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swoll1980
April 1st, 2008, 02:01 AM
On the news this mourning out of Cleveland I seen a story about this kid going to an epilepsy support forum and posting a flashing video as a April Fools joke. That caused several people to go into seizer. Is that crazy or what?

solitaire
April 1st, 2008, 02:11 AM
This happened last week. I read it on SlashDot

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy



nternet griefers descended on an epilepsy support message board last weekend and used JavaScript code and flashing computer animation to trigger migraine headaches and seizures in some users.

The nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation, which runs the forum, briefly closed the site Sunday to purge the offending messages and to boost security.

"We are seeing people affected," says Ken Lowenberg, senior director of web and print publishing at the Epilepsy Foundation. "It's fortunately only a handful. It's possible that people are just not reporting yet -- people affected by it may not be coming back to the forum so fast."

The incident, possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims, began Saturday, March 22, when attackers used a script to post hundreds of messages embedded with flashing animated gifs.

swoll1980
April 1st, 2008, 02:14 AM
Wow news travels slower than I thought

LaRoza
April 1st, 2008, 02:18 AM
Thats sick.

(The article also unfairly blames JavaScript, I doubt the writer knows anything about it and is just using the word because it sounds cool)

swoll1980
April 1st, 2008, 02:24 AM
from what the news said the pranksters simply posted a link and let the epileptics do them selfs in

solitaire
April 1st, 2008, 02:32 AM
the evil group calling themselves "LOC2012" tried this attack on the whole population of the UK a few months ago. They sneked it on the air on the back of the Olympic Games.

This group called the "London Olympic Commision 2012" were caught and then fired and given huge £100,000 payoffs. :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6724245.stm
:lolflag::lolflag:

FuturePilot
April 1st, 2008, 02:38 AM
Wow, that's sick :-&

-grubby
April 1st, 2008, 02:45 AM
People are so evil..:(

Superkoop
April 1st, 2008, 02:52 AM
Somebody needs their Internet taken away...

OctavianBlue
April 1st, 2008, 02:56 AM
I saw my friend have a seizure once. Not pretty...

LaRoza
April 1st, 2008, 03:11 AM
from what the news said the pranksters simply posted a link and let the epileptics do them selfs in

Sure, like a tiger pit...

The links were meant to be clicked on, by being disguised as something they'd be interested in.

kutjara
April 1st, 2008, 03:51 AM
On the news this mourning out of Cleveland I seen a story about this kid going to an epilepsy support forum and posting a flashing video as a April Fools joke. That caused several people to go into seizer. Is that crazy or what?

Not so much a practical joke as criminal assault. Committing an act such as this whether intending to cause harm, reckless as to the probability of causing harm, or, in some cases, mere negligence as to the likelihood of causing harm, is grounds for a charge of criminal assault. If people are ACTUALLY harmed as a result of the offense, then, depending on the jurisdiction, you can tack battery/causing actual bodily harm onto the sheet.

I hope some law enforcement agency takes this sufficiently seriously to put a few of this jokers away for a little thinking time.

JT9161
April 1st, 2008, 05:02 AM
This just pisses me off, some people are just evil. From what kutjara said they should be prosecuted on charges off assault in the 1st there is no way the peolpe who did this didnt relize what would happen.

D-EJ915
April 1st, 2008, 05:08 AM
What a bunch of idiots, seriously.