Threats
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Facebook details its takedown of a mass-harassment network
Facebook is broadening the scope of what adversarial networks it will take down, and why.
Huawei accuses the US of cyberattacks and other ‘unscrupulous’ behavior
Today, Huawei accused the US of carrying out cyberattacks, attempted entrapment, unlawful searches and more. The company says the US has "been using every tool at its disposal" including "unscrupulous means" to disrupt the business operations of Huawei and its partners. The accusations, which were made without evidence, come one day after the US and Poland signed an agreement to rigorously investigate 5G network equipment from foreign providers like Huawei.
For Twitter, 'sorry' seems to be the easiest word
Two weeks before Cesar Sayoc was arrested for mailing 13 pipe bombs (and counting) to various Democratic politicians and supporters, including President Barack Obama, he was threatening people on Twitter who opposed his nationalist, pro-Trump views. In a tweet to political analyst Rochelle Ritchie on October 11th, which he sent from one of two Twitter accounts that have since been suspended, he said she should hug her "loved ones real close every time" she left home. "So you like [to] make threats. We Unconquered Seminole Tribe will answer your threats. We have nice silent Air boat ride for you here on our land Everglades Swamp. We will see u 4 sure," he added. Ritchie reported the tweet, only to be told by Twitter that it did not violate its terms of service.
Twitter: It was a 'mistake' not to suspend bomb suspect for threats
Hours after FBI Director Christopher Wray announced the arrest of Cesar Sayoc in connection with sending 13 IEDs, Twitter finally suspended two accounts tied to Sayoc. Once he was identified, internet users quickly found posts of his showing videos and pictures taken at rallies for President Donald Trump, as well as a number of social media posts threatening various people, including some of the same people that the bombs were addressed to. One of the people who received his threats was political analyst Rochelle Ritchie, who tweeted screenshots showing threats Sayoc made toward her, and Twitter's response to her reports: to do nothing. Despite promising her a "nice silent air boat ride" on October 11th after she appeared on Fox News, the company inexplicably decided there was "no violation" of its rules. Now, after his arrest, and after removing both accounts, Twitter's Safety account tweeted "We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The Tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error."
Pokémon players arrested after bringing guns to World Championships
In a bizarre turn of events, police have taken two men into custody for threatening the Pokémon World Championships in Boston. Investigators from the Boston Police Department (BPD) were tipped off after James Stumbo and Kevin North, 27 and 18 respectively, posted an image of an AR-15 and shotgun on Facebook, saying "(we) are ready for worlds Boston here we come!!!." Police searched their car yesterday and discovered the two weapons, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a hunting knife. What makes it bizarre is that both players had actually qualified for the World Championships -- no easy feat -- and Stumbo was even the Nebraska state Pokémon champion.
Uber CEO gives exec public slap on the wrist for threatening journalists
By now, there's no question that Uber exec Emil Michael said some seriously concerning things about the potential merit of digging up dirt on journalists critical of the company at a private party in front of reporters and celebrities. For the record, no, he never said that Uber was actively digging up dirt on seemingly pesky reporters, nor did he suggest that Uber plans to. Still, the very fact that he responded to the issue of seemingly slanted journalism with a pretty detailed plan of attack set off a media firestorm. This whole thing prompted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to take Michael to task on Twitter today, noting that his comments at that dinner demonstrated a distinct lack of leadership and humanity.
Gaming culture critic Sarkeesian cancels speech after school shooting threats (update)
Following threats of extreme violence at Utah State University, feminist culture-critic Anita Sarkeesian has cancelled her speech at the school scheduled for Wednesday. This morning, someone claiming to be a student at the university emailed staff members, saying that he or she would commit "the deadliest school shooting in American history" if the event wasn't cancelled, according to Utah newspaper The Standard Examiner. The email's author says that feminists have ruined their life and promised a "Montreal Massacre-style attack," stating that he or she possesses a variety of firearms and explosives and that no one in attendance or at the campus' Women's Center would be able to defend themselves should the lecture take place. This isn't the first time Sarkeesian has come under threat, either -- let alone the first time this year.
Thousands of game devs sign open letter against harassment
"We believe that everyone, no matter what gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability has the right to play games, criticize games and make games without getting harassed or threatened." It may seem like an obvious statement, but it's one with particular relevance to the gaming industry at the moment. The past few weeks have been colored by vicious online harassment of notable women involved in gaming, including developer Zoe Quinn and critic Anita Sarkeesian. Sarkeesian, who launched a new video in her Tropes vs Women in Video Games series last week, was forced out of her home after receiving threats against her and her family. She also posted a sample of some of the scariest messages that get thrown her way (trigger warning). This week, Spaces of Play developer Andreas Zecher posted an open letter to the gaming community, calling for an end to harassment and hate speech. It's now been signed by more than 2,000 developers and professionals in the industry, including people from BioWare, Nexon, Ubisoft, Riot, Epic Games, EA, King, Double Fine, Sony, Blizzard and Telltale.
Jagex reports student to police following school shooting threat
For all the talk about video games causing crimes, we don't often hear about the times when they may well prevent them. Thomas Frongillo, age 18, has been arrested on charges of threatening to commit a crime after making statements about shooting up the college that he attended, but the threats were not made in person. They were made in an online game run by Jagex, most likely RuneScape, which is what led to his arrest. Frongillo allegedly said, "I'm going to shoot up my school tomorrow," and indicated a knowledge of firearms to other players in the game. He also made anti-Semitic comments and had indicated shooting at small wildlife in previous chat sessions. Jagex employees notified the police, and he is currently on bail pending his court date on April 19th. Frongillo's lawyers claim that the statements were made in jest and that the young man had no intention of carrying out any acts of violence.
DARPA threat detection technology uses a camera to see targets, software and soldier brains to identify them
DARPA aids our military in myriad ways, from designing one shot, one kill weapons to creating robotic pack mules to carry soldiers' gear. It's also been building tools for soldiers to better survey their environment and identify threats, and its latest such tool is called the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS). CT2WS is comprised of a 120-megapixel electro-optical video camera with a 120-degree field of view feeding a laptop running cognitive visual processing algorithms. Those algorithms identify potential targets in the video feed, which are shown to a soldier wearing an EEG cap that monitors brain signals. You see, the human brain is particularly good at perceiving threats, and CT2WS looks for the particular brain wave that occurs when we see one. The human component drastically improves the accuracy with which the system can identify enemies from afar. How accurate? Testing in desert, tropical and open terrain showed that without a solider/EEG filter, the system had 810 false alarms out of 2,304 threat events in an hour. Incorporating the filter resulted in only five false alarms per hour, plus it was able to identify 91 percent of the potential targets successfully. Not good enough, you say? Add commercial radar into the mix and the army becomes omniscient -- the system then identified 100 percent of the test targets.
Storyboard: The villain in me is the villain in you
I don't play any villains, and I never have. Not in their words, anyway -- they're always noble crusaders fighting against others who are sadly mistaken. Or just driven by pragmatism. Or suffering for the sins of another. They've always got a justification, a reason why the things they've done are somehow necessary. And even though I know (hopefully) that they're full of it, it makes them fascinating to play. So for today's Storyboard, I want to talk about villains in RP and how to make them work in your favor. Before we start talking in-depth, however, it's worth noting that villains do share one thing with in-character romance: they're flashpoints for drama. They're not as bad, since it's a lot easier to separate the player from the character, but they still have the potential. They're also not going to fit into every style of roleplaying, as not every group is going to be conducive to having a specific character antagonist to work around. At least for now, we're just going to take those facts as given and look into the most important part of the equation: making and playing an effective villain in the first place.
Drama Mamas: Suicide threats
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. Warning: This week's topic is very much on the serious side and has nothing to do with WoW except that it occurs in-game a lot. Because it brings up some sensitive subjects and is very close to home for me (as you will see), I may be very heavy-handed with the moderating. I would appreciate it if you kept all of the comments constructive and non-trollish so I don't have to. Making fun of me, Robin, is ok though. I'm already laughing at me, so you can only laugh with me. Drama Mamas, I recently went to ToC5 with my RL friend, and in the party there was a mage. A very chatty mage. I humored him and chatted away. Today the guy whispered me and talked about wanting to do some instances etc.. Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess. I think he said something about not having any friends as well. But later the same day, he started talking to me about how he hates his life because he has no friends, and his girlfriend just broke up with him.. He actually started talking about wanting to kill himself.
The best of WoW Insider: December 30th, 2008 - January 6th, 2009
2008 was the best year in the World of Warcraft yet -- we got a terrific expansion, a few content patches, tons of class improvements, and lots and lots of great gameplay out of it. The past twelve months have been very good to Azeroth's inhabitants, and we're looking for an even better time in the coming year. To find out about it all, whether you're a level 10 noob or have six level 80s already, hit up Joystiq's WoW Insider for the latest news, views, and insights from the World of Warcraft. News WoW Insider's predictions for 2009It's a new year, and we've got some new expectations for the game. Account security mythbustingA former Blizzard CM lays the truth out on what's up with account security. Teen arrested for making suicide threat to a GMKid didn't want Blizzard to ban him, said WoW was all he had to live for, got the cops called on him. Queue queue moar noobServer queues plague the servers yet again. WoW Moviewatch: The Craft of War: BlindLikely the best machinima movie you will eve see. Features Blood Pact: How the mighty have fallen, or 2008 in reviewWarlocks had a rough time of it in 2008. BigRedKitty: Hunter Loot awards for 2008The best loot in ranged attack land for the last year. Know Your Lore: The Sons of HodirOur lore column takes a close look at one of the newest old players in the reputation game. The Light and How to Swing It: Shine on, a 2008 reviewPaladins prevailed big time last year. Shifting Perspectives: The Druid of 2008
Teenager arrested for making suicide threat to Blizzard rep
In a sad bit of news to start the new year, it would appear that a teenager in Fairfield Township, Ohio, was taken into custody yesterday for falsely claiming that he would commit suicide if a Blizzard support representative did not give in to his request. The young man, who remains nameless due to being underage, was arrested for "inducing panic" which carries a first-degree misdemeanor charge according to the Middletown Journal. The young man was chatting with a Blizzard rep and made the statement that he was "suicidal and that the game was the only thing that he had to live for." Whether or not this was World of Warcraft or a Battle.net account was not disclosed, but even still, it has raised the question in a few circles if Blizzard was beyond the bounds in bringing the police into this situation - or why the police might arrest someone for it.
Teen arrested for making suicide threat to a GM
After a 17-year-old in Fairfield, Ohio told a GM "he was suicidal and the game was the only thing he had to live for," the Blizzard rep called 911, and the kid was apparently arrested, according to the Middletown Journal. We've seen this before -- Blizzard won't put up with suicide threats -- but as far as I know, this is the first we've heard of an arrest coming about because of it. Apparently the charge is a first degree misdemeanor, and though the kid was released to his father, he's got a court date to face next week.The dumbest part? The kid wasn't even suicidal -- he told officers when questioned that it was a joke "to try and get what he wanted for the game." We doubt this will lead to anything big (we'd put the kid in community service and give him a slap on the wrist -- he's probably scared enough after being handcuffed and put in a patrol car), but Blizzard's policy is exactly right on this one, if you ask us. If the threat is real, this could prevent a tragedy, and if it's just some kid messing around to try and get his banned account back, he might learn a little lesson in the process.
WotLK Wiki is back in action
Don't count the WotLK Wiki out yet -- after going down late last week due to a suspected cease-and-desist order from Blizzard's lawyers (now confirmed), they have returned with a completely different host and all the information from the leaked Alpha they were originally hosting. They say that their original wiki hosts, Wikidot, were extremely supportive on both the traffic and legal fronts, as they upgraded their servers just to keep the site up, and originally did help with legal troubles. When Vivendi Universal took legal action against their ISP, however, Wikidot had to fold, and the wiki has now moved hosts to wotlkwiki.info.Last week, there was also mention that the C&D didn't ask them to remove all information, only "over-the-line" info, such as screenshots or video. But apparently that clause doesn't apply to the new host -- there are still screenshots all over the site, and though Vivendi has pulled video from YouTube before, it's still there as well.Of course, any C&D sent to the old site would still apply to the new one -- it's just a question now of whether the wiki's new host will comply with Vivendi's demands (the wiki's creators sound very sure that they won't). And after that, it'll be up to Vivendi to determine how far they want to take this -- if they really feel that having this leaked information on that site has hurt them in a justifable way, there is a possibility that an actual lawsuit could be issued, and if this escalates even further, the two parties could eventually end up in court. As always, we'll be watching to see what happenes.
