9 ms·
Rape Case Solved By Anonymous in Less Than 2 Hours Despite "No Evidence"
- niggler 14y agoThe most tragic part of the story is that it took a suicide for anyone to care.
- gfunk911 14y agoI really want some more details here
- alex_anglin 14y agoThe Globe and Mail (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/) among other national Canadian papers are covering this story extensively. Be forewarned the details are to me very disturbing - both of the incident and subsequent treatment of the victim, but also of the official response which the article covers.
- anonymouz 14y agoYep. For example, why did those people who know the rapists or had the photos apparently not give them to the police before? Or did the case that Anonymous built actually work out in the end?
- cperciva 14y agoThe police had the photos and knew who the accused rapists were.
- mnicole 14y agoAn article I read said that the police knew whose phone the photo was taken off of, but that they didn't want to arrest anyone because they didn't know whose finger pressed the button to actually take it. Just mind-boggling that despite an alleged rape with photo evidence, they wouldn't arrest anyone for distribution of child pornography because they couldn't prove who took the picture. If no one wanted to fess up to it, either let the phone owner take the fall or make them all responsible.
- illuminate 14y ago"Just mind-boggling that despite an alleged rape with photo evidence, they wouldn't arrest anyone for distribution of child pornography because they couldn't prove who took the picture. If no one wanted to fess up to it, either let the phone owner take the fall or make them all responsible." Primary school is not law.
- mnicole 14y agoRight, because all of them were innocent to begin with.
- illuminate 14y agoI fully agree with the horror of their actions and complicity. It's just a bit more complicated and serious than "Who threw the spitball? You're all guilty until one of you fesses up!"
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- khalstvedt 14y agoIf Anons truly received a flood of testimony after posting on some forums, law enforcement must have pretty much actively avoided hearing testimony. The photo/video-sharing aspect of this case is particularly interesting; not analyzing available data from the internet (or simply not even knowing photos/video pertaining to the case are being widely distributed) is likely going to be a focal point, but heightened law enforcement use of evidence from the digital domain is probably touchy for many of the same Anons that contributed to this.
- rollo_tommasi 14y agoThat anyone would celebrate what is essentially a case of vigilante mob justice is extremely disturbing. What rules of evidence do Anonymous have to follow? Who holds them accountable? Law enforcement's hands are often tied for extremely good reasons. Occasionally that means cases can't be investigated as thoroughly as they ought to be, but the alternative is worse.
- whackedspinach 14y agoWhat rules do they have to follow? It sounds like they were contacted by the witnesses.
- Pwnguinz 14y agoIf I were to hazard a guess, it probably had to do with the fact that the 'suspects' in this case were all minors, and perhaps the RCMP has access to fewer avenues of investigation without any hard evidence, and the judge/magistrate would most likely not as easily grant any sort of search warrant as easily due to the suspects being minors. I'm from Canada, and the police are generally very much cuffed at the hands when it comes to dealing with minors. Just look at the Vancouver 2011 riot. It took the RCMP over a year even with all the picture/video evidences before they could legally bring any sort of charges against a lot of the younger perpetrators.
- UnoriginalGuy 14y agoHow does a witness contact anonymous? And how do "anonymous" even verify that these witnesses are legitimate? Just reads like a bunch of people wanting to do "something" about this and a bunch of other people trolling them (i.e. giving them false leads etc).
- Anderkent 14y agoIt's not 'mob justice' to collect evidence. The article does not speak about Anonymous punishing the actors, only on the amount of witness testimony and other evidence that they found.
- 14y ago
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- khalstvedt 14y agoThey made a pretty striking case that the police exhibited gross negligence, I suppose. Although they didn't do it in a way that has the weight of law behind it, they did succeed in getting the case reopened.
- aroberge 14y agoThis is an awful story. One thing that seems glaringly obvious: the police does NOT need additional snooping powers on the Internet - they simply have to learn to use what's already available. Yet, politicians will likely soon claim that they need more such power that anonymous supposedly have.
- Pwnguinz 14y agoEmperor Harper doesn't need a reason to increase Federal censorship and policing powers. He does it fine all by his lonesome already. If anyone is curious, read Michael Geist's (http://www.michaelgeist.ca/ http://www.michaelgeist.ca/) blog for more details and intelligent commentary on the political details regarding current Canadian digital rights/copyright/surveillance schmucks that Emperor Harper and his Goon Cabinet are hatching up.
- obstacle1 14y agoEmperor Harper? Goon Cabinet? Is Reddit leaking or something? What a bunch of crap. You know Michael Geist had a ton of very positive things to say about C-11 [1], right? You didn't want to link directly to that commentary, though. I wonder why? [1] - http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6695/99999/ http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6695/99999/
- Pwnguinz 14y agoPerhaps you need a refresher. When Bill C-11 was introduced, it was a CARBON COPY of Bill C-32, of which Mr. Geist did not give a very flattering review at all: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6031/125/ http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6031/125/ How about this piece: "In other words, virtually every education group and provincial education minister in Canada - along with major businesses and retailers - have joined with librarians, archivists, and documentary film makers to oppose the government's position on digital locks." So, in other words, even their corporate business overlords thought their puppet underlying Harper & Goon Co. were over acting. It was after a lot of petitioning and citizen activism that the amendments to the bills were made enough so that it was passed. I even petitioned my MP, so I'd consider myself part of the solution. To be fair, Emperor Harper at least had the decency to not shove it down everyone's throat, though he very easily could have done so with a majority party. And Reddit? Seriously? I don't even go on that filth of a site, so please, why don't you go back to "The Frontpage of the Internet" (or whatever the heck they brand themselves these days)?
- pdeuchler 14y agoThis article gives the wrong idea and doesn't have many specifics... following a couple links I found this page: http://www.inquisitr.com/613702/rehtaeh-parsons-case-solved-by-anonymous-in-two-hours/ http://www.inquisitr.com/613702/rehtaeh-parsons-case-solved-... Which includes the Anonymous video. Should clear up a lot of questions. Edit: Submitted that link as a separate article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5544835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5544835
- cperciva 14y agoThis case is getting a large amount of attention on blogs, but as usual blogs are not the most reliable source of information. It may be true that it took some individuals calling themselves "Anonymous" two hours to discover the identities of the youth who had sex with Rehtaeh Parsons. While Canadian law prohibits the publication of identities of youth accused of crimes (on the basis that youthful indiscretions, even of a serious criminal nature, should not follow perpetrators for their entire lives), it's not all that difficult to find someone who knows someone who knows who was involved. The police also knew exactly who was involved, and have known for over a year. The "lack of evidence" referred to by police was not a lack of evidence of who was involved, but rather a lack of sufficient evidence that the sexual encounter was criminal. Even if they believed that Rehtaeh Parsons had been raped, the bar for laying criminal charges is "significant likelihood of conviction", and the bar for conviction is "proven beyond a reasonable doubt" -- and where the alleged victim does not make a complaint until after facing bullying for what her peers were presuming was consensual, it can easily raise doubts as to her veracity. (The lesser issue, of producing and distributing child pornography, was the opposite: Clearly an offence had occurred, and they knew whose phone was used; but they had no way to prove which of three suspects was responsible.) As far as I can tell, the police and prosecutors were entirely correct in their investigation and analysis of the situation. The only officials who did not do their jobs were the school administrators who failed to prevent or stop the bullying which Rehtaeh Parsons was subjected to, and the mental health workers who failed to take Rehtaeh Parsons's suicide threats seriously enough.
- MrJagil 14y agoDo you have any sources for this: "The police also knew exactly who was involved, and have known for over a year. The "lack of evidence" referred to by police was not a lack of evidence of who was involved, but rather a lack of sufficient evidence that the sexual encounter was criminal. " You do seem trustworthy, I would just like to verify and read more.
- Pwnguinz 14y agoYes, straight from the RCMP's mouth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at3XG-4ftF8#t=2m http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at3XG-4ftF8#t=2m "There were insufficient evidence to proceed to charges." That Youtube link is a video of a RCMP officer being interviewed on air.
- Pwnguinz 14y agoOriginal Anonymous Statement on Pastebin: http://pastebin.com/Q8VWUy7a http://pastebin.com/Q8VWUy7a
- pekk 14y agoLet's see how satisfied you are with Anonymous' 2-hour justice process when you are the accused.
- macchina 14y agoAnonymous didn't solve anything by identifying the alleged rapists. Nothing I have read suggests that Canadian law enforcement didn't know who the suspects were. They simply did not file charges. We don't know why exactly they didn't file charges, but for some reason they determined there was no case.
- Kequc 14y agoIt seems to me what anonymous was saying is that isn't good enough. Also that the identities of the assailants would become available eventually with or without any help.
- ihsw 14y agoThe case may be getting lots of attention however it indicates that one thing is clear: people are losing faith in government-funded social support structures. Law enforcement agencies are being lambasted time and again (whether it's valid criticism or not is irrelevant), and they continue to ignore claims of how ineffectual they are. Someone needs to stand up and say "We are here for you and we support you" otherwise it stands to reason that there are dangerous undertones forming. Cost-cutting policies are continuing to erode our faith in institutions that exist to help and assist us in times of need, and it's becoming painfully clear people are thinking they have nowhere else to turn. Social services actively look for ways to avoid helping people, and they actively discourage people from turning to them. The libertarian in me finds is absolutely wonderful that people are realizing they need to become self-sufficient but it's frightening as well.
- jokoon 14y agoWell I don't like all this for several reasons. Whoever are working hard to bring justice, it seems like it's for glory of anonymous, because now she's dead, it's like "oh this was real then, it has gain attention, etc". I like how anon can do good things, but I don't really like the fact that courts are fucked enough so than internet is the last common sense around here. It's like emotion driving the case. It's not really sane. I would not like to let justice be handled by an internet group is all, to see become the mob or whatever thing. When society is stupid to let those bastards go, society does an error, and it's responsible for it in a way. You can't always kick evil in the nuts and act like a superhero. Even if those guys go to jail, it's still sad she's dead, but at least that will teach other people to have more courage to make justice happen more quickly.