This incident is quite possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims: hackers uploaded a flashing computer animation to an epilepsy support forum to trigger epileptic attacks!
RyAnne Fultz, a 33-year-old woman who suffers from pattern-sensitive epilepsy, says she clicked on a forum post with a legitimate-sounding title on Sunday. Her browser window resized to fill her screen, which was then taken over by a pattern of squares rapidly flashing in different colors.
Fultz says she "locked up."
"I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts," says Fultz, an IT worker in Coeur d'Alene, Ohio. "I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak."
After about 10 seconds, Fultz's 11-year-old son came over and drew her gaze away from the computer, then killed the browser process, she says.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy (Photo: RyAnne Fultz) - Thanks AnotherJake!
Comments (32)
I never liked those animation website that can cause epiliptic seizure... they're pointless and annoying.
I was sad when they said the video of the song "Run" from Gnarls Barkley caused pain for epileptic. It's a good video and I would have liked to have it on my Ipod.
Here's the video ( Warning if you are epiliptic, this video may give you an epiliptic seizure. )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GA3a15xF0c&NR=1
The trippy part start at the 2:00 min mark.
There's no excuse for any sort of unprovoked assault and this is can be considered nothing else.
'nuff said.
The loose organization and deliberate coordination of attack is what gets them elevated from individual jerkiness.
The only way to stop it is if you expose the people who did this and publicly humiliate them.
It is for this reason that I wish the internet wasn't so good at hiding your identity because people need to know their actions will have consequences like in the real world. (I know its a double edged sword here especially for people living in countries like China and Iran)
More than likely, this is a black bag job by Co$.
Hating Scientology is the new "anti-semitic" religious prejudice trend; all the cool kids are doing it. Scientologists don't do half the evil stuff people believe and quit giving them that much credit. The so called weird beliefs are from fables, story that are written to explain/teach morals. Have you read the material in the context its present in? If taken out of context communion is about drink blood for immortality. Trolls love setting them up and how they play the idiot public to believe scary "alt religion" did these bad things.
Secondly, Its a lowly troll not a hacker. Copy Pasta scripting doesn't equal a "hacker".
Maybe somebody can explain this to me, Anonymous is mad at CO$ for wanting their material off line. People rally around to take down the wiki and other pages under non-nobility and delete wars. Successfully removing the information and details about the beliefs. Which CO$'s own practices couldn't get removed. Then they attack and overload the CO$'s hosting servers causing them to crash. So Anon and CO$ seem to be working for the same goal. Keeping Scientology off-line and accessible only at their churches. What if Anonymous is really Ron Hubbard?
Knowing the way legislation has been written this decade, they can probably be arrested as terrorists.
Oh, and Tom, I have saved copies of the threads on 7chan /b/ from when the raids were being instigated.
2) Any proof that the Co$ is behind this, or is Anonymous a proper noun these days
3) Co$ isn't hated because of their beliefs, they're hated because they attempt to stifle free speech by intimidation and lawsuits. They require money to advance in the church, and they hold tax-exempt status while organizing their members to sway certain local elections. However, I hear that when you reach OT6 you learn telepathy, so there's that.
Someone was being a douchebag. Calling this a hacker attempt serves nothing but to distort the story and make it more inflammatory.
Oh no. I signed up for a forum and posted on it. I guess that makes me a hacker.
PS: I have epilepsy, but thankfully not one of those 5% who are photosensitive. I don't excuse what these people did on a forum KNOWING the consequences of their actions, and in fact, they should be severely punished... but calling it "hacking a forum" when it's really just signing up and typing img src="http://someurl.here/and.image.gif" in a post is akin to calling it grand theft when you use a penny out of the penny jar for spare change at your local 7-11.
Besides don't hate the religion/believers because of a few church uppers. Church elders pretty mush suck everywhere. A lot of believers try to be decent human beings by bettering themselves and others. The OT levels are like sunday school leader, assistant pastor, pastor, preacher, bishop and so forth. It takes time/studying and materials/cost to reach the positions. Do you find fault with seminary schools? Any issue with churches and colleges charging money for classes on theology and/or how to be a priest? Mock away because they use a different name/term/definition/job title.
Co$ doesn't have the resources to give out "Dianetics" to every person who walks through their door for free. If you know a member or have real interest they'll most likely loan you the materials. Why would they give away and incur the expense just so people can't get the materials to mock them? When did trolling a church become a badge of anarchy?
How many churches can you walk into and get a bible, Torah and/or the Koran for free at? Double standard. Ever hear of Freezone? the Co$ material is out that at no cost if you really want it.
I'm still wondering if the co$ was behind all the wiki's getting deleted as a great Operation "insert cool wicked nickname". The wikipedias explained their material better than they did. Ether they got what they wanted or played the lesser life forms to do their dirty work. Fighting them would be better targeted as "Operation Copypasta".
Discusting behavior.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/featured/.
heres my email if you want to discuss epilepsy
office@christopherwhitehead.worcs.sch.uk