Time to prosecute the Free Republic vandal outright. (Vanity)

today | By Lazamataz

[Lazamataz]

There is an internet vandal who defaces Free Republic with very gross pictures (homosexual sex and stuff from rotton.com) as well as posting "ALL YOU F***** N*****S & JEWS SHOULD BE LYNCHED".

He pings a variety of people to his post, ensuring that the trash is still in their My Posts lists.

To me, this isn't the milder form of harassment that Eschoir engaged in so many years ago. The very worst he would do is ask if you ever committed sodomy, and he once used the screen name "Paula Jones Tw*t". This is mild.

What this sick piece of work is doing is much more egregious. I believe it crosses the line into criminal defacement and restraint of trade. Are there any Free Republic lawyers (especially prosecutors) who can address this issue, and are there any private detectives with internet savvy that will help track the identity of this person down?

[MineralMan]

Look at the link again. There's another name there...someone who signed up the same day and posted a message saying that James54's hack worked. Later, someone said it didn't. I suspect that's another name to work with.

[joesbucks]

Mike: I understand what you're saying. And as I stated, look at the responses to the deed. What thrill would they have if everyone would simply ignore it. Problem is, we can't. They are here to offend and every response is a reply that we've been offended. Whoever, whether an individual or a group sits at their computer and with every reply goes "YES".

Sometimes in the battle of good over evil you have to choose your battles and then choose how they are to be waged. That's as important as doing the battle.

[sitetest]

Okay.

[paul_fromatlanta]

>>Ignore it and they will eventually go away. Quietly have it deleted without comment.

As opposed to tracking the SOB down and eliminating his threat completely.<<

I think you're gonna need a different solution.

Given by the reaction I got yesterday, disagreeing but not trying to troll, a quiet reaction doesn't seem to be an option - it completely dominated the Bolton thread with content stopping completely... I think you're gonna need a blocking solution.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Eaker]

Ping to read later.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

Wouldn't this thing's actions qualify as malicious mischief? Defacing a building with graffiti is a crime and this is similar. It's not much of a charge but it can get the law's attention and other charges can then be added.

Michael Frazier

[dynoman]

Well dial up and cable IPs are usually within a range aren't they? And AOL is tracable to AOL isn't it? Proxeys are different. The IP could be used to screen a potential FR members IP, not nessessarily limit the member to certain IPs. When I think about it limiting members to certian IPs would probably be impossible to do. But say someone is wants to sign up and they are not using a legit IP to do it couldn't they simply be blown off?

For instance trace this IP 80.227.56.46 here.

Now if this was the IP of someone signing would you think it's legit? Especially if the person signing up was also using a hotmail etc. type e-mail address? Maybe the e-mail IP should match the signup IP, most ISPs include e-mail addresses, I know my IP and signup e-mail address could be checked to verify I am not trying to hide behind anonymous IPs and e-mail addresses.

[Cboldt]

most ISP's have a domain range, which generates a max number of ip#

They all do ;-) Have a range, or ranges that is. No single entity has "all" of the possible IP addy's.

The email registration account setup system is by far a much better way to manage accounts.

There are a fair number of alternatives for regulating joining, and possibly separately, posting. The limitation of e-mail account alone is a weak deterrant, because e-mail addy's are easy to get. I deal with hit and runs at Yahoo forums, and eventually went to "validate new poster (based on a post, not just an addy) before permitting a post." It's manageble only because of the low traffic.

[sageb1]

I went into temporary internet files and this is the image:

http://rmeek141.home.comcast.net/DocRockZotFather.JPG

last modified: 10/24/04 6:13 p.m. last accessed: 05/09/05 9:12 a.m.

I didn't bring the image up to check and make sure, but I'm pretty sure this is it. I really didn't want to look at it again.

[Socratic]

"I suspect that's another name to work with."

You might be right, in that I not familiar with that type of posting format, but I went to J54's name and checked out the link that listed all his posts. Most were on the same day in in April, but one was almost a most earlier. That same email address appears, and I think it unlikely that other person would be the one to respond to him almost a month a later (although, nothing is impossible).

[jude24]

Since this occurred across state lines (almost certainly), extradition would be a factor.

You aren't going to get a DA to demand, much less get, extradition for what is at most a low-grade felony.

[RebelBanker]

I will let you know as well as the mods if I happen to run across any of this excrement. Unfortunately, there is not much else I have the computer expertise to do.

[joesbucks]

Ok, so this guy is in Virginia. Does he have a pal in Georgia that will sign on with a different name and post the same filth? Then where to, Maine? California? Texas?

These are childlike people who are getting a thrill. And too many here are giving it to them.

They are children. They need punished. If you want to send them to their room without dinner, then don't feed them.

[poobear]

First time? You've only been here since Saturday. Busy fella in 48 hours.

[Petronski]

One of the two men in that picture is the perp, the other is his father.

[Emerging Patriot]

Perhaps the ultimate is a combination of the consensus and trusted user systems.

Perhaps registered users could have a "Trust Factor" value attached to the registration that is developed based on how long one has been a member, how many posts they have made, and perhaps the community assigned "Quality Vote" I discussed in the previous post.

Ones with a higher "Trust Factor" would have greater weight in the "Quality Vote" process.

This allows for the site owner to assign a super-high trust factor to certain chosen users. Perhaps those users can nearly ZOT-lite an offensive poster with one vote.

[sageb1]

Does someone else want to check the image url I posted to verify? I don't want to.

[sageb1]

Looks like this is someone's personal storage with his email account maybe?

[Shannon]

If you've missed his postings then you're one of the lucky ones. This morning I was scrolling down a thread when out of nowhere there came his obscene photo. To say I was shocked is putting it lightly. It's very jarring to see something like that on FR.

This may sound silly but on tv they are able to track down people like this so maybe FR can get him tracked. This pervert needs to be turned over to the police.