16YO bomb threat suspect is a 4chan /B/tard, now non-anon.

[Gold Metal Flake]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/teenage-bomb-threat-suspect-was-an-internet-prank-phone-call-star/">Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online Teenage Bomb Threat Suspect Was Internet Prank-Call Star
By Kevin Poulsen May 7, 2009 | 4:44 pm | Categories: The Courts

A 16-year-old North Carolina boy arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat against Purdue University had a secret identity as a superstar in an unusual online subculture — one dedicated to making prank phone calls for a live internet audience, his mother admitted Thursday.

“I heard the prank phone calls he made,” says Annette Lundeby of Oxford. “They were really funny prank phone calls…. He made phone calls to, like, Walmart.”

Lundeby confirmed that her son was known online as “Tyrone,” a celebrity in a prank-calling community that grew late last year out of the trouble-making “/b/” board on 4chan. Using the VOIP conferencing software Ventrilo, as many as 300 listeners would gather on a server run by Tyrone to listen to him and other amateur voice actors make often-crude and racist phone calls, some of which are archived on YouTube. The broadcasts were organized through websites like PartyVanPranks.com.

<snip>

“There are twelve bombs located throughout the entire campus at the school,” the caller continues (.mp3). “They are in random lockers throughout the school — I will not tell you which lockers they are located in. There are also two in the bathroom and there is one in the gym. You have exactly one hour after 11:00 a.m. to find and disarm the bombs. That is all I have to say. All will be cleansed.”


He got money for the calls. Mom knew about the calls and bomb threats, would listen in. What a fine American family.

[sandnsea]

1. He is still not a terrorist

and this actually is more infuriating that they are wasting valuable DHS funds on an internet prankster. This was a matter for local authorities.

[joshcryer]

3. Yeah, valuable local funds to shut down a school and make sure that it's safe.

DHS only put the nail in the coffin (primarily because they have more resources than local authorities, such as petitioning websites for IP addresses and other important information used to find the culprit), these pranks are by no means "harmless."

[Obamanaut]

18. Perhaps as part of the penalty his parents will be forced to repay

the taxpayers.

[Believing Is Art]

4. Okay, but

he's not being charged as a terrorist. His mom made up everything about him being held under the Patriot Act. I think the reason it's a federal issue and not a local one is that he made the threat at Purdue from his home in North Carolina.

[Chovexani]

5. Jesus Christ, we actually agree on something

I think I'm screenshotting this for posterity. ;)

But, yes, you're absolutely right. Internet famous btards are not terrorists.

[TWiley]

16. So how do you sort the cases out during the investagative stage?

Pretty easy to say he is not a terrorist in hindsight. Why not share your predictive powers ahead of time and save us all a bunch of cabbage.

[sandnsea]

37. Local juvenile detention facility

Which is what I said all along.

[joshcryer]

2. There's no such thing as anonymity on 4chan, even the website owners confess this.

Having an "anonymous nickname" is quite different from your identity being unknowable.

[anigbrowl]

13. Which is one reason there are so many jokes about the party van

4chan is extremely tolerant of silly and harmless stuff. Not everything there is silly and harmless (by a long way), but it's well understood that doing blatantly illegal shit is a good way to get sent to jail. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if they helped shop him. OTOH, /b/ seems to be temporarily on hiatus right now. Oh, how we laughed.

Also, the game.

[MrSlayer]

6. Phoney Phone Calls are fine, bomb threats are not.

Some people make a living off of crank calls but there is nothing funny about bomb threats. There must be repercussions for this nonsense.

[DS1]

7. Jesus!

That's going too far. When I was one of three Marines selected to get some high-speed low-drag Military Police training because the base was short of MPs, one of the things I used to do was hold down the radio button and prank call the Base's Dominoes, and have guys screaming with laughter. Whatever happened to non-violent fun?

Kids, you can have prank call fun without bombs! It just takes some creativity, and a complete disrespect for your superiors! Come on!

[Gold Metal Flake]

9. This cat was doing this for some time.

Must have started... when? A year, two? 14 or 15YO hanging out at 4chan with his mom's permission? Ever been there? Seen the forums? The pictures? Christ, that's like child abuse.

[DS1]

11. Yes, I'm familiar with /b

and 4chan. Child abuse? No.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. It's always funny until Prince Albert REALLY gets stuck in a can. nt

[Lex]

27. LOL.

:rofl:

[mainegreen]

31. ...

:rofl:

[Hoopla Phil]

15. Agreed. I've watched/listened to many phone pranks -

mostly on Wal*Mart that were very funny. Bomb threats are NOT funny.

[npk]

40. He was allegedly making bomb threats

How the hell is that all in good fun. What bizarre world are you living in? I don't find it funny what this kid did. If the evidence is true he should be punished.

[anonymous171]

8. Another reason not to go to /b/. Full of underaged kiddies. nt

[anigbrowl]

14. I dunno about.

Not there aren't plenty of them, but they're hardly the majority.

[Ikonoklast]

10. Interesting.

The arrest of Lundeby’s son stoked widespread outrage on the internet after Raleigh, North Carolina’s WRAL-5 reported on the case, noting that the boy is a patriotic homeschooled student with an American flag bedspread.

His mother sounds like a real piece of work, too. She knew and was part of her son's phone pranks and bomb threats.

[AB_Positive]

17. For every anon that does something worthwhile...

like the war against $cientology and hacking Palin's email you get a Tyrone.

Side rant...


I'm an old school /b/tard - I don't get this crap. He has a NAME. How, for the love of whatever, do you become a force inside a group named "Anonymous" when YOU HAVE A NAME.

This is why I left the 4chan universe about a year and a half ago. It used to be this cool place where angry dorks and nerds could show their disdain for the society we have gotten. A place to build a cesspool as a shrine to the bigger cesspool that was American Society at the time.

...

Now it's a cesspool for a totally different reason. It's like GameFAQs only with more illegalness. *sigh*

I remember when /b/ could be a force for good. :P

[Gold Metal Flake]

23. You have to understand that entropy affects all systems.

USENET was first...

[TornadoTN]

39. Anonymous is splintering into factions. Has been for a while.

They find their own little niche's and fight with everyone else who doesn't want to be a part of it or thinks its stupid.

It's just the endless cycle of groups. People inevitably fight for power and control even in a faceless organization. This guy is a prime example of it.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. And this is the mother claiming that the Patriot Act was being improperly used against her son?

[Gold Metal Flake]

24. Yes.

[Arkana]

20. Ah, 4chan.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Now very brilliant to make 'racist phone calls' and call in a bomb threat. He needs to go to jail.

[MagickMuffin]

22. Mommy Dearest made a FALSE claim that someone had "hacked" into his computer

It appears that she is also guilty of making FALSE CLAIMS.

Ha Ha HA: “There are twelve bombs located throughout the entire campus at the school,” the caller continues (.mp3). “They are in random lockers throughout the school — I will not tell you which lockers they are located in. There are also two in the bathroom and there is one in the gym. You have exactly one hour after 11:00 a.m. to find and disarm the bombs. That is all I have to say. All will be cleansed.”

I just can't quit laughing :sarcasm:

[Javaman]

25. This will be really interesting to see how this all turns out...

one thing about /b/ you really don't want to fuck with them. They can make a persons life miserable.

[Lex]

26. Do you think they'll mess with the Feds (Dept. of Justice) somehow?

nt

[Javaman]

29. don't know. They have pulled some weird crap in the past.

They may not take them on directly, but I wouldn't put it past them to try something. Like some sort of massive internet hoax.

[Lex]

28. "Feds: Teen's not being held under Patriot Act"

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5105258/

"Raleigh, N.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday a local mother's claim that her son is being held under the USA Patriot Act is incorrect."


"Ashton Lundeby is being held on a criminal complaint
that a bomb threat was made from his Oxford home
the night of Feb. 15."

[struggle4progress]

30. knr

:dem:

[mainegreen]

32. The thing is /b/ is fapping to this, lapping this all up.

because it's lulzy.

[Lex]

34. Probably not so lulzy to the kid being held.

nt

[Dappleganger]

33. I'm going to print all of this info up

then go lecture my teens on the eeeevils of 4chan this evening (part of the weekly I'm The Mom lecture series).

[Occam Bandage]

35. /b/ used to be full of clever, mature people who acted

stupid and immature deliberately for the lulz. They were a burlesque of our darker and our dumber natures.

Sadly, that attracted actual stupid and immature people. /b/ ain't half what it used to be.

[TornadoTN]

38. /b/ is a shadow of its former self

I will spare the terminology which might be offensive, but as it gained in popularity, it started pulling in a bunch of idiotic people who took the whole "Anonymous" mantra way too literally.

It really is cliche, but it used to be a really interesting and entertaining site. I guess popularity just destroyed it.

[madmom]

36. I can think of much better ways to spend my time and energy than making pranks calls, how childish!