"Man who triggered seizure in Newsweek Reporter via Twitter arrested by FBI "Just three months ago, Newsweek reporter Kurt Eichenwald temporarily quit Twitter after [a personally hostile twitter troll] sent him a flashing image that triggered an epileptic seizure. Friday, Eichenwald tweeted that the man who sent the strobing image has been arrested by the FBI. According to Eichenwald, the man faces federal charges and will be indicted by the Dallas District Attorney on other charges in the coming days..." http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/man...s-kurt-eichenwald-on-twitter-arrested-by-fbi/ Previously: "A Dallas county judge issued an order on December 19 allowing a lawyer representing Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald to issue subpoenas to compel Twitter to reveal the identity of the subscriber who used the social media platform to intentionally trigger a seizure in the journalist. According to the court filing, Twitter agreed to the order, a sign that it might not fight any subpoenas in the case... ...Eichenwald...ha[d] also publicly disclosed that he has epilepsy..." http://www.newsweek.com/newsweek-writer-tweet-seizure-534218 Curious what the actual criminal charges will be. The case is unusual as an online tool was deployed as a weapon capable of physical harm. Dunno if an epileptic seizure can lead to death , but if so, though a stretch, it is possible the perpetrator could be charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Because of facts not mentioned in my tweet, the perpetrator could be prosecuted under Title 18, U.S.C., Section 249 - Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which carries a criminal penalty up to 10 years in prison. Sad, but interesting case.
What happened to people? In the past couple of decades, people are pussified all over the globe. Politically correct, over-tolerance to cult and criminals and suppression of common sense - what the **** is going on? Since when an image becomes a deadly weapon?
When you have intensely expressed hate for a person and know that person has epilepsy and you send a flashing gif intended to trigger a seizure. The gif will definitively be classified as a weapon, but as I said, calling it a deadly weapon would be a stretch.
I don't think you understand epilepsy but that isn't a problem, I know people with it and I've personally studied it myself. It's a known fact that flashing images are known to trigger epilepsy seizures, not always, but it's not that uncommon - this explains why you occasionally find little warnings in some places mentioning that viewer discretion is advised if you are sensitive to flashing imagery/have any conditions such as epilepsy. What the person who sent the GIF did was pretty cruel if he really did know what the consequences could have been, but we shouldn't jump to conclusions because there are always two sides to the story. Regardless, that does not mean that the person is bad deep down, we all make bad decisions some times and he could really regret what he did.
The guy wouldn't have been arrested if there wasn't evidence of malicious, premeditated intent. It's much like he walked up to the reporter and did that in person. God, that is so nasty, hope he does slammer time.
The FBI arrested the perp on charges of "criminal cyberstalking with the intent to kill or cause bodily harm.." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/...et-off-a-seizure-leads-to-an-arrest.html?_r=0 Under the Federal Cyberstalking Law, 18 U.S. Code § 2261A - Stalking; https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2261A , a prison term of up to 10 years can be imposed when the criminal act causes "serious bodily injury to the victim results or if the offender uses a dangerous weapon during the offense;..." https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2261 The tweet included the message: "...you deserve a seizure for your post,...” The animated tweet contained strobe lights, flashing circles and a picture of Pepe the Frog flying at the screen. https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...hp_local-news_mdseizure-1230am:homepage/story The perpetartor's iCloud account included a list of things that trigger epileptic seizures: " ...'.Evidence received pursuant to a search warrant showed Rivello’s Twitter account contained direct messages from Rivello’s account to other Twitter users concerning the victim. Among those direct messages included statements by Rivello, including “I hope this sends him into a seizure,” “Spammed this at [victim] let’s see if he dies,” and “I know he has epilepsy.” Additional evidence received pursuant to a search warrant showed Rivello’s iCloud account contained a screenshot of a Wikipedia page for the victim, which had been altered to show a fake obituary with the date of death listed as Dec. 16, 2016. Rivello’s iCloud account also contained screen shots from epilepsy.com with a list of commonly reported epilepsy seizure triggers and from dallasobserver.com discussing the victim’s report to the Dallas Police Department and his attempt to identify the Twitter user.'..." https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ing-newsweek-writer-a-seizure-inducing-tweet/ The Dallas police are expected to file other charges. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crim...alist-kurt-eichenwald-tweet-triggered-seizure
Photosensitive epileptics are a pretty small percentage of epileptics as a whole but for those that are flashing lights can trigger a tonic clonic episode which can cause all kinds of damage - physical and mental. There are even very expensive special glasses to protect against that happening. In the late 1990's a Japanese cartoon caused a few hundred children to have seizures. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/17/video.seizures.update/ I've had seizures for 51 years so I keep an eye on news that centers around epilepsy.
Seizures (grand mal, aka tonic-clonic) can certainly result in sudden death, not only to someone diagnosed with epilepsy, but a seizure resulting from other causes as well. In my younger days, I was diagnosed with migraine headaches. On several occasions, I suffered a grand mal seizure, usually within an hour following the onset of the migraine. My neurologist subsequently added anti-convulsant medication to help avert them. For anyone interested, additional info regarding this may be found on the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) website at the link below: https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy/basics/sudep/ Just my 3 cents worth...
For some if they have a history of status epilepticus, it can cause death or brain damage. Seizures are not considered fits. Status epilepticus: An epileptic seizure that lasts more than 30 minutes; a constant or near-constant state of having seizures. Status epilepticus is a health crisis .
"Epilepsy Foundation Was Targeted in Mass Strobe Cyberattack HOUSTON — Hackers sent videos and images of flashing strobe lights to thousands of Twitter followers of the Epilepsy Foundation last month in a mass cyberattack that apparently sought to trigger seizures in those with epilepsy, the foundation said on Monday... The foundation reported 30 such attacks in the first week of November, and said it had filed complaints with law enforcement authorities, including with the United States Attorney’s Office in Maryland, where the group’s headquarters are... Cyberattacks intended to trigger harmful seizures in those with epilepsy have become more common in recent years, particularly after a Texas author was targeted in 2016.[See OP]..." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/...ml?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage
Twitter blocks animated PNGs to keep trolls from using them to trigger seizures (updated) You’ll still be able to use GIFs when you feel the need to share your favorite screencaps December 23, 2019 https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/23/twitter-blocks-apng-stop-seizures/
