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This is the sort of crowd-sourced investigative thinking like when Reddit "Got The Boston Bomber"[1]. Investigators aren't looking at patterns on granite counte

This is the sort of crowd-sourced investigative thinking like when Reddit "Got The Boston Bomber"[1]. Investigators aren't looking at patterns on granite countertops or splotches etc as primary evidence. They may well use that to confirm something but that's not the way the found the guy. They will have found him because the photo was geotagged to his house, or he's on Discord - his personal credit card has probably paid for nitro or the account is linked to his personal phone for 2fa or something. Everyone on the internet goes full CSI but most of the ways people get caught are really mundane. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/MuseumOfReddit/comments/1iv343/the_boston_bombing_debacle/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MuseumOfReddit/comments/1iv343/the_...

yellowapple 4y ago
> This is the sort of crowd-sourced investigative thinking like when Reddit "Got The Boston Bomber" It's the literal opposite (suggesting someone's innocence instead of someone's guilt), but sure. > They will have found him because the photo was geotagged to his house, or he's on Discord - his personal credit card has probably paid for nitro or the account is linked to his personal phone for 2fa or something. Then you'd think they would've mentioned that instead of fixating on some splotch in a granite countertop as if it actually proves anything.
- seanhunter 4y ago
  That tweet is from a journalist, not a member of the investigative team which arrested him. Just as an example, the NYT/Bellingcat couldn't get a court order to get discord to reveal the credit card details a given account used to pay for nitro (in my example of a possible way he could have been caught) and then a order to get the card issuer to reveal the billing address of the card. But the FBI for sure could.
  - seanhunter 4y ago
    This story[1] has more detail. 1. Someone else on his discord server cooperated with the case agent 2. He switched from posting as plaintext to posting photos because he thought he would get into trouble transcribing at work. THe photos were the ones the Bellingcat journalist deduced as being taken in his parent's kitchen. 3. The FBI had already identified him. He was using his primary discord account, had told other people on discord, his first name, that he lived in Massachusetts and worked for Air National Guard. Even with a common first name that is going to narrow the list a lot. 4. He repeatedly searched the word "leak" from his work computer, which was logged and led to an FBI alert from his work infosec monitoring. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/14/leaked-pentagon-documents-jack-teixiera-charges-explained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/14/leaked-penta...

yellowapple 4y ago

> This is the sort of crowd-sourced investigative thinking like when Reddit "Got The Boston Bomber" It's the literal opposite (suggesting someone's innocence instead of someone's guilt), but sure. > They will have found him because the photo was geotagged to his house, or he's on Discord - his personal credit card has probably paid for nitro or the account is linked to his personal phone for 2fa or something. Then you'd think they would've mentioned that instead of fixating on some splotch in a granite countertop as if it actually proves anything.

seanhunter 4y ago
That tweet is from a journalist, not a member of the investigative team which arrested him. Just as an example, the NYT/Bellingcat couldn't get a court order to get discord to reveal the credit card details a given account used to pay for nitro (in my example of a possible way he could have been caught) and then a order to get the card issuer to reveal the billing address of the card. But the FBI for sure could.
- seanhunter 4y ago
  This story[1] has more detail. 1. Someone else on his discord server cooperated with the case agent 2. He switched from posting as plaintext to posting photos because he thought he would get into trouble transcribing at work. THe photos were the ones the Bellingcat journalist deduced as being taken in his parent's kitchen. 3. The FBI had already identified him. He was using his primary discord account, had told other people on discord, his first name, that he lived in Massachusetts and worked for Air National Guard. Even with a common first name that is going to narrow the list a lot. 4. He repeatedly searched the word "leak" from his work computer, which was logged and led to an FBI alert from his work infosec monitoring. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/14/leaked-pentagon-documents-jack-teixiera-charges-explained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/14/leaked-penta...