It Could Happen…
I.W.2
Police who have been at a loss for the sudden rise in hate crimes over the past eleven months may have gotten a huge assist from an unlikely source, the gaming world.
Over the past eleven months hate crimes have been on the rise over 120% across the country. Mob attacks on small groups, or individuals went on a sudden and sharp increase without explanation. The attacks at first seemed random, or gang related as many happened in places like Detroit and Dallas where it is not uncommon to see social media aid in these attacks. However in these new cases no records on social media are found. In the past a tweet or a post would alert others within a gang on where to meet at what time. These new cases leave the regular social media outlets silent as a graveyard.
For months religious, ethnic, and social groups have been targeted without provocation and attacked by large mobs of individuals. Seemingly random, one attack could happen on the south side in the morning, then on the west side in the afternoon.
Police were baffled.
The death toll so far has reached over 268. Out of that number 46 were racially motivated, 126 were targeted for their religious affiliation, 82 were targeted for their economic status, and the other 14 have yet to be determined.
The causalities now up in the thousands, continue every day. Without a clear answer of how and why these attacks are happening, there is little hope of deterring them.
This is where the gaming community has come in. Distressed when several of their own were targeted and attacked they began to reach out to authorities with clues.
The “I-Witness” app for cellular phones meant to aid the public by alerting police of a crime happening in real time, is at the core of the revelations.
Hackers have used the source code to create their own app similar to the “I-Witness”. The user simply has to anonymously snap a picture of the unknowing victim. The picture coded with the time and location, is then uploaded to a server to be viewed anonymously. When the picture is viewed, the app looks at the viewers location and the quickest route to the victim is posted underneath. The hackers use the traffic cams just like the “I-Witness” for real time traffic accuracy.
“Now that we know how they are doing it, we have a chance.” Police Chief Algron of St. Louis remarked. “Now we can go back through security cam footage and find who is taking these pictures and bring them to justice.”
So far no arrests have been made, despite cell phone regulations that require all data be held for a two year period.
“You’re probably not going to catch them.” reports a gamer who wants to keep his name anonymous. “They hack into anywhere, and anything. They erase records, and they know how to fake their identities. We didn’t do this because we thought they would be brought to justice. We did this because it’s the only way we know how to stop them.”
The app originally created for Raves and Underground Drug parties has taken a dark turn. Privacy advocates are calling for a review of newer technologies in light of the recent attacks.