. This is not what college kids do. This is not what teenagers do. Thirties, forties guys do this. It is common, consistent, continuous behavior.
Most laymen don't register this as 'wrong' until somebody calls it rape. Hell even women don't really take much notice that they've been taken for a romp; they just wake up, ask where the hell they are, and try to find their way home without giving it much thought.
There is a sickness in the world, though perhaps I am pessimistic. Maybe the only reason we freak out when someone calls it 'rape' is because we've accepted this behavior to such a level that everyone pre-accepts the consequences--women don't go out to get fucked while they're passed out drunk, but when it happens most of them are like, "Oh yeah, that happens lol... man I was druuuuunk..." and don't flinch. Is this really what we are?
Sheriff says he'll arrest the hackers. (Score:5, Interesting)
From this article:
"Why put their names out there? Why put their addresses out there? With all the crackpots we have running around this country? With all of the sex offenders were have out there, plenty of them in Jefferson County, why put children’s names out there?” said Abdalla. "Mothers have taken their children out of school in fear of what may happen. This has gone too far. Enough is enough." Abdalla also claimed to know the identity of the person leading the online effort. "I'll deal with that at another time," said Abdalla. "I know where he lives. I know his name, his mother's name, his father's name, his brother's name."
What does "gang" mean? (Score:2, Interesting)
Um, I'm a little puzzled by the phrase "Gang Rape" in the headline here.
Reading through the two-page article in the New York Times, it sounds like a lot of drunken high-school idiots making assholes of themselves... but the only part that is actually "rape" seems to be one kid bragging that he "slipped a finger" inside the drunken girl. No question here: if he did that, and isn't just bragging to his buddies, that is indeed rape, since she was too drunk to consent (and, apparently, too drunk to even know). ... but if it's one person, it can't be "gang" rape.
Re:Tainted evidence (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:And still no death penalty for rape (Score:1, Interesting)
No. There is no good argument equating murder to rape. I would rather be raped 100 times before murdered. If you equate the two, then you don't have any respect for life.
In no way am I saying rape isn't bad. If rape leads to death, then it is worse than murder. Although, it depends on the method of murder. Burning alive would be much worse.
Re:And still no death penalty for rape (Score:5, Interesting)
No it isn't. Even if the death penalty is a good idea (I'm not offering an opinion on that here), summary execution is not. You're ending someone's life here, and you can never undo that if it turns out to have been a mistake, so you'd damn well better take the time and effort to make sure you didn't fuck things up when you convicted the guy. That means appeals, it means possible retrials, it means delay after delay over technicalities, it means lots of expense for the taxpayers, and that is how it fucking well ought to be. It should NEVER be easy or cheap for the state to kill a citizen, no matter how big a scumbag he's alleged to be. That's a road that never leads anywhere good.
There is not, and never can be, a "quick, simple, cheap solution to this problem".
Re:Tainted evidence (Score:3, Interesting)