How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers

Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by st3v3r on Friday April 15, 2016 @06:50PM (#11508200)

"Note that I agree we need to treat swatting as a serious and potentially dangerous crime ... But what do we do when all the perps are juveniles?"

Try them as adults. You cannot tell me with a straight face that someone trying to pull this crap does not know exactly what they're doing.

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Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by PhantomGremlin on Friday April 15, 2016 @07:08PM (#11508293)

You cannot tell me with a straight face that someone trying to pull this crap does not know exactly what they're doing.

At a basic level they understand exactly what they're doing. But their prefrontal cortex isn't yet completely developed. So they don't understand just how harmful their actions are.

I did some stupid stuff as a teenager that I certainly am not proud of right now. But, at the time, I didn't at all understand the broader ramifications of my stupid behavior and the harm it caused others.

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Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by u_me_him on Friday April 15, 2016 @09:18PM (#11508792)

I don't know. It sounds a bit too much like excuses. I was also a teenager and was not stupid enough to try anything stupid. My reptilian brain always managed to stop me. Like this time I was going to get into a fist fight (it was not my first), I was willing but my reptilian brain was not in agreement. It actually tried to freeze my legs.

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Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by ceejayoz on Friday April 15, 2016 @09:25PM (#11508819)

The concept of a "reptilian brain" is a) no longer espoused by neuroscientists and b) if true would be the thing egging you on, not freezing your legs.

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Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by u_me_him on Monday April 18, 2016 @10:33PM (#11524542)

Think of it as a metaphor. There is definitely something there acting independently of me. I try to veto it but I'm not always successful.

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Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by woodman on Saturday April 16, 2016 @09:01PM (#11513021)

> It sounds a bit too much like excuses.

Said with a dismissive wave to the body of research compiled by neuroscientists that says otherwise.

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Re:How the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers by ridgeguy on Friday April 15, 2016 @09:36PM (#11508865)

Recommend you listen to this [1] interview that I heard earlier today. It's by a Stanford neuroscientist, discussing why and how the teenage brain leads their owners to be impulsive, addiction-prone, and just generally idiotic.

The TLDR: they really don't know exactly what they're doing, because the physical substrate for their cognition can't yet support those functions.

[http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/archive]

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