Explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon

[MahrinSkel]

The point is that anyone who was there is a potential suspect, because the one thing we can say with absolute certainty about the perp is that he was there.  Everything else is conjecture.  And there are literally thousands upon thousands of images to go through, and only so many eyeballs in law enforcement to go through them.  *Eventually* they will go through all of them, but what would take them months the Internet Detectives can do in hours through sheer force of numbers.

And I wouldn't blame Internet Detectives for the NY Post front page.  They're obviously casting about for scary brown people to blame.  Supposedly, they got their tip from the Feds, who were passing the photo around wanting to talk to the guy.  So "Internet Detectives" may have saved a few LEO hours that would otherwise have been wasted tracking down someone with nothing useful to contribute to the case as if he were a suspect.  That's not nothing.

--Dave

[Ingmar]

Good old reliable victim blaming.

The victims are the people with lost limbs, in the hospital, or in the ground.

People falsely accused of crimes are also victims of something.

[Numtini]

The whole point of "terrorism" is that it's not just the people who are actually injured who are victims. It's to traumatize and create fear among everyone in the society or group targeted.

[Paelos]

As much fun as a semantics battle over what a victim can be, I think it diminishes the fact that people are dead and/or won't be walking away from this.

[murdoc]

FBI has released photos and video of the suspects: http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/photos

[HaemishM]

FBI has released photos and video of the suspects: http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/photos

I think you crashed the FBI's servers.

[murdoc]

DOH

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80DXI932OE and one of the photos:

[MahrinSkel]

Now, anyone want to make a bet that by midnight, the lolinternetdetectives will have found higher resolution pictures of these guys?

--Dave

[Arthur_Parker]

No bet.

[Ironwood]

You know what ?

A lot of things go quicker and better with crowdsourcing.

Justice has really never been one of them.  I'm entirely uneasy by this whole thing.

[murdoc]

I thought they could just scan these things into a computer to make them high resolution then run them against a database of faces for a couple minutes to find a match.

[schild]

You know what ?

A lot of things go quicker and better with crowdsourcing.

Justice has really never been one of them.  I'm entirely uneasy by this whole thing.

Do you think people taking it upon themselves to deliver swift justice at an event where thousands of pictures were taken to be any more crowdsourcing than having 10s (100s?) of researchers at the FBI doing the same thing?

Let's be honest here, this isn't justice. This is unconventional research for an unconventional crime.

[Arthur_Parker]

You know what ?

A lot of things go quicker and better with crowdsourcing.

Justice has really never been one of them.  I'm entirely uneasy by this whole thing.

I think the first attempt was a shot in the dark, worth trying but very difficult, not something I'd be interested in, but with focused information from the FBI of who to look for there's a very real chance of getting a break in the case very quickly.  The alternative was releasing the photos/video in 6 months when the public will have lost interest.  I like puzzles so I'm scanning photos, tens of thousands of other people will be too.

[Ironwood]

I'm seeing a lot of fuck stupidity attached to these pictures as they get passed around social media.

Sorry, but I'm still uneasy.

[01101010]

I'm seeing a lot of fuck stupidity attached to these pictures as they get passed around social media.

Sorry, but I'm still uneasy.

As am I. Basically, anyone around that area that day who had a black backpack is under suspicion now. I know we have this innocent until proven guilty ideal, but in practice, it is far different.

[pxib]

It has always been the case that Big Brother watches using our eyes.

[Arthur_Parker]

It's the internet stupidity comes pre-attached, that one photo found so far might give them a direction, time stamp, something that leads to something else.  Plus one of the guys is clearly white, so that helps.

[MahrinSkel]

Certainly caution is warranted, the danger is that people will take it on themselves to do more than just analyze.  So please, when someone starts shouting THIS IS THE GUY, HERE'S HIS ADDRESS, SOMEBODY GO GET HIM!, tell them to sit down and shut the fuck up.  But looking through all the pictures is both something you can't possibly stop, and the place where the sheer numbers give the advantage to the Internet Detective Squad.

This is the world we live in now.  You're on camera, all the time, and especially when you're near something interesting.

--Dave

[Tale]

These two suspects remind me of the Columbine shooters.

[Numtini]

These two suspects remind me of the Columbine shooters.

I was thinking the same thing. Hair too long for a nazi, skin too white for a "muslin". They look like snotty suburban kids.

[Ingmar]

I've seen some (already deleted) local news article comments that they look Jewish herpaderp Israeli false flag Mossad something something JEWS. 

[Tale]

And I wouldn't blame Internet Detectives for the NY Post front page.  They're obviously casting about for scary brown people to blame.

Same as they did with "Saudi suspect in custody" just after the blasts. Maintaining racial profiling in readers'/viewers' minds at every opportunity.

[Surlyboi]

Jooz did it.

[Morat20]

We have a Congressman explaining how Muslims are using Hispanics to beat our Mad Profiling Skills and we should BUILD A FENCE.

At least the morons at the NY Post aren't actually running a government.

[Paelos]

Jooz did it.

I think the logical progression is Arabs, Jews, Deranged Loner White Guy

[Surlyboi]

We have a Congressman explaining how Muslims are using Hispanics to beat our Mad Profiling Skills and we should BUILD A FENCE.

At least the morons at the NY Post aren't actually running a government.

No. They're smarter than the people that run large swathes of the country.

[Ghambit]

Now, anyone want to make a bet that by midnight, the lolinternetdetectives will have found higher resolution pictures of these guys?

--Dave

The fucker we want is in the white cap on the left hand side of this photo.  Notice, no bag anymore; as it's just exploded in the face of an 8-yr-old.  His friend is behind possibly; the man in khakis next to the woman in purple.


I know you guys dont like net-detectives but I've been lurking 4chan/reddit and the victims are literally in there asking for help, uploading vids/photos (that they have), etc.  It's a tough sell to sit on your hands when a woman who can no longer feel her legs asks you to do a few webcrawls.   

Anyways, they've already got the clothing pegged, even possibly where they may have bought them.  Some of their gear isnt very common (polo hat, golf hat, high-end fancy hoodie, etc.).  And now that they have suspects, more pics are flooding in (like above) with better views.

[MahrinSkel]

Now, anyone want to make a bet that by midnight, the lolinternetdetectives will have found higher resolution pictures of these guys?

--Dave

The fucker we want is in the white cap on the left hand side of this photo.  Notice, no bag anymore; as it's just exploded in the face of an 8-yr-old.  His friend is behind possibly; the man in khakis next to the woman in purple.

I'm going to up the stakes: By midnight (Pacific, after all it's already almost 10 in Boston), they'll have this guys name, home address, and third grade teacher.  If I were him, I'd be running to the nearest cop.

Yeah, the "flesh hunt" has social dangers.  But the cops might have screwed around looking for these guys for weeks, now they'll have them by morning.

--Dave

EDIT: I might add my own intuition and theory says this is a false lead.  But the FBI thinks it's their best lead, which makes it important to run it down *especially* if it's a dead end.  Randolph wouldn't have gotten away if they hadn't fixated on Jewell.  Find these guys, send the cops to them or them to the cops, and see where it goes from there.

[Ghambit]

Huzzah!

[Abagadro]

The guy behind has a red coat, different hat and no glasses on. Don't think it is #1.

[Tale]

The guy behind has a red coat, different hat and no glasses on. Don't think it is #1.

This. They wouldn't be near each other at this point anyway, if the other guy did the other bomb.

[Abagadro]

I'd wager east guy places east bomb, walks east. West guy places west bomb, walks west.  Boom. Both continue on those directions and meet up later.

Random speculation of the day: I'm getting a bit of a Washington Sniper vibe with the white-hat guy (who looks slightly physically disabled in how he walks) being the sub of the pair (he is less concealed, walks behind, appears younger).

[Tale]

Gunshots reported at MIT. Officer down, says police chief.

I'm wondering if this is a confrontation with the bomber(s)?

[schild]

http://www.policymic.com/articles/36357/mit-shooter-gunman-at-large-after-police-officer-shot

Can we just like, get to fucking May already?

[schild]

There's a thread for that: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=23187.0