A Reuters Employee Threatens the Wrong Guy

Powerlineblog ^ | 5/26/2006 | John Hinderaker

[Jameison]

Earlier today, Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs emailed us about a death threat he had received, apparently from an employee of Reuters in London. It's a complicated story; you can read it all here. LGF got an email from the obviously fictitious address, "zionistpig@hotmail.com." ("Zionist pig" is revealing, I think.) The subject heading was: "You bunch of wankers." That jumped out at me; to my knowledge, the only people who use the word "wanker" (Is it a word? Beats me.) are left-wing bloggers and their commenters. This was the text of the email:

I look forward to the day when you pigs get your throats cut.... I would not, personally, consider that a death threat, although it's certainly an unpleasant message. We've gotten a lot worse from liberals, and I'm sure Charles has too. Nowadays, that's pretty much how liberals talk.

What struck me most about this episode is how technically skilled Charles is. The poor buffoon from Reuters who sent the email never knew what hit him. Charles was able to trace his IP address around the globe, and it quickly emerged that the miscreant was Inayat Bunglawala. This column by Bunglawala--an extraordinarily silly column, postulating that Christians and Muslims can get along if Christians just give up on the divinity of Christ--was apparently the source of the problem.

[sheik yerbouty]

"Idiot Bungholer"

[rogue yam]

Now, that's a wanker....(which I believe is a British colloquialism for a masturbator).

In British slang to wank is to masturbate, so a wanker is indeed a masturbator. My understanding is that the point of calling someone a wanker is to accuse that person of social ineptness combined with physical unattractiveness so as to render masturbation their only available outlet for sexual release. A social and sexual loser, in other words.

[rwfromkansas]

But, wouldn't he need somebody from inside Reuters giving him that info?

I think the best you can do outside is pinpoint the general area it is coming from, the Reuters office...but that is about it.

[Enchante]

Was Algore wanking the other wanker, or was the Reuters wanker guy merely wanking himself? When you start talking about rabid apologists for Islamo-fascism I can't keep track of all the wankers..........

[MizSterious]

An exception to the leftwing-wanker rule: If memory serves, on the day our troops entered Baghdad, around the same time the statue was pulled down, locals celebrated by carrying a banner calling Saddam a "wanker."

[LibWhacker]

Typical. A smirking loudmouthed pencilneck p***k. 99.99% of all men in the world could smash him like a bug. That's the problem with the internet; it allows all the Walter Mittys of the world to daydream out loud.

[Psycho_Bunny]

There's some things that are not being revealed in this article.  Charles Johnson was obviously helped by a network admin at Reuters who traced the connection from the public IP, into Reuters' subnet and to the workstation. 

That would be normal behavior for most professional admins.  Doubly so if they don't like the culprit.  The admin probably turned the culprit in to HR or some other such department.

Admins don't like their networks being used this way.

[river rat]

No child is safe, so long as one pious militant Islamist exists...

To believe otherwise -- is whistling past the cemetery..

Semper Fi

[SeeRushToldU_So]

wank·er (wăng'kər)

n. Chiefly British Vulgar Slang.

1. A person who masturbates.
2. A detestable person.

[Beagle8U]

A really good hacker can trace anything you send, right to your front door, in less that an hour.

[Talking_Mouse]

If one is sufficiently good, one jumps the firewall. From the article Charles is sufficiently good to jump the firewall.

[MizSterious]

I was wrong, it wasn't calling Saddam a "wanker," it was calling the human shields "wankers."

[TXnMA]

The divinity of Christ? 3/4ths or more of the US population gave that up at birth and are staying the course.

Not even close, Fester. See this recent FR thread.

[LibWhacker]

I've been wondering the same thing. This gives some idea of how they do it (subnets and seed data):

Why does your data differ from the WHOIS data?

In any event, this is a nice webpage to know about (look at the map at the bottom): Geobyte's IP Locator

[Jameison]

"In British slang to wank is to masturbate, so a wanker is indeed a masturbator. My understanding is that the point of calling someone a wanker is to accuse that person of social ineptness combined with physical unattractiveness so as to render masturbation their only available outlet for sexual release. A social and sexual loser, in other words"

Correct on every point.

[Jameison]

"was chosen by the British government as one of seven “conveners” for a Home Office task force responsible for tackling extremism among young Muslims."

If this guy is the one trying to stop Islamic extremism among Muslim youth, then the British are in indeed in trouble.

[Mike Darancette]

postulating that Christians and Muslims can get along if Christians just give up on the divinity of Christ--was apparently the source of the problem.

There are many "Christians" that would sadly agree with that proposition I wonder how many Muslims would agree that the prophet was simply a pedophile who heard voices?

[Mike Darancette]

a murderous pedophile.

A murderous pedophile who heard voices.

[Mike Darancette]

Now, that's a wanker

It would seem the he might know what it means to be buggered.

[Mike Darancette]

it allows all the Walter Mittys of the world to daydream out loud.

Ar least Mitty had an imagination.