Slashdot Mirror
Arrest Made In Webcam Highjacking Extortion Case
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "CNN reports that Jared James Abrahams, a 19-year-old computer science student, has been arrested for allegedly hijacking the webcams of young women — among them reigning Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf — taking nude images, then blackmailing his victims to send him more explicit material or else be exposed. Abrahams admitted he had 30 to 40 'slave computers' — or other people's electronic devices he controlled — and has had as many as 150 total. His arrest came six months after a teenager identified in court documents as C.W. alerted authorities. She has since publicly identified herself as Cassidy Wolf, the recently crowned Miss Teen USA. Wolf received messages featuring pictures of her at her Riverside County address and others apparently taken months earlier when she lived in Orange County, says the criminal complaint (PDF). The message explained 'what's going to happen' if Wolf didn't send pictures or videos or 'do what I tell you to do' in a five-minute Skype videoconference, according to the criminal complaint. 'Either you do one of the things listed below or I upload these pics and a lot more (I have a LOT more and those are better quality) on all your accounts for everybody to see and your dream of being a model will be transformed into a pornstar (sic),' wrote Abrahams. FBI agents raided Abrahams' Temecula home in June and seized computers and hardware, cellphones and hacking software, court records show. Outside the court, Abrahams' lawyer, Alan Eisner, said that his client's family feels 'profound regret and remorse' over what happened. Eisner told CNN affiliate KTLA that Abrahams is autistic. 'The family wants to apologize for the consequences of his behavior to the families who were affected.'"
His lawyer is already bringing it up, as a possible mitigating factor. So slam him and his lawyer for bringing it up, not for Slashdot for providing details you find unfavorable.
If he is officially diagnosed, what would you say then?
I'd say that there's a significant difference between autism and sociopathy. An autistic person frequently doesn't understand how to interact with someone else, but they have enough empathy to know some basics of how *not* to interact.
I am officially gone from
One feature of autism/Asperger's is obsessions. This and male teenage hormones do not mix well. I had many obsessions as an autistic/Asperger's teenage girl. The "girl" part can be a moderating factor in the expression of autism. [I'm officially diagnosed BTW]
The reason that this story has the reference to autism in it is because the accused is attempting to use his alleged autism (I am going to assume that he has an actual diagnosis, not that it means he is actually autistic) as an excuse for his crimes. This story is actually a perfect example of what is wrong with the way our society (in general) is approaching autism. It is viewed as something which makes one unable to tell right from wrong. I do not actually believe that this man has autism, although I think it likely that he was diagnosed with it. This article does a good job of explaining what I am talking about.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
As a father of a child on the autism spectrum who also has ADHD, I can tell you that those kids are out there. I can also tell you that you have NO IDEA how much work my wife and I have put in over his lifetime to get him to the point where he can be in a mainstream classroom, and generally come off as just "mildly aloof and a bit forgetful, but friendly" as opposed to "way out there, completely disorganized, and won't make eye contact." He has to work much harder to make friends and get his schoolwork done, but because of all the training, therapy, and professional help that we have gone through (and it takes all of us to do this), you might not be able to tell in a short interaction with him. (It's still the case that in any lengthy interaction with him, if you know what to look for you'll pick some of it up.)
So don't assume that ASD + ADHD = lazy parent. We also have a typical child, and you can tell the difference in parenting effort between the two easily, but only because we have put that effort in on the atypical one. Parenting is hard for anyone, and even harder for parents of kids with either ASD or ADHD, let alone both. Many parents in one boat or the other get plenty of sideways glances from people with the attitude you wrote above, and I feel it is very disrespectful to the massive amount of time, effort, and money we have spent on our children.
That said, I agree, it is completely irrelevant whether the blackmailer in this story was autistic or not, because the behavior is not something related to the behaviors autistic people generally express as part of that diagnosis. If his family (IF) is using that as an excuse, shame on them.