UK Suspect Arrested In Connection With PSN/XBL 'Lizard Squad' Attacks 55
Dave Knott writes UK Police have arrested an 18-year-old man over involvement in the cyber-attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming services over Christmas, for which the Lizard Squad hacking group claimed responsibility. The man was arrested Friday in Southport, England, on suspicion of computer hacking, threats to kill and swatting. Computers and other electronic devices were seized during the arrest by officers from two UK cybercrime units working in conjunction with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. A spokesman said that police were still in the early stages of an investigation working closely with the FBI to identify further people involved in the attacks.
SWATting... Swatting? Who knows... (Score:2)
HA!
Oh man, you guys really got me with this swatting at my house.
Wait, what?
Re: (Score:2)
Busted
http://science.slashdot.org/co... [slashdot.org]
Re:SWATting... Swatting? Who knows... (Score:4, Informative)
Swatting [wikipedia.org]
18 years young (Score:2)
Back in the old days when children played outside voluntarily, it was referred to as a prank call or a bomb threat, depending on how much money your Dad had... so some things are the same.
For my money, 18 year-old-man is likely a misrepresentation of the facts.
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-1 disagree. swatting is a particularly dangerous type of prank call in which a swat team kicks in your door and carry live weapons. This is different than typical prank calls where you send the fire trucks to somebody's house. also, bomb threats are different than prank calls. Man, you had a messed up childhood.
"18-year-old man" sounds about right, because he will likely go to pound-you-in-the-ass prison.
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Just a note, but swatting doesn't happen here in the UK, all you would get is a few cars of armed police who would turn up, cordon off the road, and demand you come out of the house. No dramatic raid, only a few guns drawn. The police would basically outwait you.
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That's swotting.
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you can imagine how dangerous it is in the USA, where 1) the police will shoot at anything that moves to fast and 2) twitchy people will draw down on anything coming into their homes because they have the right to "stand their ground" and "protect their castle".
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Back when I was a late teenager , the college I went to had semi regular bomb threats whenever exams or whatever where on. They'd have to evacuate the place so we'd all get the afternoon off. Eventually they caught the kid when he went into the administration office to borrow the phone to make the threat. Clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.
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Back when I was a late teenager
Oh, I'm glad you came back to life. That's really lucky; not many people do.
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What the inquiring mind wants to know: is he North Korean?
good (Score:2)
hopefully if he is one of the guilty parties he gets a nice long stay for many years in a very small cell.
Re:good (Score:5, Insightful)
calling emergency services with fake call outs puts peoples lives at risk. The XBL and PSN part was just a mean spirited low scumbag act, the rest is what he should be in Jail for.
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So you can't even bother to read the full summary let alone the article? The arrest included charges for Swatting and threats to kill.
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And did he actually carry out those threats or is the traditional police tactic of "let's charge with literally everything we can and see what sticks?"
Because nothing in the article elaborates on these so called death threats and swatting claims. It's almost entirely about the LizardSquad DDOS, that involved neither of those.
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ignoring the death threats and fake SWAT calls... what gives the douchebag the right to deny a little holiday joy to thousands of kids?
why do you think that's no big deal?
you honestly believe lulz by a handful of asocial shitbags is somehow equivalent to thousands of kids enjoying their presents?
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You do realize there is a massive realm of potential punishment between "nothing" and "years in a small cell," right?
Wait, I recognize your user name, which means you almost certainly do not.
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so tell us, what is the appropriate punishment, in your mind
then add in the death threats and SWATting
and then tell us again what exactly you are fucking complaining about
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so tell us, what is the appropriate punishment...
A SWAT team should come by and take away his Gameboy, and shoot his vicious hamster just for good measure.
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likewise
http://yro.slashdot.org/commen... [slashdot.org]
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if someone proves that with their freedoms they abuse others, they have forfeited their right to freedom
if someone robs people, you lock them up, no one is robbed by that person anymore
if someone rapes people, you lock them up, no is raped by that person anymore
if someone DDoSes services, SWATs people, and threatens to kill, you lock them up, that person isn't doing that anymore
it would be nice to help these people, but it's more important to help the rest of us live our lives
unbothered by shitbags with ser
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Personally I don't believe their are a huge realm of possible punishments once you intentionally risk the lives of others. That is not a minor offense, If he is actually guilty he needs to be charged with attempted murder and receive the appropriate sentence to go with that.
Re:good (Score:4, Informative)
Swatting is attempted murder.
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That's another discussion entirely.
But can we agree that calling the police with fabricated dire threats of terrorism or hostage-taking in order to silence someone you don't like is attempted murder, given the current state of policing?
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Swatting is attempted murder.
That, and swatting from the UK to the USA could get you extradited. Actually, I think it should get you extradited.
Re:good (Score:4, Insightful)
While he certainly screwed up my after-Christmas plans, I'm not quite ready to have him test new lethal injection drugs in Florida yet...
An 18-year old non-violent offender should get an option to demonstrate the three R's of the criminal defense system. Remorse, recant, restitution.
He needs a felony charge (that matches his crimes) that, upon successful completion of jail/probation/community-service can be commuted to a misdemeanor.
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An 18-year old non-violent offender should get an option to demonstrate the three R's of the criminal defense system. Remorse, recant, restitution.
It seems that he made calls to the US police to get SWAT teams to someone's house. That is most definitely not "non-violent". It's something that can easily get someone killed, and that is very likely to inflict violence on someone, and that violence or killing is the desired effect.
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really you think the first responders to armed sieges or those on rampages with guns should be a couple of cops if their is a SWAT available? you think it is best to get an extra couple of ill prepared people killed first to make sure the threat is real? A SWAT team is far better trained to correctly evaluate a threat than the average cop. Chances are if cops were being sent in first in these situations then we probably would have more fatalities.
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He? He who?? Who the hell was arrested???
Wrong guy (Score:1)
By the time this filtered through your TELEX British police already admitted they assume they have the wrong guy:
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/gr... [kentonline.co.uk]
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Maybe they asked Verizon or the MPAA to calculate the kid's age?
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Where does it say that? That article is about someone completely different, not this arrest.
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High standards of journalistic understanding in that article I see:
"Robert and Carol Cameron and their 16-year-old son Jordan had their lives turned upside down when he was implicated as the supposed mastermind behind the attacks on Xbox and PlayStation networks which left gamers unable to play their consoles online.
Ironically, he does not even own an Xbox."
Why is that ironic? They think you need an Xbox to be able to take down Xbox Live and Playstation Network? What?