DomainK Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Poor guy fell victim to his skin color and exploits of wannabe internet heroes. When the internet decided to investigate and find out the Boston bombing villains, all they had to go on was their collective stupidity. Reddit, facebook and twitter came together in an inadvertent attempt to discredit Darwin's evolution theory by proving that human beings are in fact getting dumber. They concluded, after wide scale collective, unorganized investigation based on some unsubstantiated evidence, some other non-existent evidence and some great powers of imagination, that the missing Sunil Tripathy was the one responsible for the bombings. Then of course, having played the police, the prosecutor, the jury and the judge, how could they have left alone the role of the executioner? So, they started the online abuses. The family was harassed, the friends were harassed, the only FB page dedicated to find the poor missing guy had to be taken down because of the continuous abuses. Then of course, the real cops played spoil sport and ended the hate campaign by confirming that Sunil had nothing to do with the bombings. So the internet heroes went back to their favorite pastime of ogling at cat pictures. Reddit moderators posted an apology note for the "mistake". One of the trends on Twitter today is the name Sunil Tripathi. He’s a student at Brown University who has been missing for the past one month. But today he was trending as a suspect for the Boston bombings. Sunil has been missing from his apartment since 16 March. You can view this detailed story from ABC on Sunil here. You can check out one of the tweets below which mentioned that Sunil was on the ‘scanner’: So what exactly happened after that? There were some reports that police scanners had identified Sunil as a ‘possible suspect.’ And thanks to the world of Reddit and Twitter, Sunil went from being a possible suspect to ‘the suspect.’ The word possible was dropped. For the uninitiated, Reddit has had a thread running called FindBostonBombers, for a couple of days and thanks to this anyone who was brown or with a heavy pack back became a suspect. In fact, there’s a dedicated thread on Reddit, discussing if Sunil was the bomber? What is truly shocking is that people were busy dissecting CCTV footage and sharing pictures of Sunil to compare with the footage and pictures that were being shared on the thread. As this Salon article points out, The entire case was based on vague physical resemblance in low-quality photos, bolstered by the fact that one Twitter user claiming to have gone to school with Tripathi said she thought it looked like him. Police in tactical gear conduct a search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Friday, April 19, 2013, in Watertown. Associated Press In fact, the entire thread on FindBostonBombers was based on nothing more than guesswork and brazen speculation on the part of those who were on the thread. This piece on the Atlantic points out, vigilantes have organized themselves on Reddit for a manhunt. They want justice served. And they’re openly debating suspects on the site. They’re gonna solve the case! Like real cops on television. In one case, they point out a man in a “blue robe†and how he’s holding his backpack. “Also note that in the very far right pic, he is clutching his hand with a very tight grip as if the backpack is really heavy,†one says. “That left hand is holding quite a lot of tension. The guy is trying to look nonchalant, maybe?†another replies. “Though, look at the angle of the shoulder straps. You would expect them to be pointing straight down if they were under the weight of 30-40lbs, not angled like that†Guys, this isn’t dissecting the quality of an animation on the PS3: this is a human being whose role in an act of terrorism is being debated in a public forum because of people’s observations of the “tension†in his grip on his bag? After Sunil’s name appeared on the Police scanners, it seems that in the minds of Internet detectives he was already guilty. In fact a Facebook page that his parents had created to help find him had to be taken down thanks to the vitriolic abuse. This despite the fact that the FBI had released pictures of two suspects who were clearly ‘white, Caucasian looking men.’ This post on Gawker, also questions the nature of the Internet man-hunt for the Boston bombers and calls it a sort of like racist Where’s Waldo. As the post points out, most of the photos that were being shared were of brown people who in the minds of the Reddit detectives were already guilty simply because they were brown. The Boston Police have now identified the suspects as being from Russia. One of the suspects is dead, while the hunt is on for the other. The moderator at Reddit’s FindBostonBombers thread has also banned all pictures, personal comments about suspect bombers, other than official information from the FBI. But is that really enough? For the parents and family of Sunil Tripathi, the news that their missing son was a suspected bomber must have been traumatising and shocking and perhaps the Internet community owes them an apology. And the community could choose not to trust police scanners as an instant source of verified news. The case brings to light the risks involved with citizen/Internet based journalism where any picture, taken from a smartphone or even CCTV camera can become evidence in a giant-witch hunt. The Sunil Tripathi incident definitely calls into question the ‘wisdom of crowds’ theory. One can’t forget that while crowd-sourcing might help in getting a lot of information together, a crowd also reflects the biases of the individuals who are a part of it. In Sunil Tripathi’s case it was the racist bias that came to fore. http://www.firstpost.com/world/boston-bombing-how-sunil-tripathi-was-wrongly-identified-as-a-suspect-713386.html
Crookbond Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Excuse me? He was identified as a suspect. A "suspect" means exactly that. FYI - it is not not just Reddit, Facebook and Twitter but even the BPD who identified not just Sunil Tripathi but someone named Mike Mulugeta as "suspects". Every person in/around that marathon race was a "suspect" - some more than the others. All these tips were passed to the FBI as well. Now, in case some irresponsible and lazy journalists wants to spin a sensationalist article around it, you can't blame Reddit and 4chan who were trying their best to help the FBI and police nab the suspect.
DomainK Posted April 19, 2013 Author Posted April 19, 2013 ^ May be you should read the whole article and some of the readdit threads. I hope you are not trying to justify that gross idiocy that transpired here. Granted the name was picked up as a "possible suspect", but what followed was pathetic.
cowboysfan Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 As always a massive circlejerk on reddit ,they accuse cnn of jumping the gun but have no qualms about accusing innocent victims.
Crookbond Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 DK, There are two aspects - [1] Genuine helpers [2] Mischief mongers The [2] exists without [1] - you don't need a bomb blast to see that. To call the folks who did [1] and club them with [2] would be really naïve.
kubrickian Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Excuse me? He was identified as a suspect. A "suspect" means exactly that. FYI - it is not not just Reddit, Facebook and Twitter but even the BPD who identified not just Sunil Tripathi but someone named Mike Mulugeta as "suspects". Every person in/around that marathon race was a "suspect" - some more than the others. All these tips were passed to the FBI as well. Now, in case some irresponsible and lazy journalists wants to spin a sensationalist article around it, you can't blame Reddit and 4chan who were trying their best to help the FBI and police nab the suspect. Its not just a suspicion. Many people on the internet( including you ) were basically talking like he is the terrorist without any doubt. That's just completely stupid and irresponsible. We are talking about real life people here and their reputation and not a tv show or a movie. What if someone accuses of a rape and everyone assumes you are a rapist without having any proof ? Would you be fine with that even if you are cleared ?
Crookbond Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Its not just a suspicion. Many people on the internet( including you ) were basically talking like he is the terrorist without any doubt. That's just completely stupid and irresponsible. We are talking about real life people here and their reputation and not a tv show or a movie. What if someone accuses of a rape and everyone assumes you are a rapist without having any proof ? Would you be fine with that even if you are cleared ? :facepalm: I have told you 10000000 times I was just posting from the BPD scanner. Why can't you just understand that? Before, blaming those people you should also take a moment and think what made them believe it. It was the BPD scanner which made them believe it. The police said they were suspects and so everyone believed it. The police made a mistake and everyone followed. Stop pointing fingers.
ganeshran Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 It is like a game of chinese whispers. First guy qualifies his findings with enough doubt to be fair. But as it propagates through the interwebz, people start treating it as definite fact. That is where the problem begins. people are sentenced even before they are charged
Texy Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Reddit MOD has apologized to Sunil's family for the misidentification
hhunaeh Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 I was following reddit and twitter yesterday. The association of the “suspect 2 with white cap” to “Sunil tripathi” was made yesterday on twitter and reddit. A few people made up a photo collage of unclear photographs from Boston and very clear photos of Sunil. This was retweeted again and again till the tweeters and redditers convinced themselves, and everyone else following them, that the white capped suspect and Sunil were one and the same. All the police scanner had to do, late last night, was mention the white capped suspect, people automatically thought of Sunil, because in their minds they were already the same person. It is like those experiments where you repeatedly show an object to a kid and say the same word, till the time the kid believes the object and the word are the same.
ganeshran Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 BostonPD mentioned Sunil Tripathi's name (only his first name) on the scanner. They also named someone called Mike
hhunaeh Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 ^^cops on reddit and twitter. same problem as the larger public on twitter and reddit?
hhunaeh Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 everybody did the matching of whitecapped dude to sunil early last night based on faulty proof. Then they were one and the same
seedhi Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 :facepalm: I have told you 10000000 times I was just posting from the BPD scanner. Why can't you just understand that? Before, blaming those people you should also take a moment and think what made them believe it. It was the BPD scanner which made them believe it. The police said they were suspects and so everyone believed it. The police made a mistake and everyone followed. Stop pointing fingers.Did you hear his name on the scanner ? Apparently, no one heard his name, but some guy simply made it up in a tweet that this name was heard on the scanner and it went viral. Ridiculous. And sad.
ganeshran Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 His name was said on the scanner. Mike and Sunil were initially named as the two suspects. Now whether the cops got their info off reddit remains a matter of speculation
seedhi Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 His name was said on the scanner. Mike and Sunil were initially named as the two suspects. Now whether the cops got their info off reddit remains a matter of speculationDid you hear his name on the scanner ?
ganeshran Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 Did you hear his name on the scanner ? Multiple sources said that his name (Sunil and Mike) were named on the BostonPD Scanner http://globalgrind.com/news/411-sunil-tripathi-missing-brown-university-alleged-suspect-boston-marathon-bombings-photos After three days of investigations, a Boston Police Department scanner has named one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as Ivy League student, Sunil Tripathi. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/19/17823365-tweeting-police-chatter-creates-confusion-over-boston-suspect
someone Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 This is on the similar level as about 26/11 where "Amar Singh" was said to be one of the names of the criminals. Turned out to Kasab. Anyways, it was very interesting to see many secularists celebrating that there is a "Hindu" terrorist.
hhunaeh Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 As the msnbc article explains, In the age of live streaming audio and fast tweets, amateur sleuths can spread police scanner chatter -- which is just that, chatter -- more quickly than ever. But the dissemination of information comes with a risk: endangering law enforcement or the public. It is just chatter. It is not as though the cops made an official announcement on radio saying tripathi was the 2nd suspect.
Clarke Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 :facepalm: I have told you 10000000 times I was just posting from the BPD scanner. Why can't you just understand that? Before, blaming those people you should also take a moment and think what made them believe it. It was the BPD scanner which made them believe it. The police said they were suspects and so everyone believed it. The police made a mistake and everyone followed. Stop pointing fingers. That's a big problem with the over-analysis of conversations. There's enough idiots out there to create fake signals out of all the noise. It was just the news media earlier, we have the social media doing its part which makes things worse. DK, There are two aspects - [1] Genuine helpers [2] Mischief mongers The [2] exists without [1] - you don't need a bomb blast to see that. To call the folks who did [1] and club them with [2] would be really naïve. Somewhere between the two: [1.5] wannabe smartasses who think they can solve terrorism cases on the interwebs. Maybe not mischief mongers, just purely incompetent and dumb.
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