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The Internet Is Now Part of the Crime Scene
theodp (442580) writes "Over at Forbes, Kashmir Hill examines the disturbing Internet footprint of Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger. 'A decade ago,' observes TechCrunch's John Biggs in The Internet Is Now Part Of The Crime Scene, 'a crime scene was a photo and a report. Now it is a sea of interconnected tracings, the murderer bobbing loosely in social media and the forums. We can watch him make his way through these straits, we can watch the madness growing, and we can watch his terrible end, all through murk of media. We are quick to judge and we are quick to look at his wake and say, definitively, that he was this or he was that. He was frustrated. The frustration grew. He went to a place he thought would help. It didn't.'"
This is official police business. Ctrl-Z and wait to be questioned.
..the places where he made the shootings and possibly where he prepared.
the internet is not a "crime scene"(for this) any more than the postal system and newspaper opinion pieces were 30 years ago..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
"He was frustrated. The frustration grew. He went to a place he thought would help. It didn't."
Booooo hooooo hooooo! The poor, set-upon murderer, let us all shed a tear for the real victim! /sarcasm
Any more than the houses of witnesses are. It is a place where information about the accused may be found.
Like pretty much any invention mankind has ever come up with, the Internet can help or hurt. If someone is feeling upset over something, they can turn to friends online for help and can get assistance, support, and guidance through their troubled times. Or, if they aren't as lucky or don't look in the right places, they can find abuse hurled at them, idiots saying "Why don't you just kill yourself" and the like, or an echo chamber where particular prejudices are amplified and focused against Group X being the cause of all of the person's problems.
This isn't really that different from a distraught person seeking help from others via face-to-face social interaction except that the "kill yourself" jerks are probably somewhat less likely to say that to a person's face. Then again, some people I've met in person don't seem to care at all if what they say/do hurts another person. In fact, they consider hurting another person as "harmless fun." These people would be jerks even if the Internet had never existed.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
No wonder people keep committing mass killings: they see the people that killed before them and see someone who was invisible, that no one paid attention to, become a household name. How many people here know the name of the person that shot up Sandy Hook, or the Colorado movie theater, this guy, or Columbine? Now, name me some of their vicitms? You can't. People that feel unstable, or feel marginalized and that no one ever notices them or cares about them, they already need mental help. If they turn to the internet, post videos on youtube or write blogs, they get pushed over the edge even more when no one watches their video, or people write negative comments. They get to the point where the only way to get noticed is to start killing people. If they do that they become famous, everyone starts talking about them. When you see yourself as only something they might see killing as the only way to become someone. Stop publishing the names of these killers, stop implicitly glorifying these people, and killings will drop. We also need to improve mental health treatment in the country, but that's a whole other topic.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
is to congratulate the NSA and FBI on what a fine job they are doing spying on us. How safe they kept us with ever intrusive nets. That they can't even catch a kid whose own relatives called the police on him worried and posted out in the open that he'll kill people.
And then they go on how they need more powers to protect us. Yeah, right, more like to control the populace.
Congratulations Law Enforcement. Awesome work.
...will never get you a date if you (a) are a fairly nice-looking kid, (b) drive a BMW, and (c) have a father who employs actresses?
About the only one I can think of is "Let me tell you about Amway".
So what I glean from this is "Step 1 in committing any crime: Delete all social media accounts before posting anything about it".
the internet is not a "crime scene"(for this) any more than the postal system and newspaper opinion pieces were 30 years ago..
A crime scene is a location where a crime took place or another location where evidence of the crime may be found.
Crime scene
Rodger's e-mails and posts to the Internet would be admissible as evidence of premeditated murder.
Once again, a self-made video, uploaded to the world via YouTube, is at the heart of a horrific news event.
Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old man who authorities say killed six people in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area before fatally shooting himself late Friday, posted at least two self-pitying videos to the video-sharing site shortly before he went on his rampage.
The videos --- in which Rodger calmly and chillingly discusses his sexual frustrations and intent to ''slaughter'' those he claims harmed him --- were removed by YouTube after viewers flagged them. But they were repeatedly re-posted on the site as copies spread across the Internet.
Videos are routinely flagged by YouTube's users; the company reviews videos that have raised concerns and removes them if they violate its community guidelines. Among other things, the guidelines prohibit videos displaying ''predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment [and] intimidation ... and inciting others to commit violent acts. ... Anyone caught doing these things may be permanently banned from YouTube.''
Law enforcement authorities in Santa Barbara said they are analyzing Rodger's videos, which he apparently has posted online since 2012.
Elliot Rodger video removed by YouTube
Finally, when exactly did the angry rants of a mass murderer become rightfully characterized as a manifesto? Although Rodger's document is a manifestation of emotional disturbance, it hardly qualifies to be called a manifesto. A true manifesto reflects the political ideology of a formidable leader of men, a political force to be reckoned with. Nowhere in his 141 pages does Rodger describe his manuscript in such a way.
So why should we?
Why mass killers need to explain their plan
If someone is feeling upset over something, they can turn to friends online for help and can get assistance, support, and guidance through their troubled times.
Internet "friends" are no such thing - they are just electronic ghosts of people. The relationship is superficial and shallow - no matter how nice it is.
Nothing beats face to face interaction with someone. Nothing.
We have mirror neurons that allow us to connect and help with emotional regulation.
That kid didn't have adequate real personal connections. From what I've read, his family sounds pretty fucked up and mix in any mental illness this kid had (reported Aspie), you get the actions he committed.
If there was someone who was able to be a real friend to this guy (a VERY tall order considering his previous assaults, abusive actions and emotional issues), maybe - maybe the shooting wouldn't have happened.
Kids like this usually find "healthier" outlets for their rage like boxing, for example - see Mike Tyson.
It's pretty sad when folks spend all their time online and consider their online contacts as friends.
Now for the thick headed, I am NOT talking about communication with your real friends with email or posting to your friends about meeting up at Joe's Bar for happy hour. I am talking about the phony "friends" that are only online with no physical contact.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Can we stop with this insane fetishization of guns and make the gun store where this supposed "law abiding" "supreme gentlemen" bought his instruments of death a crime scene too? America, when will this madness end?
Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: line incredibly irritating?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It's becoming so commonplace that the public don't even remember them long enough that it's still fresh when the next one happens. Then they say, "Oh, it's like Jared Loughner all over again." "Was he the one who shot up the theater?" "No, he's the one who shot up the congresswoman's public meeting." "Oh, yeah. Him."
We've gone from "Never again" to "This again?" to "What a shame. Did you watch the game last night?"
Mind crime, that is. Come on, people, Queensryche had this shit sussed, what, 25 years ago? I remember the amateur detectives and armchair pop-psychs riffing and goofing on "Operation:Mindcrime" memes on the BBSes back in the "pre-Internet" daze. (Not really, but before the September that never ended.) I used to resort to sarcasm and parody to counter it, but somehow references to trenchcoats and shotguns, or maninblack psyops, seem particularly tasteless today.
I must be getting old or something. Or maybe the tree of common sense has been chopped down, too. Oh, you poor low-information pundits. You really are wet behind the ears; this is all so new to you.
Just to close, I can't help but wonder what the story would have been if some rogue cop Dirty Harry, or some armed citizen, had popped a cap into Mr. Jeremy Has Spoken here the minute he pulled a knife, and who the villain would have been then.
Now get off my lawn...
Mr. 4-Digit AC
Or does the summary read like a trailer for a Humphrey Bogart movie?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Answer: Top Posters
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
He killed 3 with a knife and 3 with a legally purchased firearm. He also tried to kill others with his car.
His parents were affluent so they could have afforded it even if it might have gone against their morals. Maybe a trip to Vegas and a night with a high-price callgirl would have prevented this terrible event? Probably not, though.
I'd bet money (if I had money) that the kid was the type to walk around and chat with his hands in his pockets. That would explain a-lot.
My favorite bit was when the people on Bodybuilding.com asked him "Why have you taken down the serial killer videos?"
We do have the technology to spot mental illness in school kids and even in employment situations. There are two facts involved. First, real testing is expensive and requires specialists including things like PET scans, MRI scans and a full medical workup in addition to psychological testing. Then the next problem is even worse. You have little Johnny in the seventh grade and his behavior seems a slight bit off. You test him which might cost 20K and determine that he in fact has a mental illness. And here comes the fun part. You have to treat him and there is no way in this world that most states or nations will fund half way good care for mental illness. So everybody looks the other way and pretends that Johnny is just a bit different or going through a stage. The catch is that in the tenth grade little Johnny's mental health is now totally wrecked and he thinks his high school should be just like Columbine. How many of us know people right now who have somewhat obvious mental health issues? And often these folks will not talk about it and may become quite hostile if you ask them to seek help. I have worked with people that I was not at all sure would not shoot up the business as their mood swings were more than a little sick.
No mention of this fact in the JEW owned media... I can't imagine why...
Oh, and he shot BLONDE WOMEN. Nothing 'racist' about that, of course...
He killed 3 with a knife ...
Are we going to hear concerned citizens demanding knives be banned? Considering that knives are already demonized, even little blades, I doubt more can be done.
Some people like to ban firearms so that no-one dies, which for a number of reasons is a false dichotomy. Banning guns is also a problem when people have a right to own firearms. But doubtless, more can be done. As one comedian noted: One passenger puts an explosive in his shoes and passengers world-wide have to take off their shoes. 31 school shootings and nothing in the USA has changed.
Pray tell... just how many NRA members exercising "open carry" have done a mass shooting? hmmmmmm?
Why should ONE of your basic constitutional rights (keeping and bearing arms) NOT be allowed out in public? Why the presumprion that anybody with a gun is a threat? Do we percieve anybody with a car or a beer to be on the verge of mass-murder? Drunk drivers massacre tens of thousands of innocent people per year but nobody pushes the idea that anybody seen by a car or with a beer is a violent fanatic. The degree to which so many people are frightened by the sight of a decent law-abiding citizen with a gun is just proff of the success of people with certain politics propagandizing the general public.
This guy apparently posted his video on Youtube in which he said "tomorrow" would be the day he carried out his killing spree. Why didn't anyone who watched the video the day he posted it alert the authorities, and if anyone did, why didn't the authorities stop him?