Posted on 03/19/2017 6:26:45 PM PDT by Johnny Diamond
When the journalist Kurt Eichenwald opened an animated image sent to him on Twitter in December, the message You deserve a seizure for your posts appeared in capital letters along with a blinding strobe light. Mr. Eichenwald, who has epilepsy, immediately suffered a seizure.
On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had arrested John Rayne Rivello, 29, at his home in Salisbury, Md., and accused him of sending the electronic file. The agency charged Mr. Rivello with criminal cyberstalking with the intent to kill or cause bodily harm.
The charge could carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years, according to the United States district attorney in Dallas, who is prosecuting the case.
The unusual case has shown how online tools can be deployed as weapons capable of physical harm. The F.B.I. and the Dallas police led the investigation into Mr. Rivello, and the police said he sent the strobe light knowing that it was likely to lead Mr. Eichenwald, who has publicly discussed his epilepsy, into a seizure.
Steven Lieberman, Mr. Eichenwalds lawyer, has argued that the use of the strobe light in a GIF, or moving graphic, was akin to sending an explosive or poison in the mail.
This electronic message was no different than a bomb sent in the mail or anthrax sent in an envelope, said Mr. Lieberman, who is working on the case as a pro bono service. It triggers a physical effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Not really. He's claiming something that borders on ludicrous.
From the Epilepsy Foundation:
1% of the US Population has Epilepsy.
For about 3 percent of people with epilepsy, exposure to flashing lights at certain intensities or to certain visual patterns can trigger seizures.
This condition is known as photosensitive epilepsy.
More common in children and adolescents. Becomes less frequent with age.
Not all televisions, video games, computer monitors, and strobe lights trigger seizures, however. Even in predisposed individuals, many factors must combine to trigger the photosensitive reaction. Examples include: Frequency of the flash (that is, how quickly the light is flashing) Brightness Contrast with background lighting Distance between the viewer and the light source Wavelength of the light Whether a persons eyes are open or closed The frequency or speed of flashing light that is most likely to cause seizures varies from person to person. Generally, flashing lights most likely to trigger seizures are between the frequency of 5 to 30 flashes per second (Hertz). The likelihood of such conditions combining to trigger a seizure is small
So he's got to be 3% of the 1% and a child or adolescent to really be in the susceptible group AND even then the right factors to induce a seizure are RARE.
He's a fricking liar...a GIF giving him a seizure is just as likely as making an addict shoot up by sending him a picture of syringe. Or a man getting diabetes by sending him a picture of a donut and having him go on a binge.
Thank you. You are a voice of sanity on this issue.
Was an episode of Pokémon. This was before it became big in America. There was a sequence that had very rapidly flashing red and white lights.
It triggered seizures and sent HUNDREDS of children to hospital emergency rooms throughout Japan.
Subsequent broadcasts of the same episode had the dangerous portion edited out.
. . . And if my wife found me unconscious on the floor, I would hope that the first thing she did would NOT be to post on Twitter.
So, this guy gets arrested...but the guy who attacked Michael Savage is let go. Hmmmm....
That’s awesome. I could stare at that all da . . . . . .
this will boomerang on the whack jobs. ultimately, they’ll be charged with filing a false police report.
IF the sender knew the receiver was epileptic and IF the sender knew the gif could trigger a fit. Otherwise the sender was just trying to be funny.
No, but they can certainly pretend to have one to advance their political cause, or just out of personal pique.
Some people are just prima donnas who demand everyone pay attention to them. I think this particular guy is one of those.
John's lying on the floor unconscious. Weird.
That image looks remarkably like what I see when I get ocular migraines. For a couple of minutes I actually thought it was giving me one but closing my eyes and holding my hands over my eyes, I could not see it.
I do believe that if I stared at it for long that it would. I do not get headaches with them.
I had the ocular migraines. The visuals always reminded me of stained glass.
I had to rush past it. Those bright lights mess me up, but it’s much worse if they’re flashing.
Mine look a lot like that but the colors are yellow and purple and the starbursts are sharp tho I cannot focus on the image. Actually can never tell which eye I am seeing it through.
I apologize if it bothers you. It’s not flashing so I didn’t think it would hurt anyone.
My Daughter had them with headaches when she was younger but they gradually went away.
I saw it coming ;-)
I’ve asked the admin to remove HypnoToad.
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