If you haven't heard about this case it is a shocking story to say the least. Small football town with athletes getting away with rape, coverup and corruption on the highest levels. Anonymous decided to step in after local law enforcement decided not to pursue this case.

Everything you need to know about the case:
http://localleaks.blogs.ru/

RT on Anonymous in 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqcpiVMHbMY&feature=em-subs_digest&list=TLg8eZ9dEcXoU

1/6/2013 12:25:21 PM

One of the things that bothers me about this story is that the whole town seems complicit in the underage consumption of alcohol. I know there are varying stories about the coverup and the number of people involved, but this kind of thing or worse should be expected to happen when you let minors drink as much alcohol as they want 1 night a year.

1/7/2013 11:27:20 AM

While I'm happy that Anonymous has brought this mess back to light, I'm a bit uneasy about the type of data that they're unleashing. Some of these students are still minors, and it would be a pretty gross violation of their rights to be publicly identified with their personal information splayed out and being persecuted by a virtual vigilantes when details of who exactly committed these crimes are being investigated. (Except for the ones who initially were dumb enough to post on social media... they pretty much gave up their privacy when they voluntarily went public)

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the state taking this case out of the hand of local authorities, trying perpetrators as adults and bringing the hammer down on them, but at the same time, I don't want some uninvolved student misidentified and destroyed simply because Anonymous and local informants misidentified him.

[Edited on January 7, 2013 at 12:08 PM. Reason : .]

1/7/2013 12:05:55 PM

Well, it seems like the evidence for the case is there. The only thing I doubt is that Anonymous actually did anything productive... like always.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/sports/high-school-football-rape-case-unfolds-online-and-divides-steubenville-ohio.html

The NYTimes seems to have captured the case as of Dec 16th. The shakeout of corruption discovery and placement of a new judge from outside the city, and scheduling a new court date, seems to have happened long before then.

1/7/2013 12:26:50 PM

^^ Unfortunately the 2 charged so far are not being tried as adults. That Nodianos kid is a sociopath. Alcohol just made him spout out what was really in his head. Saltsman was complicit in the whole thing and took some of the pictures. He should be tried as an accomplice of some sort.

1/8/2013 9:26:32 AM

Why should they be tried as adults?

1/8/2013 9:49:55 AM

Douchensville, OH

1/8/2013 2:12:38 PM

^^ Because these people are sociopaths and the seriousness of the fact nobody in the group did a damn thing to stop it. There was depraved indifference involved here.

1/8/2013 2:44:35 PM

the fact that there is a group makes it more likely no one will do anything, they are all drunk kids. that doesn't make it okay, but there is a reason we treat children differently.

1/8/2013 4:16:59 PM

They could still get 10 years, effectively ending their football careers, which seems justified.

1/8/2013 4:44:48 PM

plus they'd probably get raped in prison, which seems justified.

1/8/2013 4:58:58 PM

I'm all for justice in this case, and what happened seems pretty terrible.

But I'm also uneasy about hactivists (or whatever they call themselves) getting drunk with vigilante power, because they'll inevitably fuck over some kid who had nothing to do with it. And this is exactly why the local authorities need to do the right thing -- to squash the desire for vigilante justice.

I'm also in the camp of not trying children as adults. Honestly, what's the point of even having a juvenile system if we never use it? I'm not privy to the details of the court system, but it seems like we need a transitional age group between minor and adult to help with these types of cases that are done by teens of relatively sound mind who just narrowly miss being tried as adults. Maybe something that mirrors the education system in terms of bracketing age groups? I dunno.

Also, that town needs some culture or something. There's no reason that some pimply-faced 16 year old's should be treated like fucking rockstars.

1/8/2013 5:48:22 PM

I also want minors to be charged as minors, but I'm also for equal application of the law, and kids 11-12 years old have been tried as adults before.

Nothing about the rampant corruption of this particular town, however, should play a role in determining how to try them. They should be held accountable for their own actions, but the miscarriage of justice we've seen so far is clearly on the hands of the adults of the town. I feel like it's hard to separate the two emotionally.

1/9/2013 9:04:59 AM

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/one-steubenvilles-rape-crew-wants-get-out-steubenville/60648/

1/9/2013 9:55:17 AM

^^Just because it happened before doesn't mean it was ok or that we should perpetuate it.

1/9/2013 12:49:00 PM

Quote :

"this is exactly why the local authorities need to do the right thing -- to squash the desire for vigilante justice."

if local authority is corrupt then how will these vigilante hacktivists ever be satisfied? How will justice be achieved? It won't unless a higher level of bureaucracy (law enforcement/courts) comes in to reign in on the local circus show. In the absence of the that happening I'm guessing Anonymous and its affiliates will remain highly motivated to pursue their vigilante agenda.

[Edited on January 10, 2013 at 10:49 PM. Reason : .]

1/10/2013 10:49:17 PM