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posted by Fnord666 on Monday March 20 2017, @04:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the is-it-assault-or-battery? dept.

Three months after a journalist reported being attacked by a troll who posted a seizure-inducing image on Twitter, a suspect has been arrested:

A man accused of triggering an epileptic seizure of senior Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald through a tweet was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning. An FBI spokesman said the name of the suspect has not been released but confirmed that an arrest was made, Dallas News reported.

The arrest comes three months after Eichenwald said he suffered a seizure after someone sent him a video clip of a flashing strobe light in an intentional effort to trigger his epilepsy. A Twitter account called @jew_goldstein — which has since been suspended — responded to Eichenwald with a gif of flashing strobe lights and a message: "You deserve a seizure for that post." Shortly after, Eichenwald's account tweeted: "This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault."

From the Dallas News article:

The agency announced that John Rayne Rivello, 29, of Salisbury, Md., was arrested Friday morning in Maryland on a cyberstalking charge.

[...] Eichenwald's attorney, Steven Liberman, told Newsweek that "What Mr. Rivello did with his Twitter message was no different from someone sending a bomb in the mail or sending an envelope filled with anthrax spores."

[...] According to a criminal complaint, messages sent from Rivello's Twitter account mentioned Eichenwald, saying "I know he has epilepsy," "I hope this sends him into a seizure" and "let's see if he dies."

Authorities also found an screenshot of Eichenwald's Wikipedia page on Rivello's iCloud account, the criminal complaint said, altered to list his date of death as Dec. 16, 2016. Other files on the iCloud account include a list of things that trigger epileptic seizures and a screenshot of a Dallas Observer article about Eichenwald's attempts to find the person who tweeted at him.

[...] On Friday, Eichenwald said that more than 40 people sent him strobes once they found out that they could trigger seizures.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 20 2017, @07:32AM (9 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 20 2017, @07:32AM (#481386) Journal

    If I walk into most stores, smoking a cigarette, I'm likely to get arrested, despite any lack of intent to harm anyone. The nanny state has decided that it must protect everyone from my smoke, no matter they want it or not.

    If I'm speeding through a school zone, I can expect to be arrested, despite any lack of intent to harm anyone.

    If I discharge a firearm within most city limits, I'm likely to be arrested, despite any intent to harm anyone.

    If I'm posting, mailing, or otherwise sending images which can be reasonably expected to induce seizures in some portion of the population, then I should be arrested.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday March 20 2017, @08:12AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Monday March 20 2017, @08:12AM (#481398)

    f I'm speeding through a school zone, I can expect to be arrested, despite any lack of intent to harm anyone.

    Last time I sped though a school zone, they just mailed me a ticket.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @08:45AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @08:45AM (#481408)

    Runaway has the whole thing bass ackwards yet again!

    If I put a harmless chemical into a municipal water suppy thinking it is a deadly poison, I should be arrested.

    If I pull the trigger whilst aiming at another human being with intent to kill, and the gun happens to be unloaded, still attempted murder.

    If I push the button on the cell phone that the nice undercover FBI agent has told me will blow up a whole bunch of innocent people, I am probably going away for a long time.

    To sum up, Runaway, we are talking about intent to cause harm, not unintentionally causing harm. Both are culpable.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @11:12AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @11:12AM (#481440)

      Poor idiot - Runaway has pointed out that you can be imprisoned for a variety of actions, despite the lack of any intent to harm anyone. That should apply to advertisers who induce seizures.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @04:26PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @04:26PM (#481567)

        Poor idiot - Runaway

        Yeah, but calling Runaway names is not likely to change his mind. It is more likely to trigger him, like the word "Hillary", or "abortion", or "constitution"

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @09:32PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @09:32PM (#481792)

        Poor idiot - Runaway

        But you repeat yourself. With apologies to Mark Twain.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @12:36AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @12:36AM (#481891)

      Is it OK to kill the FBI agent in question on the spot? For suggesting such a horrible thing that is? As well as the FBI director who orchestrated the setup? No? Why not?

  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 20 2017, @04:22PM (2 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday March 20 2017, @04:22PM (#481561) Journal

    And here we have an excellent example of exactly why we need those laws.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @04:29PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @04:29PM (#481569)

      thass racissss

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @01:49AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @01:49AM (#481914)

        We has us a Soylentil of the House of Slytherin! A parsel-tongue, no less?