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Alum Kills Over $58,000 in PC Gear With 'USB Killer' Device
The student in question is Vishwanath Akuthota. He graduated from [The College of St. Rose] in Albany, New York back in 2017. Yet, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Akuthota "admitted that he intentionally destroyed the computers and recorded himself doing so using his iPhone, including making statements such as 'I'm going to kill this guy' before inserting the USB Killer into a computer's USB port." The video hasn't been published.
Akuthota also recognized that he caused more than $58,000 in damage to The College of St. Rose and has agreed to pay back that amount to the school. (And here we thought people only had to pay that kind of money for their alma mater when their student loans come due.) The DoJ said he "faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of up to 3 years" after sentencing.
Best advertising ever for USB Killer?
Also at The Verge.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Bartman12345 on Sunday April 21 2019, @08:32AM (15 children)
See subject.
(Score: 0, Troll) by RamiK on Sunday April 21 2019, @09:25AM (10 children)
Actually as a hacktivist SJW feminist Millennia native speaker of a Indo-European declined language, s/he defies patriarchal gender definitions and would rather be referred as an alumnum.
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(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 21 2019, @10:20AM (2 children)
When are you yanks going to learn. It is aluminium, (al-you-min-ee-um) not aluminum (al-loom-in-um).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 21 2019, @11:24AM (1 child)
Actually the Latin is al-loo-MI-nee-um with the stress on the third syllable from the end.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 21 2019, @11:10PM
Well, it wasn't found until 1825, so I'm going to go with the Romans didn't have a word for it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 21 2019, @05:53PM (6 children)
What is it with you and that one AC being so completely obsessed with peoples' gender identity? Every single conversation you or him (are you the same person?) has to drop something into the thread about it. Are you questioning? Closeted? Actually trans or nonbinary or something yourself?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by darkfeline on Sunday April 21 2019, @09:49PM (1 child)
Not him, but I'm concerned only when it is forced upon me. Identify with whatever you want, I don't care. If you're forcing me to remember dozens of new pronouns because you will throw a hissy fit if I call you he/she based on your appearance, you can go fuck yourself. If you're forcing me to pay tax dollars to fund expensive medical procedures with an ambiguous history of effectiveness, you can go fuck yourself. An individual expecting all of society to cater to their quirks is the epitome of selfishness. For example, people with allergies do not try to force all restaurants to serve only food that they are not allergic to. They are very reasonable and take personal responsibility to manage their issues.
I realize that there are many people with alternative gender identities where are reasonable. There are some who are not reasonable, and they give the rest bad publicity. To continue the comparison with people with allergies, I'm sure there are unreasonable allergic folks. They appear to be far fewer in number and are at least less vocal. Rather, the problem is with folks who don't have allergies pretending to do so (gluten sensitivity, anyone?) that give a bad name to the rest.
Basically, the problem is with the glorification of the victim and special snowflake. You get special treatment, so make sure to scream your victim credentials for all to hear, so society can be forced to cater to your needs. This is not exclusive to people with alternative gender identities, but they seem to be the loudest and leading the pack.
And yes, this is a problem of perception. It may be that these people are a very, very, tiny minority, but they are so loud. The larger public has a perception based on what they hear, whether true or not. Instead of fighting for legal/social accommodations, you should probably fight to correct your PR first, or you're setting yourself up for a painful backlash.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday April 22 2019, @12:45AM
Um...the gender identity thing doesn't concern me directly. I'm gay but cisgender, and struggle to understand what trans* people feel and suffer, because it's literally unthinkable from an existential standpoint to me.
But how hard is it to show some common courtesy? If I'm not sure, I just ask, "hey, how do you prefer to be called?" There's at least two people at work at my pharmacy like this, one who's very early in transition, and it shows. And her face, wide jawline and all, lit up like a halloween pumpkin when I asked.
Back up a moment and ask yourself if any of what you've said could apply to other groups. 20 years ago I bet you'd have been saying the same thing about me, with my uppity wanting-not-to-be-discriminated-against and the whole wishing-I-could-marry-my-girlfriend thing. This, too, shall pass.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday April 22 2019, @06:35AM (3 children)
Ha? When did I suggest that he was gay/straight? Why are you assuming all "hacktivist SJW feminist Millennia native speaker of a Indo-European declined language" that hopes to defy "defy patriarchal gender definitions" are gay? I'm pretty sure most are actually straight. I'm a little gray in the head but I certainly don't find man attractive in any way...
Survivor's bias. You don't engage in my other dozen or so threads on non-gender issues so you only know me for my sex-related jokes. To others I'm a racist; To others, a communist Jew hippy foreigner traitor. I can't really hold it against you. After all, if you knew me you'd realize I'm too much of a boring and stupid jackass to be anything but an old straight guy. Then again, you'd also realize when you're as misanthropic as me you end up using right-wing rhetoric to express radical left-wing anarchistic politics and then what would we have to talk about?
For the sake of simplicity and expediency, just assume everything I say or do is to undermine identity politics of all types and causes. If they're racists, I'll troll them. If they champion gay rights, I'll troll them. If they claim liberal views, I'll call them hippies. If they call for arms, I'll call them cowards.
In essence, I burn flags. Mine included. A pacifistic arm-chair Joker if you will. Just keep modding me troll and move on. I'd do the same if I didn't object to the moderation system as a principle.
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(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday April 22 2019, @10:52PM (2 children)
Oh Madokami, another permabulating nihilist...spare us the self-righteous justification and just admit you like to troll.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Tuesday April 23 2019, @06:01AM (1 child)
But I'm not a nihilist. Nihilists deny causes. I deny the flags people raise when they say they're representing one cause or the next. All those pretty ideals crumble to dust as soon as there's an organization and leader involved. And it's exactly what I tried showing here: You have this guy who destroys someone else's property for no declared ideology. Now, comes the leagues of reporters, each painting the incident their own colors:
1. The racists draw attention to him being a foreigner.
2. The anti-academia corporation draw attention to him being an alumnus.
3. The anti-hackers focus on the usb-killer.
4. The DOJ is showing how they're essential and doing their jobs.
5. The judge sentences too many years to show they're "tough on crime".
...
So, if you have all these interest group working against justice to advance their own gains, why not throw a little wrench in their cogwheel of institutionalized corruption and attach all manner of conflicting ideologies? Now the guy is a democrat hacktivist... Now he's a right wing freedom fighter... Now he's young millennia struggling to find a job and taking it out on the school... Now you charge him with rape... Now you charge him with treason... They do it to establish their status at everyone's else expense. I do it to screw up their agenda at their expense.
But sure, when you're at the opposite end, demonizing the people who object to your methods saying "you just like to see the world burn" / "just admit you like to troll" is about the best way to deal with it without addressing the elephant in the room. And yeah, I'm a coward that wouldn't ever do this sort of things in real life. Then again, strip the political power and security detail off a politician and have them march to their opposition's camps while hoisting their banners and see how they defend themselves while spewing their lies.
But yeah. I won't object to a troll mod. The action itself is trolling cause or otherwise.
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(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 23 2019, @10:18PM
Trolling has its place, though I think what you're speaking of here is best described as "Bayesian poisoning." Just make sure that you have a good and moral reason for throwing that monkey wrench in the gears before you do it; if all you have is "I don't like their tone" or even "all [of what I deem to be] identity politics sucks, I'mma break it," you may end up causing far more harm than you prevent...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday April 21 2019, @09:31AM (3 children)
Fortunately Editors are around to catch mistakes & improve stories!!!!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Sunday April 21 2019, @02:32PM (2 children)
It can be fun to go back and read the original submissions link sometimes to see what they catch (admittedly this requires significant boredom). They catch the egregious stuff pretty reliably. An occasional its/it's or missing capitalization on canada might get past them. Sometimes words in the middle sentences are left out but the brain fills in the gaps. I debated fixing a grammar error in a quote once and decided against as it was a quote, but the editors couldn't stand it and [fixed] it themselves. I found this funny, but I'm weird that way.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Sunday April 21 2019, @10:43PM (1 child)
Can also be fun to see what they introduce!
These are our editors; there are many like them, but these ones are ours. (Stolen from the Marne Corpse, slightly alterated.)
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Sunday April 21 2019, @10:54PM
Full Metal Journalism?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды