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[Dalek]

http://gizmodo.com/a-grand-jury-jus...source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

A Texas grand jury has charged a Maryland man with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon” after authorities say he tweeted an animated flashing GIF designed to trigger Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald’s epilepsy last year, “immediately” causing him to have a seizure.

According to prosecutors, 29-year-old John Rivello allegedly messaged another Twitter user saying “I hope this sends him into a seizure” and “let’s see if he dies” after sending Eichenwald the GIF. Another message sent by Rivello allegedly said “I know he has epilepsy” and authorities say a search of his iCloud account found a photoshopped version of Eichenwald’s Wikipedia page with his date of death edited to be December 16, about when the GIF was sent.

Rivello was arrested in Salisbury, Maryland last week. According to the criminal complaint, Eichenwald’s wife took the picture of his notifications tab seen below, showing the GIF that allegedly triggered Eichenwald’s epilepsy.

Rivello apparently made significant efforts to keep his Twitter account untraceable. Prosecutors say he was using a Tracfone prepaid SIM card that included no subscriber information and his Twitter account was set up with a dummy email address. When authorities went to Tracfone’s partner, AT&T, with the phone number linked to the Twitter account, however, they were able to find the user’s iPhone model number. Authorities then went to Apple with the information they acquired from AT&T. This is where Rivello’s apparent attempt to conceal his identity failed. Prosecutors say he was using his personal iCloud account on what appeared to be his burner iPhone, an account that included a selfie with his driver’s license (pictured above). The iCloud account also allegedly included the exact seizure-inducing GIF sent to Eichenwald, as well as a screenshot of the response apparently sent by his wife:

Total asshole.

 

[Slayven]

According to prosecutors, 29-year-old John Rivello allegedly messaged another Twitter user saying ”I hope this sends him into a seizure" and ”let's see if he dies" after sending Eichenwald the GIF.

Pretty open and shut

Prosecutors say he was using his personal iCloud account on what appeared to be his burner iPhone, an account that included a selfie with his driver's license (pictured above). The iCloud account also allegedly included the exact seizure-inducing GIF sent to Eichenwald, as well as a screenshot of the response apparently sent by his wife:

And a complete dumbass

 

[Manu]

I was ready to call this stupid based on the thread title but after reading the story I'm fine with this.

 

[Easy_D]

I mean, the intent was to cause a seizure, which is to directly cause harm. Seizures are potentially deadly. I can definitely see the logic in this sentencing

 

[kirblar]

Yup this is just fine.

 

[Patryn]

Sounds like the right decision frankly.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

He knew of the condition, made a threat and acted on it. Pretty open and shut.

 

[jacob armitage]

Well in this case it was assault with a deadly weapon.

 

[akira28]

I was ready to call this stupid based on the thread title but after reading the story I'm fine with this.

this is why we don't base our logic on thread titles.


edit: this is why some of us do not base logic on thread titles.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

What are you after here, Dalek?

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Not what I thought and pleasantly surprised

 

[Glix]

And in this case they are correct.

 

[dinoroar]

Yeah. What everyone else said. Click-bait-y title.

 

[jay]

Too bad this guy tried to hide instead of wrapping himself in the flag and frothing at the mouth about how the constitution defends his freedom of speech.

 

[The Elite]

Deadly memes.

 

[LakeEarth]

It was an animated GIF.

It was used as a weapon.

It was nearly deadly.

 

[Miami Danger]

"According to prosecutors, 29-year-old John Rivello allegedly messaged another Twitter user saying “I hope this sends him into a seizure” and “let’s see if he dies” after sending Eichenwald the GIF. Another message sent by Rivello allegedly said “I know he has epilepsy” and authorities say a search of his iCloud account found a photoshopped version of Eichenwald’s Wikipedia page with his date of death edited to be December 16, about when the GIF was sent."

What a disgusting man.

 

[Muffin1611]

I remember the thread when this happened, good that the perpetrator is getting charged for this.

Also not a good title OP.

 

[KernelPanic]

I applaud this.

This was clearly meant to cause harm, because he has epilepsy.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Throw the book at him when he is hopefully convicted.

 

[Borgnine]

Not surprising, nearly everyone dies when Sunhi posts one.

 

[B-Dubs]

Thread title is a bit clickbait. This was the right move considering the facts.

 

[Xe4]

Yeah, it totally was. I see nothing wrong with this.

If I walk up to someone with epilepsy that I dilkike, then I push a fucking strobe light in their eyes to try to kill them, that's assault with a deadly weapon too. This is no different.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

I hate clickbait thread titles. It doesn't matter if it's the discussion of the article, nothing is forcing you to adhere to the same title when you post it

 

[M0nochromatic]

Well, in this case, the gif was a weapon and there was intent. It's not as though U.S law is so up its ass that gifs are going to become regulated or something.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

At first this sounded ridiculous but after reading, fuck this dude. He absolutely intended harm.

 

[hobozero]

If you know someone has a peanut allergy, and you intentionally give them peanuts for the purpose of killing them, peanuts are a deadly weapon.

Doesn't matter that it was a gif. It had the capacity to injure or kill, and the man using knew that and had harmful intent.

 

[jay]

So now attempted murder is illegal? You SJWs have gone too far.

 

[RipperGrim]

"burner" phone that has a picture of him with his drivers licence? You can't make this shit up.

 

[WinFonda]

Yeah, he wanted to cause harm and he did. Intent and malice was there.

 

[RinsFury]

Good, fuck the piece of shit that did that.

Harrassment and attacks online should carry criminal charges just the same as offline.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

So now attempted murder is illegal? You SJWs have gone too far.

 

[Puruzi]

That's fucked. Was also confused at the thread title before reading the OP

 

[mclem]

The thread title is Gizmodo's headline; I agree it's clickbaity.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

This is what happens when gifs get into the wrong hands. We need to pass more common sense gif legislation.

 

[rjinaz]

They're right you know.

 

[jwhit28]

Someone went through the trouble of buying a burner phone to troll on twitter.

 

[studyguy]

I'm more surprised that the guy went so far to conceal his identity. Got another sim card, set up dummy accounts and all... dude is fucked in the head to go that far this.

 

[jay]

I just saw a story on this that says he is a Marine. Reminds me of the thread asking if there are racists in the military.

 

[L Thammy]

And it looks like it was a good call. That title really trivializes the decision.

 

[Sianos]

You can't get much more explicit than "gee I sure hope this man dies from looking at this seizure inducing gif I'm going to send him - you know, on account of his epilepsy".

 

[……forgetit]

That's a terrible headline.

No shit it's assualt with a deadly weapon when the flashing lights can kill the dude.

 

[Poltergust]

I hate clickbait thread titles. It doesn't matter if it's the discussion of the article, nothing is forcing you to adhere to the same title when you post it

The thread title is Gizmodo's headline; I agree it's clickbaity.

How is it clickbait when it summarizes exactly what happened?

 

[sixteen-bit]

"According to prosecutors, 29-year-old John Rivello allegedly messaged another Twitter user saying “I hope this sends him into a seizure” and “let’s see if he dies” after sending Eichenwald the GIF. Another message sent by Rivello allegedly said “I know he has epilepsy” and authorities say a search of his iCloud account found a photoshopped version of Eichenwald’s Wikipedia page with his date of death edited to be December 16, about when the GIF was sent."

What a disgusting man.

So fucked up

 

[KHarvey16]

How is it clickbait when it summarizes exactly what happened?

Because it's phrased as clickbait. You're not actually confused about this, are you?

 

[hobozero]

Rivello apparently made significant efforts to keep his Twitter account untraceable. Prosecutors say he was using a Tracfone prepaid SIM card that included no subscriber information and his Twitter account was set up with a dummy email address. When authorities went to Tracfone’s partner, AT&T, with the phone number linked to the Twitter account, however, they were able to find the user’s iPhone model number. Authorities then went to Apple with the information they acquired from AT&T. This is where Rivello’s apparent attempt to conceal his identity failed. Prosecutors say he was using his personal iCloud account on what appeared to be his burner iPhone, an account that included a selfie with his driver’s license (pictured above). The iCloud account also allegedly included the exact seizure-inducing GIF sent to Eichenwald, as well as a screenshot of the response apparently sent by his wife:

Holy shit. Criminal mastermind at work here.

The iCloud account also included a file called I_TOTALLY_SENT_THAT_GUY_A_SIEZURE_GIF.TXT, video footage of Rivello actually composing the tweet, and copies of his passport, birth certificate, and Subway rewards card,

 

[dkeane]

Someone went through the trouble of buying a burner phone to troll on twitter.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with people. They make a job out of trolling.

 

[Chocolate & Vanilla]

Good. This is the way this case needed to go.

I hope a mod edits the title. Every thread related to this case gets more than enough twatty posts as it is.


Edit: looks like it as been now, thanks.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

How is it clickbait when it summarizes exactly what happened?

It makes it sound more ridiculous than it is. It completely ignores the epilepsy context, which is, you know, the whole reason it's considered assault.

 

[Dalek]

I'm more surprised that the guy went so far to conceal his identity. Got another sim card, set up dummy accounts and all... dude is fucked in the head to go that far this.

The article makes it sound he's not the only one going through this just to harass people.