8 ms·

Teen: I Am Not the Boston Marathon Bomber

• zalew 14y ago
  Jpeg investigation 5 minutes after the event turns out not to give legitimate results, shocker.
• jrwoodruff 14y ago
  Classic News Corp. material - lazy and sensationalist. Unless the people who are targeted start filing libel suits and claiming damages in these cases, the organizations that profit from this jump-to-conclusions journalism crap will keep just on doing it. Listen to NPR, read the New York Times, AP Wire. Stay the hell away from TV and all News Corp. publications.
• lucb1e 14y ago
  In the Netherlands you could sue anyone publishing your face without your permission. There are exemptions for media in some cases, but suspects like here still have to get at least a black bar so that they're not easily recognizable. Doesn't America have similar laws?
  • gamegoblin 14y ago
    Only some states require consent of the person in the photo.
• clicks 14y ago
  So, to be clear, the teen Salah Barhoun was the guy in the blue tracksuit who some 4chan'ers thought was the bomber. Also called out here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5562975 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5562975 Here's the NYPost cover where he was featured: http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/28618/large/o-NEW-YORK-POST-570.jpg?1366309915 http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/28618/large/o-N... And this is why vigilante justice sucks. I'm just glad that some nutcase in real life didn't go off on him and he went to the police himself to clear his name before anything bad happened to him.
  • potatolicious 14y ago
    Unfortunately being doxxed by Reddit (funny how Reddit is known for that these days) isn't a requirement for having some nutcases go off on you: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/bx_idiots_beat_up_arab_in_revenge_76qKozmZwDUpLUbacqqP3O http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/bx_idiots_beat_up_a... Ironically NY Post was one of the "news" sources driving up the hysteria and publishing these photos.
    • rhizome 14y ago
      Where are you getting irony out of the Post's editorial policy?
    • lucisferre 14y ago
      I'd argue being doxxed means some nutcases already did go off on you.
    • jpdoctor 14y ago
      > Ironically NY Post was one of the "news" sources Just as the WSJ published about people in custody, the lesson is clear: Do not bother listening to any Rupert Murdock publication for news. The WSJ should just stick to finance, and the NYP should stick to whatever it is that it does well. (Remind me: What was it that the NYP does well?)
      • deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      • e40 14y ago
        the lesson is clear: Do not bother listening to any Rupert Murdock publication for news. Amen. Everyone, just refuse to follow a link to a Murdock website. Daily Mail. NY Post. WSJ. Are there others?
        • cypherpunks01 14y ago
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_C...
• tjbiddle 14y ago
  This is a classic example of why this type of information should just be forwarded to the authorities. Last thing we need is a mob mentality going after someone who may turn up to be innocent; it's happened before, and it can happen again.
  • denzil_correa 14y ago
    Surprise! This type of information IS indeed handed over to the authorities - http://www.reddit.com/r/findbostonbombers/comments/1ck5hl/media_outlets_please_stop_making_the_images_of/ http://www.reddit.com/r/findbostonbombers/comments/1ck5hl/me...
    • jmmcd 14y ago
      "just"
  • hnriot 14y ago
    Is it really any different when the mob is the FBI?
    • theorique 14y ago
      They aren't really the mob - they are the actual pros who do this all the time. Presumably they aren't going to go and lynch someone because a random tipster emailed them a blurry photo.
      • mhw 14y ago
        Not to mention that official law enforcement has governance in place to at least try to make sure they don't go and lynch someone on a hunch. It might not be perfect, but it's better than the alternatives.
        • hnriot 14y ago
          This is the same bunch of <i>professionals</i> that brought you the Waco siege. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege
• jere 14y ago
  I was actually wondering yesterday if this would happen. You'd have to be living under a rock for those pictures not to get back to you. And when they did why wouldn't you immediately come forward and say "it wasn't me." [Sorry for being unclear. I knew he came forward. I was saying that that happening was predictable.]
  • gee_totes 14y ago
    You also have to be living under a rock not to read the second paragraph of the article "Salah Barhoun, 17, said he went to the police yesterday to clear his name after he found himself tagged in pictures online"
    • shardling 14y ago
      It's not clear to me why you left this comment. jere said he wondered if a particular thing would happen, and then it did. You assert that second part as if in contradiction?
      • tptacek 14y ago
        No, 'jere asked why the guy didn't just come forward and say "it wasn't me" (Orwellian!) and then the respondent said "that's what he did".
        • shardling 14y ago
          That's not how I read his comment -- I think you're reading accusation into the phrase "why wouldn't you" that isn't really there. I realise that without context it could be ambiguous, but since even the headline indicates that the guy has already come forward, I doubt jere was unaware of that.
          • clicks 14y ago
            'jere was probably protesting why Salah didn't come out to say it wasn't him /immediately/, 'gee_totes responded by explaining he in fact did go to the police pretty much right away (i.e., yesterday, as soon as he became aware of the NYPost, etc.)
• danielweber 14y ago
  Mob justice was wrong? Hoocoodaknown?? This is such a freaking waste of time. He had to go clear his name, and the cops had to listen to him.
  • mcantelon 14y ago
    Where's the "mob justice" part? Seems more like crowdsourced investigation. The crowd came up with a theory, that theory was sent to the authorities, and the suspect went to the police preemptively.
    • danielweber 14y ago
      "Sending to authorities" is great. "Posting on the Internet" is not.
    • alan_cx 14y ago
      What if every one on HN, 4Chan etc, decided the bomber was you? Off you go, down to the police station, clear your name, have your prints taken, get a record, maybe if in the UK have your DNA put on record...
    • catshirt 14y ago
      if i may channel someone i read on HN yesterday: "at what point does the 'crowd' become the 'mob'?" definitively, it seems like a "mob" of people seeking "justice". it doesn't matter what you call it or what the intent was; you cannot argue that this kid is clearly shaken up and it's affected his family deeply.
      • mcantelon 14y ago
        I'm not sure if it's useful to use loaded language (that's most often used to describe people anonymously making death threats) when describing people collaborating via the Internet to investigate something. "Mob" isn't usually used to describe a well-behaved crowd.
        • 14y ago
• jp_sc 14y ago
  And that is what it really happens "when you give 4chan images of the Boston Marathon".
  • GHFigs 14y ago
    Observe that 4chan users did not set up a whole board devoted to the topic and a spreadsheet of suspects. Nor, for that matter, do alleged journalists frequently use 4chan as a primary source.
• blahedo 14y ago
  FFS, ABC: "Barhoun's younger brother, who declined to be identified..." Seriously? First of all, the kid is under 18, so you shouldn't be identifying him anyway without his parents' permission, but second, you just identified him.
  • potatolicious 14y ago
    This is intentional and common in deliberately shoddy journalism. They're violating every fiber of journalistic ethics without technically running afoul of it.
• ignostic 14y ago
  There is a lot of hate here for the "vigilantes" who singled him out. In no way do I approve of the subreddit devoted to finding these people, but I think many of the comments here blow what happened out of proportion. No one arrested him, fired him, threatened him, or tried to hurt him. Even to a kid, I can't imagine this impacting your life too much. If he were traumatized, he'd not be allowing everyone to use his name. Again, I don't approve of this kind of speculation, but they always labeled their work as speculation and discouraged people from acting on it. I think we might just be over-reacting.
  • analog 14y ago
    For accuracy, it looks like they did receive threats. Apparently from a friend of his on Reddit. "the 2 guys been getting shit of calls, and they are scared like hell" http://www.reddit.com/r/findbostonbombers/comments/1cjghc/4chan_thinktank/c9hhgy5?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/findbostonbombers/comments/1cjghc/4c...
  • incision 14y ago
    >labeled their work as speculation AKA the "No offense, but..." of Internet witch-hunts.
  • potatolicious 14y ago
    > "No one arrested him, fired him, threatened him, or tried to hurt him." Citation needed... Far tamer acts have elicited all of the above when put in front of the Internet Hate Machine (which now includes Reddit). Remember Adria Richards? Yeah, she didn't kill anyone and she still got direct threats of being raped and killed. The individual here hasn't been arrested or fired, but you can bet your ass he has been threatened and intimidated in ways neither of us can even imagine. The level of cruelty internet strangers have repeatedly demonstrated to others can best be described as "unquantifiably high". > "Again, I don't approve of this kind of speculation, but they always labeled their work as speculation and discouraged people from acting on it." This is a cop-out, and has about as much legitimacy as those "no copyright infringement intended" descriptions under pirated YouTube videos.
• nokya 14y ago
  When I read on the fbi.gov that US.A. Carmen Ortiz is in charge, I am not surprised that the daily routine of these 2 innocent people was already drastically damaged for the upcoming years.
• deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
• pvaldes 14y ago
  STOP doing this!!!. This is irresponsible at many levels. A really huge mistake Everybody knows currently that this guy is not suspitious at all and police will be glued to him 25 hours a day in the next weeks, but... what if the true bombers had seeing the photos of the guy with the big red circle on 4chan before his declaration? What a golden opportunity for the ba[dg] guys could be... They only need to reach this boy, with name graciously provided by the stupid press, before the police gets him. Two minutes in facebook and they have the direction. Later, "the main suspect commits suicide" at home, "solved" crime and jail avoided... what's the next target? Please STOP putting people inside a circle... just now! Don't publish the real name of a "suspect" with big uppercase letters! This should be strictly forbiden. Just give a copy of the photos to the police, is as simple as that.
• auctiontheory 14y ago
  It reminds me of Harold and Kumar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDz74_ANojg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDz74_ANojg
• pshin45 14y ago
  Twitter and FB are amazing tools for spreading ideas (Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Rebecca Black's "Friday", etc.) but they have also resulted in a shameful lack of fact-checking and an inexcusable free-fall in journalistic reporting standards that seems to have no end in sight. What will it take to bring reporting standards back up to anywhere near their pre-social media levels? For example, why can't the FCC start handing out massive fines ($x million) to news agencies that report false or inaccurate information? Of course that's not scalable but hopefully it could act as a deterrent and make people think twice before they post something. If the FCC can fine CBS $550,000 for allowing Janet Jackson's nipple to be exposed on national TV, you'd think they could do the same when major news companies' rushed reporting ends up ruining people's lives. People's lives are being destroyed time and again by well-intentioned but misguided individuals and companies disseminating false information. Is there really nothing that can be done?
  • protomyth 14y ago
    Nope, nothing. Well, you can win sometimes, but it has to be National Enquirer-level blatant. "New York Times Co. v. Sullivan" is the basis for modern defamation cases and it is heavily weighted to the press. The second part is that the FCC does not have "truth" in its charter, but it does have decency legislation. Although a recent ABC case might make it impossible for the FCC to repeat the CBS Superbowl fine.
  • rubbingalcohol 14y ago
    I'd take citizen journalists playing fast and loose with the rules of journalistic integrity over the mainstream news media which sold their soul long ago.
• rdl 14y ago
  Sunil Tripathi, however, may be one of the Boston Marathon Bombers. Internet vigilantism applied to high profile "offline" crimes is intriguing.
• DigitalSea 14y ago
  This is exactly the kind of scenario I said would happen in previous HN comment in another submission (as did many others). Reddit and 4Chan speculate and distribute images of innocent people, the media would eventually pick them up and people would be false-fully accused of being the bomber. It's the Ryan Lanza situation all over again. If you have suspicions, privately send your concerns and imagery to the authorities and let them handle things, don't post them onto Tumblr or Reddit without any proof, you could be ruining the lives of innocent people. Put yourself in this situation. Your picture is being plastered all over the news and Facebook, you are being called a suspect in a brutal bombing case, your family see your image and immediately assume the worse, your employer sees the photo and you lose your job and you weren't even involved. The media doing what they seem to do best in this day and age: report now, fact check later.
• beedogs 14y ago
  I honestly think it's time to take Rupert Murdoch's news empire from him, and destroy it. The world is a shittier place with him and his BS propaganda outlets in it.
• protomyth 14y ago
  So, no major news network or newspaper did itself any favors. NBC, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, NYT, Post, etc. all printed or aired bogus stories and the American public is confused and ill informed. CNN earned a spot on the Daily Show. I don't know the answer other than some network could make a decent business out of only airing confirmed facts and actually giving us a view of the scene without the pundits. Actually interview people there and skip the "inside sources". Who am I kidding, its all about what KK feels about the event.
• jagermo 14y ago
  This is so important. Online research can do a lot of good, but it is so easy to get carried away. I'm impressed by what reddit and 4chan and all the others found, but taking action is the job of cops.