FBI Arrests Man Suspected of Orchestrating Dozens of 'Swatting' Calls (arstechnica.com) 59
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The U.S. government has criminally charged a Virginia man for helping to organize dozens of "swatting" attacks and bomb threats made against a variety of targets in the United States and Canada. The man allegedly belonged to a group that coordinated via IRC and Tor hidden services to target prominent gamers, journalists, and government officials. The group's online chats were often racist, with comments suggesting antipathy toward Jews and black people. In one case, the group made a fake bomb threat to the Alfred Street Baptist Church, a predominantly African American church in Alexandria, Virginia.
Security reporter Brian Krebs was one of the first to report on the arrest of defendant John William Kirby Kelley. Krebs was the target of a swatting call he believes was organized by the group. Kelley allegedly did research for the group, identifying possible targets and suggesting that others make calls. He also helped maintain the group's infrastructure, according to the FBI. While Kelley is now in custody, two other suspects are still at large, according to the FBI. The bureau believes that these two suspects are the ones who actually made most of the calls at issue in the case. Evidently, the suspects' efforts to conceal their identities from law enforcement have been successful -- at least so far. Kelley was caught when he failed to properly block his number after calling a bomb threat to his own school. When searching his devices (after receiving a warrant), police found videos, chats, and other records Kelley had saved documenting his involvement in other hoax calls. They also found recruiting material for a violent white supremacist group.
Security reporter Brian Krebs was one of the first to report on the arrest of defendant John William Kirby Kelley. Krebs was the target of a swatting call he believes was organized by the group. Kelley allegedly did research for the group, identifying possible targets and suggesting that others make calls. He also helped maintain the group's infrastructure, according to the FBI. While Kelley is now in custody, two other suspects are still at large, according to the FBI. The bureau believes that these two suspects are the ones who actually made most of the calls at issue in the case. Evidently, the suspects' efforts to conceal their identities from law enforcement have been successful -- at least so far. Kelley was caught when he failed to properly block his number after calling a bomb threat to his own school. When searching his devices (after receiving a warrant), police found videos, chats, and other records Kelley had saved documenting his involvement in other hoax calls. They also found recruiting material for a violent white supremacist group.
Lol (Score:2, Funny)
Whenever I read white supremacist I see as white men with tiny dicks.
What a bunch of sad pathetic retards.
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You're giving them too much credit there, friend. They have no dick; they are dickless.
Walter Peck should have just SWATed the Ghostbusters.
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"Prejudice" on the part of the underclass has no effect
Only bigotry of the privileged gets people swatted and killed by privileged thugs
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I do find it odd how media redefined terms.
Like in 90s making militia mean racist even though the word racist was invented by Richard Henry Pratt as a propaganda tool to turn young Indians against the older generation and called older generation Indians as Indian supremacists which made young Indians leave reservations which was the goal cause once population on reservations dropped below certain level the land reverted back to federal land.
Every culture should have pride in their selves. Blacks should beli
Re:Lol (Score:5, Insightful)
Every culture should have pride in their selves.
Fair enough.
Blacks should believe in black pride and fight for their supremacy, Asians should believe in Asian pride and fight for their own supremacy, whites should believe in white pride and fight for their own supremacy, as should every race and every culture.
It's the "supremecy" part that:
a) Is utterly stupid
b) Causes the problems
Re:Lol (Score:4, Insightful)
Individualism is a suckers game. You think the fucking elites don't organize collectively to achieve their class goals? Of course they do, through politics, lobbyists, trade associations, and a myriad of other means. They want you to unilaterally disarm, so they spread the myth of "rugged individualism" while they collectively rape you. Organize, together, to achieve your goals. Use politics and politicians to your advantage, the rich do. And get as much beneficial socialism for yourself and your class as you can, again, that's what they wealthy do.
LOL, that photo.... (Score:5, Funny)
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I don't think calling someone Slack Jawed Whitey is really helping make your case.
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How is it that people who invented the thought crime of lookism have no problem engaging in lookism?
Of course, their own rules never apply to them! Rules are just for others!
In unrelated news, the Dunning-Kruger effect seems to be getting stronger, with levels of arrogance reaching new heights and levels of incompetence and stupidity doing the same.
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That may be how he ended up doing this. Guys who are socially awkward and isolated, who feel like there is no place for them because they don't fit the image of masculinity society seems to worship and who go online looking for acceptance.
These days it's often video game communities that they end up, where as once it would have been D&D or a school club. And that's where the far right goes to recruit them, offering them unconditional acceptance and eventually making them feel powerful and like their lif
SWAT'ers finally drew the FBI investigation (Score:5, Interesting)
Well it finally happened, it got politically feasible for the FBI to get involved in these things with the death in Kansas last year. Sounds like the FBI put a task force together and plans to go after everyone they can that's been orchestrating these things. Examples are going to be made, the guy from California got a bunch of years in fed jail along with his state time.
If you did a SWAT'ing or helped orchestrate one you better talk to a lawyer in advance because the FBI might turn up on your doorstep.
Honestly it's about fucking time the FBI did something. This has been happening for years and local law enforcement never had the resources, knowledge or access to investigate it.
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Fox mulder will be put on the case! (Score:2)
Fox mulder will be put on the case!
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That swatting is successful is a reflection of the incompetence of junk yard law enforcer and the thrill they get going out and attacking people before doing even one single bit of investigation. That they shot an innocent man, is their fault as is all the other crap they did to people. Trying to blame the idiots who make those calls is just a bullshit corrupt establishment trope to hide how poorly trained junk yard dog law enforcers are in the US.
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Re: SWAT'ers finally drew the FBI investigation (Score:1)
So, for our own safety, we all need to make all of our private activities and communication available to the government? And there's no other way for us to be safe?
Good dog. Your government treats are on their way.
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It's also only possible because of police shooting first and asking questions later. In Kansas, some of those questions should have come up before they even engaged with the homeowner, such as "why does this house look nothing like the one described in the call?"
Questions that might have been asked before even dispatching a call to officers include "why is this call coming in over an administrative phone line rather than 911?" That one shouldn't have meant no response, but should certainly have meant warnin
Re: SWAT'ers finally drew the FBI investigation (Score:1)
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So, in order to prevent swatting, you suggest what? A total surveillance state?
Every time this happens, the idea that this could have been a false report seems to catch the cops by total surprise. Since swatting has become a common enough tactic as to enter the public knowledge, police should go into these possible high-pressure situations with the idea that it COULD be a hoax. Maybe all SWAT members need training on what swatting is and how to combat it: not jump in, guns blazing on everything that moves.
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That swatting is successful is a reflection of the incompetence of junk yard law enforcer and the thrill they get going out and attacking people before doing even one single bit of investigation. That they shot an innocent man, is their fault as is all the other crap they did to people. Trying to blame the idiots who make those calls is just a bullshit corrupt establishment trope to hide how poorly trained junk yard dog law enforcers are in the US.
Oh, it is both. Police overly willing to shoot first and ask questions later, and not being very smart about it either. It helps that they basically never need to take responsibility for their mistakes, like in any self-respecting police-state. The other aspect is people willing to trigger them over very minor things, because the swatters are usually so pathetic that tiny things seem huge to them. Of course, the swatters come basically from the same stock of cave-men that most members of the police seem to
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No, it is a reflection of law enforcement not having a godlike ability to grok every stupid thing the public throws at them at the time the public throws it. And the pubic throws a lot. Whenever there's a disturbance, the answers to several questions determine the response. Are the parties armed? In gun-nut U.S., this is a big deal since they could be armed with a lot more than a six-shooter. Are the parties feuding because one looked at the other cross-eyed and decided anger control was something of which
Re:SWAT'ers finally drew the FBI investigation (Score:5, Insightful)
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In the US, if you are labeled a potential terrorist, you can get sent to Guantanamo Bay where laws no longer apply and they can torture you however they like without any due process of legal protections for the alleged terrorist or any requirement to put effort into researching the claims. It's how the US normally handles these things.
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EDIT: No US Citizen has ever been sent to Gitmo from the mainland for detention.
EDIT: No US Citizen has ever been sent to Gitmo from the mainland for detention that we know of
Remember, presidential executive orders have declared that the military doesn't need to release a full list of people held for terrorism, in Gitmo or other black sites, and that they're not required to allow Red Cross visits or to grant them access to a lawyer. (AFAIK) No court has yet ordered otherwise.
"Swatters" are not the source of the problem. (Score:3)
The source of the "swatting" problem is the posture of the militarized police, which seems to believe that every call should be answered with a small army of thugs with small hands and twitchy fingers who are ready to shoot at anything.
Poor training, a real "license to kill" without repercussions and a ton of expensive surplus army toys without proper training or supervision and general boredom is what created the problem. Without them, "swatting" would not even exist.
All the "swatting" stories before t
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"politically feasible". No. What happened was when someone was killed the FBI decided they needed to take swatting more seriously that in the past. I cannot think of any political reason not to go after these perps before.
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Then you aren't very creative. The FBI has very limited resources and a very small subset of actionable offenses than the states. To draw their interest you actually need to be in the public eye where the FBI can demonstrate their existence and justify their funding.
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There have been a **LOT** of people killed this way over the years, I'm not really clear why this one case has caused the FBI to finally react. Wonder if he was related to some congresscritter.
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Could be, could be that they finally had actionable evidence that not only the instigator but the caller were outside Kansas which gave the FBI jurisdiction. Or it could be a fundraising drive type task force/prosecution. Given the second prosecution I lean heavily towards the task force being allocated as a fund raiser to Congress in the form of generating good publicity.
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People who believe in White Supremacy (or superiority of any racial group) have reduced aversion to hurting others.
That applies to any group thinking they are superior. Religion and quasi-religious world-views are the worst offenders. Racism is kind of small-time in comparison these days.
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They aren't really random crimes, they are just the logical thing for someone who fully believes all the crap about the race war and white genocide and the Jewish conspiracy to do. I expect it will soon come out that he expects to one day be seen as a hero, as soon as the masses wake up and realize that all the white supremacist neo-nazi shit he has been exposed to was right.
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Telcos and government are also to blame (Score:5, Insightful)
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And this fixation you have with gay sex says what about you?
Nazis are not actually men (Score:2)
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They'll get a bad name (Score:3)
If they keep letting people like that in, white supremacist groups may well get a bad name.
John William Kirby Kelley (Score:2)
Oh dear Gawd! Mass murderers only have three names.