Blind kid jailed for "phone terrorism"

dazzday

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/29787673/the_boy_who_heard_too_much/print

Not sure if this has been posted already, but seems a pretty incredible story.

deisedude

I bet he didn't see that one coming!

*I'll get my coat

Mossy Monk

dazzday wrote: »

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/29787673/the_boy_who_heard_too_much/print

Not sure if this has been posted already, but seems a pretty incredible story.

Good for him. Little ****.

Long Onion

Justice is blind - still he may now see the error of his ways

(these puns just keep getting cornea)

*follows the other fella out*

super_furry

Sum it up in two sentences or less.

MizzLolly

super_furry wrote: »

Sum it up in two sentences or less.

+1 Don't make me click the damn link

tarbuck

tldr

jist?

MagicMarker

dazzday wrote: »

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/29787673/the_boy_who_heard_too_much/print

Not sure if this has been posted already, but seems a pretty incredible story.

Don't be so bloody lazy, copy for story for those of us in work.

Seriously, this is rule one of the internet ffs.

Boxfresh

I'd be quicker reading the bible

Long Onion

super_furry wrote: »

Sum it up in two sentences or less.

Little blind fella gets arrested for calling Obama a white supremacist a-hole and threatening him with the brothas - says it's not his fault he was fooled with all them fancy words.

General Zod

for people who can't access the link, here's the first few paragraphs

It began, as it always did, with a phone call to 911. "Now listen here," the caller demanded, his voice frantic. "I've got two people here held hostage, all right? Now, you know what happens to people that are held hostage? It's not like on the movies or nothing, you understand that?" "OK," the 911 operator said.
"One of them here's name is Danielle, and her father," the caller continued. "And the reason why I'm doing this is because her father raped my sister."
The caller, who identified himself as John Defanno, said that he had the 18-year-old Danielle and her dad tied up in their home in Security, a suburb of Colorado Springs. He'd beaten the father with his gun. "He's bleeding profusely," Defanno warned. "I am armed, I do have a pistol. If any cops come in this house with any guns, I will ****ing shoot them. I better get some help here, because I'm going ****ing psycho right now."
The 911 operator tried to keep him on the line, but Defanno cut the call short. "I'm not talking anymore," he snapped. "You have the address. If I don't have help here now, in the next five minutes, I swear to ****ing God, I will shoot these people." Then the line went dead.
Officers raced to the house, ready for an armed standoff with a homicidal suspect. But when they arrived, they found no gunman, no hostages, no blood. Danielle and her father were safe and sound at home — alone. They had never heard of John Defanno, for good reason: He didn't exist.




"John Defanno" was actually a 15-year-old boy named Matthew Weigman — a fat, lonely blind kid who lived with his mom in a working-class neighborhood of East Boston. In person, Weigman was a shy and awkward teenager with a shaved head who spent his days holed up in his room, often talking for up to 20 hours a day on free telephone chat lines. On the phone, he became "Lil' Hacker," the most skilled member of a small band of telephone pranksters known as "phreaks." To punish Danielle, who had pissed him off on a chat line, Weigman had phoned 911 and posed as a psycho, rigging his caller ID to make it look like the emergency call was coming from inside Danielle's home. It's a trick known as "swatting" — mobilizing SWAT teams to exact revenge on your enemies — and phreakers like Weigman have used it to trigger some 200 false raids in dozens of cities nationwide.

Four-Percent

Anyone else feel sorry for the poor f*cker?

tarbuck

Four-Percent wrote: »

Anyone else feel sorry for the poor f*cker?

Not really. He was commiting crimes and wasting police time that could have been better used elsewhere.

Bill-e

Didn't know the phreaking scene was still going so strong. I remember beige boxing the landlines in my estate and making prank phone calls. Fun times!

Degsy

I hear they sent Stevie Wonder in to negotiate but he fell down the stairs.

Degsy

Bill-e wrote: »

Didn't know the phreaking scene was still going so strong. I remember beige boxing the landlines in my estate and making prank phone calls. Fun times!

Did you hear of the "box" that could,using an electrical generator,take out an entire telephone district and most likely electrocute anybody who tried to use the phone?
Not sure if it was ever used but i read instructions on how to do it and it seemed horribly-well thought out.

pikachucheeks

tarbuck wrote: »

Not really. He was commiting crimes and wasting police time that could have been better used elsewhere.

Yeah but he's blind!

Degsy

pikachucheeks wrote: »

Yeah but he's blind!

So he dint see the error of his ways?

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Degsy wrote: »

Did you hear of the "box" that could,using an electrical generator,take out an entire telephone district and most likely electrocute anybody who tried to use the phone?
Not sure if it was ever used but i read instructions on how to do it and it seemed horribly-well thought out.

Think that was the blotto box.

Not sure what to make of this article. I thought the whole 2600Hz thing was long gone with phone companies moving to digital equipment. Is it intended as a piece of fiction?

pikachucheeks

Degsy wrote: »

I hear they sent Stevie Wonder in to negotiate but he fell down the stairs.

Did you hear that story about George Bush apparently waving to Stevie Wonder at a concert?

Idiot! :pac:

Degsy

Sean_K wrote: »

Think that was the blotto box.

Not sure what to make of this article. I thought the whole 2600Hz thing was long gone with phone companies moving to digital equipment. Is it intended as a piece of fiction?

An urban myth perhaps?
Or maybe they havnt all moved to digital..

pikachucheeks

At the end of the day, he did something wrong, but he'll get away lightly because he has a disability.

I bet it'll transpire Stephen Hawking was the one who robbed Harrods in 39 seconds and he'll get away with that too

Call Me Jimmy

Degsy wrote: »

I hear they sent Stevie Wonder in to negotiate but he fell down the stairs.

I just called... to sayyyyy "I TIED EM UP AND BEAT EM IN THEIR STUPID FACES, THEY ARE STILL BREATHING THOUGH".

Degsy

pikachucheeks wrote: »

At the end of the day, he did something wrong, but he'll get away with it because he has a disability.

I bet it'll transpire Stephen Hawking was the one who robbed Harrods in 39 seconds and he'll get away with that too

I can see the headlines now:

Gardai Grab Gluastárd!!

Bill-e

Degsy wrote: »

Did you hear of the "box" that could,using an electrical generator,take out an entire telephone district and most likely electrocute anybody who tried to use the phone?
Not sure if it was ever used but i read instructions on how to do it and it seemed horribly-well thought out.

Can't remember that one! I recall a thing called a pandora box which emitted a tone that gave the person on the other end a really bad head ache. The instructions required you to get stuff from your 'local radio shack' so I couldn't make one Booourns!

ejmaztec

Long Onion wrote: »

Justice is blind - still he may now see the error of his ways

(these puns just keep getting cornea)

*follows the other fella out*

Not as bad as some of those Englishman, Scotsman And Irisman jokes.

Degsy

Bill-e wrote: »

Can't remember that one! I recall a thing called a pandora box which emitted a tone that gave the person on the other end a really bad head ache. The instructions required you to get stuff from your 'local radio shack' so I couldn't make one Booourns!

This thing was a nasty piece of work..you needed either a portable generator or a power source from something like a stadium..you hooked the whole lot up and got the fcuck out of there..it would continue to send electricity down the line untill the generator ran out of power..i'll dig out the article.

pikachucheeks

Degsy wrote: »

I can see the headlines now:

Gardai Grab Gluastárd!!

Hahahahah!

I'm on reception and I can't stop laughing. Some guy just called up to complain about Play TV and all he could hear was me giggling!

Whoops!

Banter Joe

Degsy wrote: »

I can see the headlines now:

Gardai Grab Gluastárd!!

And he's not typing anything til he sees a lawyer.

pikachucheeks

Banter Joe wrote: »

And he's not typing anything til he sees a lawyer.

LO-FOCKING-L! :pac:

Some guy came into the building to pick up something and there I was, in stitches!

Wouldn't be surprised if I'm not allowed work reception again!

ejmaztec

Degsy wrote: »

This thing was a nasty piece of work..you needed either a portable generator or a power source from something like a stadium..you hooked the whole lot up and got the fcuck out of there..it would continue to send electricity down the line untill the generator ran out of power..i'll dig out the article.

If you can let me know what your number is, I can ring you and tell you all about it.:cool: