SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the more-than-just-a-40-year-old-TV-series dept.
Three months after she introduced the Internet Swatting Hoax Act in US Congress, Representative Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) found herself at the end of an apparent swatting attempt on Sunday night.
Melrose, Massachusetts police press spokesperson John Guilfoil confirmed to Ars Technica that the department received a phone call from "a computerized voice, not a natural voice" alleging "shots fired" and an "active shooter" at the address of Clark's home. The resulting police report confirmed an incident time of 9:57pm for a "life alert alarm" and "automated call reporting shooter."
This type of police report—using a disguised voice to allege false threats at a residence—is known as "swatting," due to the likelihood that police departments will react by sending SWAT teams to respond to serious-sounding threats. In the case of the Sunday night call, however, Guilfoil confirmed that Melrose police followed "established protocols" to choose a de-escalated response of normal police officers, though the officers in question blocked traffic on both ends of Clark's street with patrol cars. Guilfoil was unable to clarify whether weapons were drawn at the scene, and he did not answer our other questions about the incident, particularly those about the nature of the phone call received, "due to the ongoing nature of the investigation."
(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Thursday February 04 2016, @07:58PM
So wait a second.
A minute ago you commented that there was no changes to legislation using a cherry picked quote of her saying she only wants to enforce existing powers [soylentnews.org], but you knew about the bill. Now you're claiming that because there's no language in the bill specifically identifying gender that she's not using "sexism against women" to try and push the bill she's introduced.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday February 04 2016, @11:28PM
Hence why she's a sexist. If she's merely using sexism to sell the bill, whatever. Otherwise nothing to see here. From Ars:
But the federal government's lack of specific anti-swatting rules hasn't helped, which is why Representative Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) proposed the Interstate Swatting Hoax Act on Wednesday.
"While federal law prohibits using the telecommunications system to falsely report a bomb threat hoax or a terrorist attack, falsely reporting other emergency situations is not currently prohibited," Clark wrote in her announcement of the bill. As such, her bill uses broad-yet-specific language to punish anyone who "uses a telecommunications system, the mails, or any other facility of interstate or foreign commerce to knowingly transmit false or misleading information indicating that conduct has taken, is taking, or will take place that may reasonably be believed to constitute a violation of any State or Federal criminal law, or endanger public health or safety."
More action is needed at the state levels since this bill only covers interstate SWATing.