22-Year-Old Gamer Sentenced in France for 2020 Swatting of Ubisoft's Montreal Office (engadget.com) 50
An anonymous reader quotes this report from Engadget:
A disgruntled Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege gamer who called in a fake emergency to Ubisoft's Montreal office was sentenced this week to three years of community service, according to The Montreal Gazette. Yanni Ouahioune, 22, was handed the sentence on Monday in Paris following his call to authorities about a fake hostage situation in November 2020.
Police say Ouahioune called in the hoax because he was angry he had been banned several times from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. In response to the bogus call, a heavily armed squad of police officers surrounded the building. The officers secured the headquarters — and closed several nearby streets — before confirming there wasn't an active threat. Ouahioune allegedly called from his parents' house using Russian servers to mask his identity (unsuccessfully). After being charged, La Presse reported (via Polygon) that Ouahioune pleaded for Ubisoft to unban his account. "Can you say that I am kindly asking the Ubisoft team to 'unban' my account please," Ouahioune said. "I have put over $1,500 in cosmetic enhancements in my profile."
The sentencing also includes Ouahioune's alleged part in a DDoS attack against a French government office and making threats against Minecraft developers. The convicted hoaxer will reportedly be required to "compensate victims, undergo treatment for a mental health problem and either work or undergo training" in addition to the community service.
Police say Ouahioune called in the hoax because he was angry he had been banned several times from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. In response to the bogus call, a heavily armed squad of police officers surrounded the building. The officers secured the headquarters — and closed several nearby streets — before confirming there wasn't an active threat. Ouahioune allegedly called from his parents' house using Russian servers to mask his identity (unsuccessfully). After being charged, La Presse reported (via Polygon) that Ouahioune pleaded for Ubisoft to unban his account. "Can you say that I am kindly asking the Ubisoft team to 'unban' my account please," Ouahioune said. "I have put over $1,500 in cosmetic enhancements in my profile."
The sentencing also includes Ouahioune's alleged part in a DDoS attack against a French government office and making threats against Minecraft developers. The convicted hoaxer will reportedly be required to "compensate victims, undergo treatment for a mental health problem and either work or undergo training" in addition to the community service.
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For anyone wondering why the sentence was so light (Score:4, Insightful)
It isn't an immediate death sentence IN the US (Score:1)
That said, sending a bunch of heavily armed and nervous people with itchy trigger fingers to your home or place of business is probably more dangerous than your daily commute. But only a little.
One of the truisms amongst soldiers is that the highways in the US are more dangerous than going into an active theater. There are signs up at the inside gate of every installation (just before you leave) that advertise this. The propensity for fast cars and crotch rockets amongst the soldiers probably doesn't hel
Re:It isn't an immediate death sentence IN the US (Score:5, Interesting)
It always strikes me as odd that libertarians never really complain about militarized police, instead spending their efforts going after school lunch programs and Medicare...
Re:It isn't an immediate death sentence IN the US (Score:4, Interesting)
I gather they don't have the itchy triggers like US SWAT does. They're trained less like military personnel and more like, well, police. Go figure.
I recommend spending some time learning how the military trains their personnel to deal with demonstrations and crowd control. They have a much stronger emphasis on de-escalation, opening clear lines of communication with protest leaders, proportional response and probably most importantly, training at a much higher cadence for such scenarios. I could only wish American police departments would 'militarize' in that sense.
It always strikes me as odd that libertarians never really complain about militarized police, instead spending their efforts going after school lunch programs and Medicare...
I would also recommend actually meeting some real libertarians in meat space and not straw-manning them. Hell, just a quick search through Reason Magazine's Youtube channel shows a few hundred videos on the topic of policing with topics ranging from police brutality, police shootings, illegal searches, illegal seizures and *gasp* even multiple videos casting a skeptical eye specifically toward the militarization of civilian police agencies.
We're not using the crowd control manual (Score:3)
Cops view themselves as an occupying force, and you're an enemy combatant. This is how they're trained.
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I recommend spending some time learning how the military trains their personnel to deal with demonstrations and crowd control.
The cops who perform SWAT operations receive a much higher level of training than the ones who deal with demonstrations and crowd control. In fact, training and practice in high stress, high stakes, uncertain scenarios is what they do almost every day if they're not actually responding to a situation. I'd recommend you spend some time learning how the police and military train their SF personnel.
I would also recommend actually meeting some real libertarians in meat space .... Hell, just a quick search through Reason Magazine's Youtube channel...
Better to rely on the strength of your own arguments than to offer up outside authorities.
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Better to rely on the strength of your own arguments than to offer up outside authorities.
I think when disagreeing with a claim about what libertarians in general say or do not say, referencing the online musings of the single most popular libertarian media source is pretty on point.
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I recommend spending some time learning how the military trains their personnel to deal with demonstrations and crowd control. They have a much stronger emphasis on de-escalation, opening clear lines of communication with protest leaders, proportional response and probably most importantly, training at a much higher cadence for such scenarios. I could only wish American police departments would 'militarize' in that sense.
Do you have citations for what is highlighted in Bold? I would like to read up on this training.
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Army Techniques Publication 3-39.33 is a good place to start. You can order hardcopy or just read the PDF online. Is the guide to US Army crowd control philosophy and techniques.
Re:It isn't an immediate death sentence IN the US (Score:5, Interesting)
I gather they don't have the itchy triggers like US SWAT does. They're trained less like military personnel and more like, well, police. Go figure.
Entirely wrong.
The problem in the US policing is that we ARM our police like military, but DO NOT TRAIN them as well.
Military training involves discipline. The resolve to not act recklessly is drilled into soldiers. Hundreds of hours of initial training followed by constant reinforcement -do this, do NOT do that. They are taught to act as a team, to follow orders.
Police training is all about overwhelming suspects and enforcing compliance. Everyone not in police uniform is a threat which must be neutralized. This is reinforced by daily lectures from superiors about protecting themselves from dangerous criminals. Then we send them out on the streets. Armed and paranoid and frequently alone.
So they might not get as much training (Score:1)
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But the training they get is focused on violence and suppression at all costs. It's the training you give people heading for a combat zone.
No. It is not.
You have no clue what you are talking about.
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libertarians never really complain about militarized police
Maybe you should actually pay attention to what they complain about before making assumptions, because you're way off.
They have an acronym, AGW. Armed Government Worker. And they bitch about them all the time.
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That said, sending a bunch of heavily armed and nervous people with itchy trigger fingers to your home or place of business is probably more dangerous than your daily commute. But only a little.
I think that was his point, outside the US you don't really have those kinds of cop, not even in most developing countries (in that part of the world, 9 times out of 10 if the copper wants a word with you, he's really just asking for a bribe). I should imagine the Canadian police were polite and professional when handling the situation... I also imagine that Swatting is quite rare in Canada.
There was a recent episode in France where an officer shot someone during a traffic stop... The country has been ri
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I don't necessarily disagree with anything you said, but a couple addenda:
Your 12 per 100k road fatality rate is pre-pandemic. More like 13.5 per 100k now.
A lot of those fatalities - more than you would think - are related to opioids and other drugs rather than alcohol nowadays. Not so easy to breathalyze those. My ex-wife was one of those people - she got a DUI in November of 22 and probably had more opioids than alcohol in her system. They blood tested her at the jail; I don't know what the results we
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sending cops to an address isn't an immediate death sentence outside the US.
Upvoted Insightful? Guess since Slashdot does not have a voting option for +1 "I am a big fan of ridiculous hyperbole" that was the best match.
Not researching for exact year matches as rsilver's one line of snark is not worth *that* much effort, but...
In 2018 there were ~73 million police encounters in the United States. About 2% of them involved force or threat of force. Call that 1.5 million.
2022 had the highest recorded number of killings by law enforcement on record at nearly 1,200.
So about 0.08% of
Re:For anyone wondering why the sentence was so li (Score:5, Informative)
You still have the problem that most of the world still has a much lower death rate.
Sure, police encounters, including SWAT raids aren't "virtual death sentences", but they are more dangerous than, say, Germany. And SWAT raids are the most dangerous form of police encounter short of 'in pursuit of cop killer'.
I mean, we've had actual fatalities from SWATTING incidents.
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Indeed. And 3 years of community service still provide a lot of time to reflect on what he may have done wrong. Also note the "mental health problems" in there.
Sentence should have included a random SWATTING (Score:2)
I think that part of the punishment should be specifically using him as a training mission for a SWAT Team, or at least the French equivalent(RAID, apparently) occasionally.
As in, he's just sleeping whenever, and suddenly the door's blown off, he's flashbanged and put to the ground, handcuffed, and all that.
Re: Sentence should have included a random SWATTIN (Score:2)
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He's told, sorry, they got a report of a murder or something at his location. They're sorry for disturbing him, then just leave.
Community service? (Score:2)
Given that his big concern after being charged was getting his account back, 3 years of no internet would be better. Hardly enforceable, of course...
I like the verdict (Score:5, Interesting)
I’m not always a fan of the way Europe does things, but this one is perfectly spot on. Hard and firm, but not maniacal. Addresses the seriousness of what he did but doesnt doom him to a permanent third-class-criminal existence. Dude clearly needs some imposed structure in his life. Gives the guy a chance to pull up out of the tailspin. I wish the US justice system had a bit more of this practicality.
Of course, he’s lucky his little swatting stunt didnt hurt or kill anyone.
Sit in a courtroom someday (Score:4, Informative)
You'll see a lot of this. It's only the shitty cases that get headlines, and rarely complete ones.
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Be careful to report any illegal activity now! (Score:1)
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Yeah, like calling the cops on an armed gang, in front of Walmart and later realizing that it was just the local GOP open and concealed carry intrest group and not a group of rascist lunatics on an amok stroll.
I for one await the day when open and concealed carry groups and swat teams open fire on each other because nobody knew who the "shooter" was, because everybody had a gun and was firing at a person drawing a gun. I call that day: "Gun Domino Day" - a Terrentino flick not yet produced.
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it was just the local GOP open and concealed carry intrest group and not a group of rascist lunatics on an amok stroll
How do you tell those groups apart? From over here they look mighty similar.
I have to disagree (Score:3)
I'd argue that it isn't. SWATTING is a deliberate activity. In this case, a man in France called Canada and faked a 911 call. There is not realm in which what he did was a "mistake".
This isn't my calling in "suspicious activity" in my neighborhood that turns out to only be a party, or relatives visiting, or such.
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I disagree. He's not being jailed for calling in a "false positive", he's being jailed for deliberately misleading the police. Lying to them, calling in a false report all that.
Look, if you report suspicious activity in your neighbor's backyard and somebody gets killed, there's still reasonable doubt. If it seems reasonable that you made a honest call, then they aren't going to go after you, because a defense lawyer would rip the case apart by providing reasonable doubt.
There's worlds of difference betwe
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Ok. It won't take long time to replace all 911 operators with similar to chatGPT system,
I disagree. They tried it with something as simple as weight loss, and ended up killing it.
They're already doing some things with tracing and such, things behind the scenes to better identify the location of the caller and whether it matches with the location that they're claiming to be calling from. So it may be that 911 spoofing/SWATting is on a limited timetable as is.
that error will eventually jail innocent person who made call being drunk, simply insane and etc,
Problem - the ML system won't have the power to jail people. It probably won't be deployed at all due to the risk of disregarding a leg
Point that somewhere else please (Score:2)
Age doesn't matter (Score:3)
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Sentence is spot on. (Score:5, Funny)
I have put over $1,500 in cosmetic enhancements in my profile.
Yeah, this guy definitely needs mental health help.
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1500 in cosmetic enhancement for his profile is ridiculous, especially since he still is fugly when looked at from the front or back.
Sounds like French police... (Score:1)
Killed the wrong migrant. This guy is going to get that right wing drag queen elected.
Light on Crime? (Score:2)
And people say that California is light on crime.. definitely wouldn't have just given him community service and mental health support. Dunno if France's ability to help mentally disturbed people is any better than any other country, but somehow i doubt this will do anything.
Heh, (Score:1)
Let the malicious little shit ROT. (Score:1)
Seriously.
This sort of thing isn't a joke.
This isn't an accident.
This shit is attempted murder.
Don't care how young he is.
People who are this stupid need to be removed from society to protect society.