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Police vow to catch people behind Twitter death threats aimed at Arlington computer game developer
By adamg on Mon, 10/13/2014 - 4:43pm
Polygon reports Brianna Wu, co-founder of Boston's Giant Spacekat game company, fled her Arlington home last week after a series of death tweets that identified her husband and address.
Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan says his detectives got the case on Friday. In a statement, he says:
We will use all tools and assets at our disposal to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
The Department has advanced computer forensics software and equipment and investigators trained to use them effectively. The Arlington Police Department has jurisdiction to enforce violations of state law, and will also communicate with federal authorities and share information pertinent to the investigation. The department is also working directly with Twitter, Inc.
Wu is the latest woman in gaming who has had to face graphic death threats after complaining about misogynist gamer boys.
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Comments
there are far better news sites than Jezebel
please don't link to clickbait/troll Gawker sites (that also happen to represent the extreme fringes of feminism.)
Extreme feminism, you say?
I actually read Jezebel from time to time and while it can be tiresome and insipid (too many SQUEE posts about cute little puppies for my taste), no, it's hardly on the Andrea Dworkin end of the spectrum.
But I aim to please, so here's another selection of articles about Gamergate, all guaranteed 100% Jezebel free:
Intel's awful capitulation to #gamergate's sexist thugs
Misogyny, death threats and a mob of trolls: Inside the dark world of video games with Zoe Quinn - target of #GamerGate.
Angry misogyny is now the primary face of #GamerGate.
This one simple test will tell you if #GamerGate is about corruption or misogyny.
Glad to be of service.
even my most SJW-er friends eyeroll when Jezebel is mentioned
Gawker sites exist for one purpose: clicktrolling.
And yes, thank for actually linking to proper news sources instead of snarky blogs. Thanks for being abusive while doing so. That was just so necessary and appropriate.
My apologies for the snark
But if you had actually looked at the Jezebel article, instead of just the URL, you would have seen it was not written by a Jezebel staffer but by somebody who actually does research on the topic at hand.
#notallanons
are 'victims' of gamergate backlash, but I guess this one is.
er, "abusive"?
er, "abusive"?
You're a fine one to talk
"Abusive"? Can dish it out but can't take it, is that it?
It was definitely appropriate
Several points:
If you really have SJW friends who think that Jezebel, of all things, is too extreme then they must have their laptops catch on fire when they try to click on Xojane or, gods forbid, Tumblr. While sometimes clickbait-y (though an argument can be made that they're mild compared to Salon or Slate these days), trying to claim Jezebel is too extreme to be a credible source just makes you look like an idiot.
If you really feel Adam's response to you was abusive then obviously you have been on the internet for less than an hour in your lifetime. You made a whiny, disproportionate request and got gently called on it *while* being accommodated. You should be apologizing to Adam for doubling down on your silliness, not the other way around.
Snark != abuse
...or are you new to the Internet?
All online media want readers
The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Daily Mail, Salon, Slate, the New Yorker, Universal Hub, and everyone else. Why pick on Gawker and Jezebel?
I hope I won't regret this
I want to say two main points from my monitoring of gamergate.
1. Most media have been painting Gamergate as a hate group hating women invading gaming with a flimsy pretense of journalistic integrity. Almost all major gaming media have been doing this. Mainstream media has started to pick it up and they still have little familiarity to the gaming subculture or industry - thus they repeat the same talking points game journalist have published. That would include the articles above.
2. I cannot view Gamergate as a movement for journalistic integrity as summarized by some of its members. Journalistic intergrity is the most prominent point as it is the one aspect that is ably articulated and thus said most widely, but I don't think it is driven by that. The drive of Gamegate is not by hate of women nor rage against an injustice of a collusion between media and gaming industry, but being denounced by their own media representatives. Denounced with the same talking points used by hostile outside groups - somehow that cuts more than despite being the same shaming words and arguments of outsiders.
Unfortunately, I am not able to articulate more. Honestly, I am kinda afraid of saying even this much. I have been tracking this a good bit, while the news is reporting threats of the above, I been reading plenty of people expressing even neutral expression of Gamergate whom end up getting banned (and I say that honestly too, so many of my sites I liked to frequent all of a sudden become outright hostile permabanning people with derision and snark - seriously, please don't ban me for writing these thoughts) to outright dox. This is probably a flame war I should just keep my head down. But I need to show some semblance of what I been reading when everything linked here is that lopsided. So here's one link
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/25/gamergate-an-issue-with-2-sides/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
edit for clarity please?
I cannot figure out what you mean by this -- you appear to have left out some words or punctuation or both:
Edited
Sorry, I butched it when I kept trying to rewriting it while still filling in the missing words in my head.
I meant to type "cannot view Gamergate as a movement for journalistic integrity as summarized by some of its members".
I gave a quick reread and edit of the last two paragraphs of my original post. Hopefully it's a little improved.
If you're going to make death
If you're going to make death threats against someone in a computer-related business, why not make them against whoever picked out the music for the Surface Pro 3 ads? ;)
Cyber vs. physical threats
A month or two ago an Arlington house and cars in the driveway were shot up by someone. Rumors are there was a disagreement in the bar of the local Knights of Columbus with witnesses, where afterwards, allegedly one of the parties shot up the other's house. No arrests in this case have been reported. Note, this did not occur in cyberspace, but in real, physical space with actual bullets. No reports that anybody even had their gun permit or guns confiscated.
So, best wishes getting justice for a criminal threat in virtual space.
I don't think anyone thinks
I don't think anyone thinks it's going to be solved by the Arlington deputy dawgs. OTOH, their statement may make the sick and damaged individuals who are making the threats, think twice before trying to approach their intended victim. And if they do come prowling around, there's always a chance that the Arlington cops may be the ones who catch them. But they're not the only ones on this, and you know it.
better than the fbi
I'm glad the staties are handling this. The FBI has a lame track record when it comes to online harassment. I'll be curious to see if the staties do a better jjob, or at least pressure the FBI to do a better job.
I really don't understand why
I really don't understand why someone would threaten ANYONE because they write code for video games and have a DIFFERENT point of view about VIDEO GAMES. It's video games, people!!! Find and prosecute these pathetic excuses for human beings. With everything going on in this world, seriously.
Because uppity women.
Do you really have to ask? Women have the nerve to step out of line, the response is violence.
words are not violence
....but nice try.
How many women have been physically attacked because of their opinions or views on games?
Oh, that's right - not a single one.
Yet
And that we know of.
Despite that stupid sticks-and-stones rhyme, words do have consequences. Perhaps it's time to grow up and recognize the problem behind posting somebody's doxxed home address as part of a series of brutal threats on a public forum. If nothing else, it can be prosecuted as a case of assault.
I get doxxed right here
on Universal Hub by losers and Adamg doesn't seem to say or do a thing about it. Don't have to be a woman to get harassed by immature boys in their mom's basement.
You mean, people know your zip code?
You put it in your screen name, with your name and last initial.
You also ran for public office - that's a matter of public record.
People put two-and-two together, perhaps, but I only saw your address once when a friend was running in the same town meeting election. It may have been posted here, but I haven't seen it.
So, if you call that doxxed, well, maybe ... but the Town of Arlington doxxed you first and you have kind of doxxed yourself.
Wait, wait...
Mar K-squared actually ran for public office?
Oh, that is delicious!
Town Meeting Member
Arlington, like many "towns" holds a representative town meeting. He represented his neighborhood for a time.
Members are listed on the website with their addresses.
You just did it again!
The doxxing I had in mind were times that my full name was placed in the same message with a false claim of what I wrote. Its happened several times.
Markk02474 is not my real name, nor does it indicate if I was or ran for public office, so you're doing it too!
Before there was an Internet, lots of public information has been available in phone books, voter lists, and resident ("true persons") lists. Just go to your town or city hall and buy a CD with the flat text files maintained by the state. Get birthdays, addresses, occupation etc. all with just knowing an address or name.
But not username on a web site.
Ah, poor attention seeker.
What, do you think you are one of those terrible Gods whose names can't be mentioned?
Dream on.
You yourself have put all this information on UHub.
This info is also a matter of public record. Try the google terms that Kerplan did, below.
Spare us the pathetic hijack attempts for sympathy.
Duble sekrit code
Stop telling peopel his last name begins with a K
Didn't even need...
... the "k" last name to find him on Google.
Not Even Seven Degrees
Markk there is a big difference between knowing you are from Arlington and disagreeing with you, or even using [admittedly sometimes less civil] negative words to describe your view points and what occurred to Wu. She had rather descriptive and violent threats that were very psychotic. And they posted her address. That is very very different from the typical mild disagreements here. Hell if we hung out in a bar we could probably have a good old time discussing various subjects we don't disagree on.
Al that is needed to ID "our" markk"...
is this simple Google search: "arlington, ma mark bicycles danger"
;~}
and what about Swatting?
Ooooo, someone (re)posted your home address on the intertubes.
Nasty words are nothing compared to SWATting that male gamers undergo from other gamers.
But of course, we have a double standard. Feminist gamer gets trolled online, freaks out and everyone portrays her to be in mortal danger.
Regular Joes playing various computer games get SWAT teams sent to their house, have property destroyed, end up arrested at gunpoint by teams of hostile police with assault weapons...and nobody blinks an eyelid.
Remember, kids. If you're a man, you're 3 times more likely to be a victim of violent crime than a woman, and ten times more likely to be killed.
The greatest lie ever told by feminists is that "violence against women" is a thing and men are "privileged." Crime victim stats, prosecution/conviction/sentencing, mortality rates from disease, suicide rates, etc all prove otherwise.
Oh you poor man
So sad for you.
It's difficult, but try to hold two thoughts in your head
Yes, swatting is a horrible thing. So is the ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic. Neither makes what gamer dudez are doing to female programmers less reprehensible.
But thanks for taking time out on your way to the MRA meeting.
"Logic"
Your "logic" seems to work something like this.
"Hey, look, a red balloon."
"Butbutbut there's a yellow balloon over here; therefore, no red balloon exists."
Just so you realize what a loon this makes you sound like.
The sticks and stones defense
The sticks and stones defense is for the birds.
Words easily turn into violence. It's happens all the time. If someone sent threats of rape and murder to your famy, threats which included your home address, would you really tell your daughter/ wife not to worry because stick and stones?
The intent was to scare her from speaking and put her back in her place. Just as violence and threats of violence have been used throughout this country's history to maintain the status quo.
words are absolutely violence
If you were ever a woman who had to walk alone down the street (doesn't really matter where), you would know just how violent words can be when they harass, intimidate, and cause harm.
Not only are words like this - on the internet or on the street - intended to demonstrate men's power and ownership over women's bodies and actions, they are meant to keep us in line, in the positions prescribed to us by men.
From Wikipedia:
From Wikipedia:
Assault does not require that you have actually struck someone; merely that you have made a credible threat to do so. Now, an online threat will likely not meet that requirement, but is firmly within the definition of harassment.
We have laws against these kinds of things because they are actually harmful, even if no physical contact is ever made.
And there is actual physical contact going on; this is not just idle threats on the internet. Here's a guy who defends sexual harassment in the gaming community as "part of the culture", and harasses one of his own teammates by leaning in close to her, to the point where he touches her and makes her run away, while making comments about her smell and her boyfriend; and that's just what was caught on camera.
Assault yes
Yes, that's why assault and battery are two different crimes.
Do you know what the word
Do you know what the word "threat" means? If you were on the receiving end of the threats cited in the article (you DID read the article, didn't you? You could not possibly be just talking out your ass, could you?), would you just wave your hands and say, "Oh, tra la la, sticks and stones"?
words are not violence
http://xkcd.com/1216/
It's less about women and
It's less about women and more about insular video gamers being grown men who play with toys who get very offended about who is behind their playthings. Death threats are not cool but the detailed coverage this story is getting is ridiculous.
Report it as manchildren threatening people and the manchildren need to be stopped and held accountable. Trying to put any meaning behind their actions is embarrassing. With all the things media could be reporting on with regards to feminism, giving so much coverage to video games and internet drama is laughable and makes real issues look less important, unless I'm mistaken and out of touch and video games are considered on the same level as reproductive rights and discrimination against women in the middle east for instance.
With all the things media
I have barely seen any media coverage on this. Furthermore, what does this have to do with feminism? Where do you get your news?
The first in the list of
The first in the list of links Adam posted referred to this as a feminist issue. Also in the OP, Jezebel is a feminist site. A lot of blogs are reporting this gamergate thing as an attack on feminism.
It is an attack on feminism
It sure seems like an attack on feminism. They seem to be upset that some journalists are now writing articles exploring horribly biased, radically feminist questions like "Do we *really* need another rape-the-hooker scene in the next version of GTA?" or "Why do all the male characters in Metal Gear wear normal commando style clothes, but the only female character wears a bikini?" Apparently asking these questions is ruining gaming, despite the fact that the majors continue produce games with all the same tropes, regardless of the criticism.
Similar threats against men?
You sound like you know the gamer culture better than I do, so perhaps this is true. But if so, can you cite similar threats against men? Including threats of sexual violence?
All I know is from twitter
All I know is from twitter people getting really aggressive on this hashtag and blogs of "journalist" (really, 22 year old devry degree level writers hired by huge companies like gawker to produce clickbait stories for ad revenue) getting bent out of shape writing diary level stories about the latest in "internet culture." I can't think of any threats against men other than nerds calling swat teams in on nerds that are live streaming a game.
I see. So, perhaps it IS at
I see. So, perhaps it IS at least somewhat (and most frighteningly?) about women.
This!
http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2014/10/12/this-cat-reading-a-gamergate-ma...
Open Challenge to Male Naysayers
Present as a female gamer on-line for at least one month. Attempt to actively participate using a female pseud and profile.
You won't have to learn the finer points of makeup or hairstyle or how to walk in heels to do this - just create a consistent female identity, use it, and see what happens.
SOCIAL EXPERIMENT TIME!!!
As much as the "I posed as a _____ instead of actually listening to the experiences of _____ and NOW I BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY!!!" thing drives me batty, I would so love to see this one.
Yes!
Agreed. Do it. Put up or shut up.
If you really want the full experience, try this:
If you want the full harassment experience, you could ask some radical feminist questions like the following, the kind of question that when asked by journalists are apparently ruining gaming, stifling artistic creativity, and getting certain gamers mad enough to threaten rape and murder:
"Hey Metal Gear creators, it's great there's a female character in the new game, but I noticed that all the male characters are wearing clothes, and the female is fighting in her underwear. What's up with that?"
OR maybe "Hey Assassin's Creed, we were excited when you announced there would be playable male and female versions of the main character. why have you now canceled the female option?"
Men have never pretended to be women online ever before
Good suggestion!!!
So do it. If you claim that
So do it. If you claim that the problems are imaginary, prove it wrong with your big sample size of one. Put up or shut up.
HuffPost Live Interview
Huffington Post did an interview with Brianna Wu today, after those threats came in.
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/gamergate-and-sexism-and-misogy...