Overnight Open Thread (genghis)

Had this on my plate for a little while. Now it’s on yours as well, so dig in. It’s an in-depth and well done investigative piece by The Smoking Gun titled Outing an Online Outlaw. It involves a group called “Pranknet” and the joy and mirth they spread around the intermesh as well as the non-virtual world. Try to laugh along if you can. Here’s the setup:

“AUGUST 4--At 4:15 AM on a recent Tuesday, on a quiet, darkened street in Windsor, Ontario, a man was wrapping up another long day tormenting and terrorizing strangers on the telephone. Working from a sparsely furnished two-bedroom apartment in a ramshackle building a block from the Detroit River, the man, nicknamed "Dex", heads a network of so-called pranksters who have spent more than a year engaged in an orgy of criminal activity--vandalism, threats, harassment, impersonation, hacking, and other assorted felonies and misdemeanors--targeting U.S. businesses and residents.”

Awww. Charming little rascals, just up for a little fun…

But while Pranknet's hoaxes have caused millions of dollars in damages, it is the group's efforts to degrade and frighten targets that makes it even more odious. For example, a bizarre July 20 prank ended with a hotel worker actually sipping from a urine sample provided by a guest at a Homewood Suites in Kentucky. Additionally, at least twice this year, fast food workers--fearing that they would suffer burns after being doused by chemicals from a fire suppression system--stripped off their clothes on the sidewalk outside their respective restaurants.”

TSG gets all uppity and stuff about these scamps. You can almost smell the judgmentalism here:

"By any measure, "Dex" is a sociopath, a mean-spirited sadist who spews a barrage of racial epithets, vulgarities, and threats, and clearly enjoys the panic, fear, and damage he causes. While his frauds and sinister manipulations often rely on naive and compliant dupes, "Dex" prefers to make it appear that he is practicing some mysterious alchemy. "About to social engineer some people into doing wild shit," he announced in a late-May Twitter post."

But then TSG makes the cruelest cuts of all:

"On July 21, a pair of TSG reporters approached "Dex"'s building at 1637 Assumption Street in Windsor, where he lives in the ground-floor 'B' apartment. Calling to his mother, who was standing near an open living room window, a reporter asked her to summon her son. The woman disappeared into "Dex"'s adjoining bedroom, where the pair could be heard whispering. Despite repeated requests to come out and speak with TSG, "Dex" hid with his mother in his bedroom, the windows of which were covered with plastic shopping bags, a towel, and one black trash bag."

Sad but true. Yes, "Dex," is a 25 year old named Tariq Malik who lives with Mum in a run-down apartment in Windsor, Ontario. Ahh, but it's just the unfocused anger of disaffected youth looking for a creative outlet. Hell, I like this guy. He can come over to my house and fuck my sister. You'll agree, I'm sure (you must provide your own sister though...mine's busy), after reading of the many additional examples TSG provides along with *bonus* audio samples and even a vid sample.

Unrelated consumer complaint of the night: Hey Comcast? I'm paying you lots and lots of money each month to provide cable, phone and broadband service. Think you could do it on a consistent basis so it doesn't go out every 5 minutes while I'm trying to write this stupid post? Ok, thanks...just thought I'd ask.

ONT sponsor hiding beneath the fold.

Tonight’s overnight thread is sponsored by the Mata Mata Turtle, seen here in its angry state:

The Mata Mata was set to become a breakout Japanese film star in 1977, appearing alongside Gojira in his latest installment of adventure movies where improbable animals grown extremely large from atomic weapons tests saved Japan from similar creatures bent on its destruction (In this case, very large and pissed of clams who, as their main offensive weapon, could squirt whatever it is that clams squirt at such a high enough velocity that it would slice skyscrapers in half. Also, the clam juice glowed and made a really cool noise as it was emitted.)

The film, “Godzilla vs. the Clam Monsters” looked to be the blockbuster of the year but ended up being overshadowed by an upstart film that went on to win 57 Oscars that year, including “Best Movie Likely to Become an Insufferably Lame Franchise Over the Period of Our Lifetimes.” Sadly, “Godzilla vs. the Clam Monsters” went on to win only a single award that year (“Best Vocal Song or Duet in a Movie” with Olivia Newton John scooping up that award.) Which was good for her since she was still hot and hadn’t gone on to do “Xanadu” yet. But Mata Mata’s career was over at that point, before it’d even begun. We’ll never know what could’ve been…

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to xgenghisx@gmail.com. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

posted by xgenghisx at 09:40 PM

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