7 ms·

Inside the Anonymous Hacking File on the Steubenville 'Rape Crew'

63 points by erickhill 14y ago

nashequilibrium 14y ago
If you have a daughter this is so scary! Thanks for posting.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  High school football players are treated like Gods in small-town America, and are allowed a shocking amount of leeway in terms of behavior. It's sad to see people turn so irrational over a game of teenage boys knocking one another over and playing with a ball. I never personally understood the fascination, which certainly didn't do me any social favors when I was in high school.
  - GuiA 14y ago
    >I never personally understood the fascination 'Panem et circenses'
    - kijin 14y ago
      And Panem is the name of the fictional country where The Hunger Games takes place. A country where people turn so irrational over a game of teenage kids knocking one another over ... fatally. We, too, used to do this not so long ago. The stadiums are still around if you visit Rome.
      - pyre 14y ago
        The Hunger Games were instituted by the central controlling authority (the Capitol) as punishment to the worker castes (Districts 1-12) for their failed rebellion. Some of the Districts celebrated the games, but mostly because the winning District was given perks over the other Districts (extra food, etc), so rooting for your 'team' was also rooting for your community to get extra supplies rather than going without. This also pits the Districts against each other, making it more difficult for them to band together to stand against the controlling authority again. On the other hand, football in small-town America contains none of this. They don't get anything other than bragging rights when Smalltown 1 beats Smalltown 2 for some sort of football championship. The individual players might get scholarship money for university to play college ball, but that's about it.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - nashequilibrium 14y ago
    What is amazing is that the adults in this whole tragedy are acting irresponsible and like kids. These adults also hold position of power like police officers and prosecutors.
    - kaliblack 14y ago
      I wish I was amazed by adults being irresponsible and immature.
  - socialist_coder 14y ago
    The amount of local connections that each person has in this situation is amazing. But... where are the connections to the victim? Where is her "aunt who works at the District Attorney's office"? How can you get anything resembling a fair investigation and trial in a case like this? It seems impossible.
  - lostlogin 14y ago
    In New Zealand and (from news, not personal observation) Australia, it's rugby league that usually has this sort of disgusting behavior. Other sports have these issues, but rugby league, even at a very high level, does a pathetic job at managing its young, so called stars, behaviour.
  - beedogs 14y ago
    Don't worry; football will be a thing of the past in a decade or so once the brain-damage lawsuits are in full swing.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      I can't wait. The amount of time, money, and energy that goes into this absurd activity is nothing short of pathetic. America will be a lot better off without football.
- damm 14y ago
  As someone who has been harassed and beaten up most of his school life, I can honestly say stories like this are why I never chose to pro-create. I refuse to help create a child who will only be harassed, bullied and possibly murdered by his fellow students. If anyone who doesn't think this is serious, is normalizing too much.
  - orangethirty 14y ago
    I hope life got better after school. I went through the same things and mine did. Being a computer nerd before the new millennium was hard. I'm glad you made it out alive. :)
  - lostlogin 14y ago
    Note, my fiddly ios app somehow let my reply be to the article, and not you. So i have reposted my comment where it belongs. I think your missing a huge opportunity. Help someone grow up in the way you didn't get to. Minimise and prevent the bad things that happened to you from happening to them. Do it the best way you can. If this is the only reason you're not having children, it seems a shame as your experiences can be used to better others lives.
    - gcheong 14y ago
      Couldn't his/her experiences be used to better others lives who are already here as well though? What advantage is there in creating yet another human whose outcome is uncertain?
  - rdtsc 14y ago
    > I can honestly say stories like this are why I never chose to pro-create. Or maybe you should procreate so there is more normal and good people to stand up to the bullies.
  - SoftwareMaven 14y ago
    Having been the target of that crap and a parent of a child who does everything in her power to be the target (dressing different, acting different, mentally ill), I'm pretty comfortable in saying things have gotten better. There is a lot of energy put into preventing and punishing bullying, a lot more than when I was a kid (before we had dirt). It changed enough that one of those high school football players asked her to prom last year (needless to say, I was worried about a Never Been Kissed prom scene). It is not perfect, and where you live still matters a lot, but it is better, and when supported by caring, empathetic parents, usually manageable. Sure, something could go drastically wrong, but I don't live my life around black swan events.
- ams6110 14y ago
  If you have a daughter this is a good example to use to explain why it's not a good idea to get black-out drunk with a bunch of guys. No I'm not blaming the victim. But reality is what it is. If you have a son this is a good example to use to explain how he should react if he finds himself in a situation where his "friends" are about to do something absolutely abhorrent.
  - rdtsc 14y ago
    There is actually a perverse side of the coin here in respect to drunk driving laws in some states. Some states basically do not diminish the guilt and the punishment of someone who was driving drunk by arguing they should be completely responsible for what they did while drunk. That has been applied in cases of rape/sex while drunk at parties. Crime victims sometimes face an uphill battle in court if they had consented to sex while drunk.
    - xyzzyz 14y ago
      Crime victims sometimes face an uphill battle in court if they had consented to sex while drunk. I don't know how it works in the US, but in my country, when a person consents to sex while drunk, even though they wouldn't consent while sober, it's not considered to be a rape. The justification is that adult people know how alcohol works and may decide not to drink it, and the amount of alcohol needed to get someone drunk enough is too big to make someone intoxicated without them realizing. Of course, it also means that having sex with someone who passed out is rape, and so is getting someone to consent after giving them rape pills, for you can make someone ingest them without them realizing.
      - rdtsc 14y ago
        I think in some instances (in some states) the claim brought by the victim as "I was drunk so even though I consented I didn't mean to really since I was impaired" carries more weight than in others. This happens for young college students for example who go to parties with people don't know, drink and then have to deal with the consequences. So we want to protect the victims of sexual abuse but also be very harsh on drunk drives except that the two are at odds. Now there is nothing stopping laws to passed that are logically inconsistent but of course we need to preserve at least a superficial objectivity so people keep believing in the legal system.
- Nursie 14y ago
  It's horrific whether you have a daughter or not. People are vicious animals.
obstacle1 14y ago
"As you are probably aware, this web site was recently hacked into illegally numerous times by a terrorist group." Wow, really? If this guy turns out to be guilty of possession, this is a glaring example of how meaningless the term "terrorist" has become in the USA.
- jandy 14y ago
  If somebody had broken the lock on his mailbox and read his letters instead of his email, would that have been considered terrorism? The word has become meaningless, but they can get away with using it when it's paired with something people don't understand (They HACKED my email!). Hopefully once these things become more understood, more people will realise how silly it is deeming this as terrorism.
  - eli 14y ago
    If their goal was to terrorize these young men, then I imagine that would meet the literal (and probably legal) definition of terrorism.
    - lostlogin 14y ago
      Agreed, but it would miss the meaning the word has for 99% of people.
    - illuminate 14y ago
      "If their goal was to terrorize these young men, then I imagine that would meet the literal (and probably legal) definition of terrorism" The definition of "terrorize" is expanded to the point where it would not / should not be conflated with the current usage of "terrorism".
- tptacek 14y ago
  Random website authors in Steubenville, Ohio are using the term "terrorist" hyperbolically. This tells us something about America. Specifically: that random website operators in parts of America are, as statistics have long assured us, dumb.
dmix 14y ago
I'm curious who KnightSec is. This seems to be their first attack and they are using this name quite liberally. I'm curious if they'll turn into another LuzSec.
lostlogin 14y ago
I think your missing a huge opportunity. Help someone grow up in the way you didn't get to. Minimise and prevent the bad things that happened to you from happening to them. Do it the best way you can. If this is the only reason you're not having children, it seems a shame as your experiences can be used to better others lives. Edit: argh, sorry, this was a reply to damn, who's comment is below and had me feeling rather depressed!
- jessedhillon 14y ago
  If that's your motive, then adopt. There are perfectly fine children, languishing in child welfare systems, who need good people to show them how to be decent humans. The world has no lack of humans, which would require us to keep creating new ones -- let's take care of the ones we have already. In my opinion, opting for biological procreation fails the Categorical Imperative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative), thereby making that option unethical. Common-sensically, again, what is the rationalization for choosing to create a new human when you have the power to rescue a condemned innocent? Almost every answer reduces to vanity.
  - pyre 14y ago
    > Common-sensically, again, what is the rationalization > for choosing to create a new human when you have > the power to rescue a condemned innocent? Rescuing a condemned innocent is difficult. Sometimes moreso than having a child of your own. Children in the system tend to be special needs of some sort whether it's behavioural issues, learning disabilities, or mentally challenged. Having your own child comes with such risks, but you're already invested by the time those risks bear out.
  - jvoorhis 14y ago
    Grinding an axe over people who choose to procreate without cognizance of your interpretation of Kant's metaphysics may also be construed as a form of vanity.
chill1 14y ago
Here seems to be the definitive source for the information concerning this incident: http://localleaks.blogs.ru/ http://localleaks.blogs.ru/
- coenhyde 14y ago
  I'm glad we have Anonymous. I hope they bring a world of hurt to those involved in the rape and cover up.
  - praptak 14y ago
    Mixed feelings here. Serving justice based on information from unverifiable sources has some obvious problems. I'm thinking of the following scenario: 1. More such cases. 2. Inevitably, some innocent people get targetted. 3. Politicians step in to "solve" the problem, we get some more bad internet law ("Internet Mob Control Act"?)
  - objclxt 14y ago
    I don't know if you'd say that when they inevitably manage to collapse a case. Clearly, it is a good thing that Anonymous is drawing attention to this case: going by the Atlantic's and the NYTime's reporting, there's a lot of suspect stuff going on and it should absolutely be investigated by people without any skin in the game. However, Anonymous are not lawyers. Releasing potential evidence into the public eye is hugely problematic, because it may in the end not be admissible. Suppose there exists a piece of evidence that appears to absolutely and totally prove the guilt of the accused. However, this evidence is inadmissible in court (this happens more than you might think). The jury wouldn't get to see or hear about this evidence. Now, imagine this key piece of evidence is leaked before the trial by somebody like Anonymous. Suddenly, it's everywhere, all over the news. The defence team are going to have a field day: it's mistrial time. Their client can't possibly receive a fair trial. So I am in two minds about this: on the one hand, it's undoubtedly a good thing that attention is being drawn to this case. This would have been unlikely to happen on such a large scale if Anonymous hadn't gotten involved. On the other, if Anonymous keep going down this road they will cause a mistrial. And that's going to result in the complete opposite of what they're trying to achieve.
kenjackson 14y ago
Since people tweeted about it and posted video/pictures that presumably crosses state borders, can the FBI get involved to prosecute these players? It seems clear the locals are all in cahoots.
- accountswu 14y ago
  I hope that some higher authorities get involved and gather the evidence to convict the animals now that the case is high-profile especially since the leaks have been posted. It is sad to see kids laughing and joking about rape. It just tells you something about the whole culture, the environment. Some of those kids might even be feeling bad about it but probably chose to show their macho side just to be part of the crowd and to try not to appear sissy.
- mynameishere 14y ago
  My goodness yes. If the feds get involved, the Mann act will almost certainly have them incarcerated even if actual rape isn't proven.
fatjokes 14y ago
I'll never understand the idolatry of athletes. Football in America, soccer in Europe, hockey in Canada. If sports fans spent as much playing sports versus watching it, the world (especially America) would be in better health.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  My thought is that it is a manifestation of a tendency for tribalism that was selected for during the hundreds of thousands of years before modern society made the concept largely obsolete. That would at least explain why people affiliate with teams based on geography, which doesn't make sense to me otherwise. (There have probably been thousands of proper studies on the topic. I have read none of them.)
- Strshps1MoreTim 14y ago
  Professional sports are the modern circuses (as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses ). The powers that be are constantly pushing sports through mainstream media to keep ppl away from the important things in life - power, politics, finance, economy, etc.
PeterisP 14y ago
The big pain point is not the rapist kids, but the adult cover-up. OK, there are charges for the rape and there will be a (hopefully) just trial for that. But what would it take to put behind bars the justice system adults involved in the numerous alleged instances of covering up ? Their (alleged) crime is even more disgusting and it directly facilitates numerous other rape cases that didn't go to trial; they are harming more girls than the footballers themselves.

63 points by erickhill 14y ago

nashequilibrium 14y ago

If you have a daughter this is so scary! Thanks for posting.

w1ntermute 14y ago
High school football players are treated like Gods in small-town America, and are allowed a shocking amount of leeway in terms of behavior. It's sad to see people turn so irrational over a game of teenage boys knocking one another over and playing with a ball. I never personally understood the fascination, which certainly didn't do me any social favors when I was in high school.
- GuiA 14y ago
  >I never personally understood the fascination 'Panem et circenses'
  - kijin 14y ago
    And Panem is the name of the fictional country where The Hunger Games takes place. A country where people turn so irrational over a game of teenage kids knocking one another over ... fatally. We, too, used to do this not so long ago. The stadiums are still around if you visit Rome.
    - pyre 14y ago
      The Hunger Games were instituted by the central controlling authority (the Capitol) as punishment to the worker castes (Districts 1-12) for their failed rebellion. Some of the Districts celebrated the games, but mostly because the winning District was given perks over the other Districts (extra food, etc), so rooting for your 'team' was also rooting for your community to get extra supplies rather than going without. This also pits the Districts against each other, making it more difficult for them to band together to stand against the controlling authority again. On the other hand, football in small-town America contains none of this. They don't get anything other than bragging rights when Smalltown 1 beats Smalltown 2 for some sort of football championship. The individual players might get scholarship money for university to play college ball, but that's about it.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- nashequilibrium 14y ago
  What is amazing is that the adults in this whole tragedy are acting irresponsible and like kids. These adults also hold position of power like police officers and prosecutors.
  - kaliblack 14y ago
    I wish I was amazed by adults being irresponsible and immature.
- socialist_coder 14y ago
  The amount of local connections that each person has in this situation is amazing. But... where are the connections to the victim? Where is her "aunt who works at the District Attorney's office"? How can you get anything resembling a fair investigation and trial in a case like this? It seems impossible.
- lostlogin 14y ago
  In New Zealand and (from news, not personal observation) Australia, it's rugby league that usually has this sort of disgusting behavior. Other sports have these issues, but rugby league, even at a very high level, does a pathetic job at managing its young, so called stars, behaviour.
- beedogs 14y ago
  Don't worry; football will be a thing of the past in a decade or so once the brain-damage lawsuits are in full swing.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    I can't wait. The amount of time, money, and energy that goes into this absurd activity is nothing short of pathetic. America will be a lot better off without football.
damm 14y ago
As someone who has been harassed and beaten up most of his school life, I can honestly say stories like this are why I never chose to pro-create. I refuse to help create a child who will only be harassed, bullied and possibly murdered by his fellow students. If anyone who doesn't think this is serious, is normalizing too much.
- orangethirty 14y ago
  I hope life got better after school. I went through the same things and mine did. Being a computer nerd before the new millennium was hard. I'm glad you made it out alive. :)
- lostlogin 14y ago
  Note, my fiddly ios app somehow let my reply be to the article, and not you. So i have reposted my comment where it belongs. I think your missing a huge opportunity. Help someone grow up in the way you didn't get to. Minimise and prevent the bad things that happened to you from happening to them. Do it the best way you can. If this is the only reason you're not having children, it seems a shame as your experiences can be used to better others lives.
  - gcheong 14y ago
    Couldn't his/her experiences be used to better others lives who are already here as well though? What advantage is there in creating yet another human whose outcome is uncertain?
- rdtsc 14y ago
  > I can honestly say stories like this are why I never chose to pro-create. Or maybe you should procreate so there is more normal and good people to stand up to the bullies.
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  Having been the target of that crap and a parent of a child who does everything in her power to be the target (dressing different, acting different, mentally ill), I'm pretty comfortable in saying things have gotten better. There is a lot of energy put into preventing and punishing bullying, a lot more than when I was a kid (before we had dirt). It changed enough that one of those high school football players asked her to prom last year (needless to say, I was worried about a Never Been Kissed prom scene). It is not perfect, and where you live still matters a lot, but it is better, and when supported by caring, empathetic parents, usually manageable. Sure, something could go drastically wrong, but I don't live my life around black swan events.
ams6110 14y ago
If you have a daughter this is a good example to use to explain why it's not a good idea to get black-out drunk with a bunch of guys. No I'm not blaming the victim. But reality is what it is. If you have a son this is a good example to use to explain how he should react if he finds himself in a situation where his "friends" are about to do something absolutely abhorrent.
- rdtsc 14y ago
  There is actually a perverse side of the coin here in respect to drunk driving laws in some states. Some states basically do not diminish the guilt and the punishment of someone who was driving drunk by arguing they should be completely responsible for what they did while drunk. That has been applied in cases of rape/sex while drunk at parties. Crime victims sometimes face an uphill battle in court if they had consented to sex while drunk.
  - xyzzyz 14y ago
    Crime victims sometimes face an uphill battle in court if they had consented to sex while drunk. I don't know how it works in the US, but in my country, when a person consents to sex while drunk, even though they wouldn't consent while sober, it's not considered to be a rape. The justification is that adult people know how alcohol works and may decide not to drink it, and the amount of alcohol needed to get someone drunk enough is too big to make someone intoxicated without them realizing. Of course, it also means that having sex with someone who passed out is rape, and so is getting someone to consent after giving them rape pills, for you can make someone ingest them without them realizing.
    - rdtsc 14y ago
      I think in some instances (in some states) the claim brought by the victim as "I was drunk so even though I consented I didn't mean to really since I was impaired" carries more weight than in others. This happens for young college students for example who go to parties with people don't know, drink and then have to deal with the consequences. So we want to protect the victims of sexual abuse but also be very harsh on drunk drives except that the two are at odds. Now there is nothing stopping laws to passed that are logically inconsistent but of course we need to preserve at least a superficial objectivity so people keep believing in the legal system.
Nursie 14y ago
It's horrific whether you have a daughter or not. People are vicious animals.

obstacle1 14y ago

"As you are probably aware, this web site was recently hacked into illegally numerous times by a terrorist group." Wow, really? If this guy turns out to be guilty of possession, this is a glaring example of how meaningless the term "terrorist" has become in the USA.

jandy 14y ago
If somebody had broken the lock on his mailbox and read his letters instead of his email, would that have been considered terrorism? The word has become meaningless, but they can get away with using it when it's paired with something people don't understand (They HACKED my email!). Hopefully once these things become more understood, more people will realise how silly it is deeming this as terrorism.
- eli 14y ago
  If their goal was to terrorize these young men, then I imagine that would meet the literal (and probably legal) definition of terrorism.
  - lostlogin 14y ago
    Agreed, but it would miss the meaning the word has for 99% of people.
  - illuminate 14y ago
    "If their goal was to terrorize these young men, then I imagine that would meet the literal (and probably legal) definition of terrorism" The definition of "terrorize" is expanded to the point where it would not / should not be conflated with the current usage of "terrorism".
tptacek 14y ago
Random website authors in Steubenville, Ohio are using the term "terrorist" hyperbolically. This tells us something about America. Specifically: that random website operators in parts of America are, as statistics have long assured us, dumb.

dmix 14y ago

I'm curious who KnightSec is. This seems to be their first attack and they are using this name quite liberally. I'm curious if they'll turn into another LuzSec.

lostlogin 14y ago

I think your missing a huge opportunity. Help someone grow up in the way you didn't get to. Minimise and prevent the bad things that happened to you from happening to them. Do it the best way you can. If this is the only reason you're not having children, it seems a shame as your experiences can be used to better others lives. Edit: argh, sorry, this was a reply to damn, who's comment is below and had me feeling rather depressed!

jessedhillon 14y ago
If that's your motive, then adopt. There are perfectly fine children, languishing in child welfare systems, who need good people to show them how to be decent humans. The world has no lack of humans, which would require us to keep creating new ones -- let's take care of the ones we have already. In my opinion, opting for biological procreation fails the Categorical Imperative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative), thereby making that option unethical. Common-sensically, again, what is the rationalization for choosing to create a new human when you have the power to rescue a condemned innocent? Almost every answer reduces to vanity.
- pyre 14y ago
  > Common-sensically, again, what is the rationalization > for choosing to create a new human when you have > the power to rescue a condemned innocent? Rescuing a condemned innocent is difficult. Sometimes moreso than having a child of your own. Children in the system tend to be special needs of some sort whether it's behavioural issues, learning disabilities, or mentally challenged. Having your own child comes with such risks, but you're already invested by the time those risks bear out.
- jvoorhis 14y ago
  Grinding an axe over people who choose to procreate without cognizance of your interpretation of Kant's metaphysics may also be construed as a form of vanity.

chill1 14y ago

Here seems to be the definitive source for the information concerning this incident: http://localleaks.blogs.ru/ http://localleaks.blogs.ru/

coenhyde 14y ago
I'm glad we have Anonymous. I hope they bring a world of hurt to those involved in the rape and cover up.
- praptak 14y ago
  Mixed feelings here. Serving justice based on information from unverifiable sources has some obvious problems. I'm thinking of the following scenario: 1. More such cases. 2. Inevitably, some innocent people get targetted. 3. Politicians step in to "solve" the problem, we get some more bad internet law ("Internet Mob Control Act"?)
- objclxt 14y ago
  I don't know if you'd say that when they inevitably manage to collapse a case. Clearly, it is a good thing that Anonymous is drawing attention to this case: going by the Atlantic's and the NYTime's reporting, there's a lot of suspect stuff going on and it should absolutely be investigated by people without any skin in the game. However, Anonymous are not lawyers. Releasing potential evidence into the public eye is hugely problematic, because it may in the end not be admissible. Suppose there exists a piece of evidence that appears to absolutely and totally prove the guilt of the accused. However, this evidence is inadmissible in court (this happens more than you might think). The jury wouldn't get to see or hear about this evidence. Now, imagine this key piece of evidence is leaked before the trial by somebody like Anonymous. Suddenly, it's everywhere, all over the news. The defence team are going to have a field day: it's mistrial time. Their client can't possibly receive a fair trial. So I am in two minds about this: on the one hand, it's undoubtedly a good thing that attention is being drawn to this case. This would have been unlikely to happen on such a large scale if Anonymous hadn't gotten involved. On the other, if Anonymous keep going down this road they will cause a mistrial. And that's going to result in the complete opposite of what they're trying to achieve.

kenjackson 14y ago

Since people tweeted about it and posted video/pictures that presumably crosses state borders, can the FBI get involved to prosecute these players? It seems clear the locals are all in cahoots.

accountswu 14y ago
I hope that some higher authorities get involved and gather the evidence to convict the animals now that the case is high-profile especially since the leaks have been posted. It is sad to see kids laughing and joking about rape. It just tells you something about the whole culture, the environment. Some of those kids might even be feeling bad about it but probably chose to show their macho side just to be part of the crowd and to try not to appear sissy.
mynameishere 14y ago
My goodness yes. If the feds get involved, the Mann act will almost certainly have them incarcerated even if actual rape isn't proven.

fatjokes 14y ago

I'll never understand the idolatry of athletes. Football in America, soccer in Europe, hockey in Canada. If sports fans spent as much playing sports versus watching it, the world (especially America) would be in better health.

jlgreco 14y ago
My thought is that it is a manifestation of a tendency for tribalism that was selected for during the hundreds of thousands of years before modern society made the concept largely obsolete. That would at least explain why people affiliate with teams based on geography, which doesn't make sense to me otherwise. (There have probably been thousands of proper studies on the topic. I have read none of them.)
Strshps1MoreTim 14y ago
Professional sports are the modern circuses (as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses ). The powers that be are constantly pushing sports through mainstream media to keep ppl away from the important things in life - power, politics, finance, economy, etc.

PeterisP 14y ago

The big pain point is not the rapist kids, but the adult cover-up. OK, there are charges for the rape and there will be a (hopefully) just trial for that. But what would it take to put behind bars the justice system adults involved in the numerous alleged instances of covering up ? Their (alleged) crime is even more disgusting and it directly facilitates numerous other rape cases that didn't go to trial; they are harming more girls than the footballers themselves.