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Watching a "Swatting" Slowly Unfold
netbuzz writes That online gamers have been victimized has unfortunately allowed us to see what "swatting" looks like from the perspective of the target: terrifying and potentially deadly. A similar type of criminally unnecessary SWAT scene played out Saturday night when a caller to police in Hopkinton, Mass., claimed to be holed up in the town's closed public library with two hostages and a bomb. The library stands within eyesight of the starting line for the Boston Marathon. An editor for Network World, there by happenstance, watched for two hours, and, while it was a hoax and no one was hurt, his account highlights the disruption and wastefulness these crimes inflict.
Hostage Taker: "No sir, no problems here!"
Han Solo: [sounding official] Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal.
Police Officer Calling: What happened?
Han Solo: [getting nervous] Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
Officer: We're sending a squad up.
Han Solo: Uh, uh... negative, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous.
Officer: Who is this? What's your operating number?
Han Solo: Uh...
[Han shoots the phone]
Han Solo: [muttering] Boring conversation anyway. LUKE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE COMPANY!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
The first armed man put down the telephone. His accomplace briefly averted his eyes from us to glance at him, asking "Did they buy it?"
"Sure thing. The police think it's just another night at the library, that the call they got was a hoax. Totally bought the line I was the night watchman. They have no idea about the hostages."
"Good", said the first. "What now?"
"Now", the first armed man replied, "We dial 911, and tell them we have hostages and list our demands..."
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.