Police were dispatched toward Smith’s residence but were called off when they learned it was a false alarm and that everyone inside the home was safe.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution of former President Donald Trump in two federal cases, was the target of an attempted swatting at his Maryland residence on Christmas Day.
According to two law enforcement sources, someone called 911 and said that Smith had shot his wife at the address where Smith lives.
Montgomery County Police dispatched units toward the home but were called off when the Deputy U.S. Marshals protecting Smith and his family told police that it was a false alarm and that everyone inside the home was safe.
No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
It’s the regulations that don’t exist when we’ve got new technology that needs to be regulated that are the problem. And sorry, I don’t have a list of every telephone regulation on me to go through and tell you which ones, nor the time to do so.
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a) Phones have existed for over a century and are quite well-regulated;
b) It is already illegal to lodge a false emergency call with emergency services: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/the-crime-of-swatting-fake-9-1-1-calls-have-real-consequences1
The technology isn’t new, regulations already exist, the problem is that the regulations are not being properly enforced.
VPNs, virtual numbers, voip, and tor are somewhat new and fairly unregulated. It’s dead simple to setup to make a very hard to trace phone call.
None of those are traditional phone services, they’re all internet based so regulated differently. I agree they should be regulated as telephone utilities but right now they’re not.
Oh go on, come up with something instead of just downvoting me. I know it’s hard, actual work even, but you’re never gonna change minds otherwise.
Dude, I just responded to you and did not downvote, calm down. Maybe take some of your own advice about anger?
What advice was that, and who’s angry? I’m frustrated, sure, because perfectly reasonable statements are getting the most ridiculous pushback. “Phone not regulated enough” indeed 🙄
REALLY bro? Pretty obvious the snarky douche arguing all over this thread has some serious anger management issues.
What about “frustrated” do you not understand? “Snarky” my ass, you lot think anyone with a modicum of technical knowledge can run rings around the federal agencies that built and released Stuxnet and that kind of take doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously.
What about “it’s already illegal” don’t you understand? Telephone regulations are not the way to come at this, it was a braindead take from the get. Enforcement is what’s required.
Read whatever you like into my tone, it’s the internet and that’s a you problem, but it doesn’t change the fact that anyone downvoting me here is wrong 🤷♀️
“What about “frustrated” do you not understand?” the part that motivated you to become angry while ignoring the content of the replies made to your comment. But that is just what I don’t understand.
I’ve posted it elsewhere, but those are all just technologies (and of those, only Tor could be considered close to “new”), and we don’t need special regulation to make it illegal to do crimes with them. Even still, those just make it hard for normal people to track; it’s a minor inconvenience for the US Government, at most.
But again, if you think regulations are lacking, offer some solutions! The only rule is, you can’t get mad at me if what you come up with is already a law on the books.
Citation needed.
Even if I granted the US gov as being all seeing, a major problem is that it requires local PD/prosecutors to get the feds involved.
I’m not actually on board with attacking this via phone system regulations, but It is fairly easy to make anonymous phone calls using the techniques I pointed out. To actually fix something like this, you’d need every phone number to be registered in person with a star card and to completely outlaw virtual numbers providers with stiff penalties. But even then, there’s the issue of international numbers and illegally spoofing a number. Those can’t be fixed without revamping the telcos which is really hard with the amount of ossified tech in place.
This probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but the two things that need to happen are reducing gun ownership and demilitarization of the police. Cops are way too trigger happy, actual consequences when cops murder or harm individuals would go a long way in stopping them from perceiving everyone as an enemy combatant. Pulling guns off the streets would reduce the justifications of busting down doors with a dozen cops ready to shoot anything that moves.
Bro. The original post I was responding to said phone regulations. That’s the entire discussion. The fact that you lot haven’t worked with three-letter agencies to know the kind of resources they can bring to bear finding someone isn’t my issue. Disbelieve it if you like, but as you freely admit phone regulations are not the fucking problem.
This is exactly what you ask for (I’m guessing you didn’t read the full post).
I did and it’s not, phone providers and MVNOs are mandated to keep records already, see the PATRIOT Act and Bush’s retroactive immunity for wiretapping by the telcos prior to 9/11, and try again.
They aren’t required to verify who signs up for the service, which is the crux of the problem. Records are useless if they can’t be associated with an individual.
Forcing in person sign ups with strong identifying requirements solves the swatting problem, because every number is directly associated with who is using it.