The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Maryland man for allegedly sending a seizure-inducing tweet to Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald, who has written about his battle with epilepsy.
The Friday arrest, which comes three months after Eichenwald announced his seizure, is believed to be the first in connection to somebody attacking someone with an epileptogenic image online. At the time, Eichenwald said he was determined to bring to justice the attacker who used the handle @jew_goldstein and the pseudonym (((Ari Goldstein))).
With some forms of epilepsy, strobing lights can spark seizures. In 1997, for example, a Pokémon episode was said to have sent nearly 700 Japanese children to the hospital. Epileptogenesis was believed to be a problem for WipEout HD in 2008. And about a decade ago, hackers descended on an epilepsy-support message board with flashing animations and triggered headaches and seizures in some users.
Meanwhile, Newsweek identified the suspect as John Rivello, who was arrested early Friday at his residence in Salsbury, Maryland. The authorities have not yet publicly disclosed a name or announced what charges he faces.
“What [this person] did with his Twitter message was no different from someone sending a bomb in the mail or sending an envelope filled with Anthrax spores,” said Eichenwald’s attorney, Steven Lieberman. “It wasn’t the content of the communication that was intended to persuade somebody or make them feel badly about themselves; this was an electronic communication that was designed to have a physical effect.”
The December 15 tweet at Eichenwald included a strobing image and said, "you deserve a seizure." Eichenwald said that he has received as many as 40 similar tweets from various Twitter handles after he announced he received the seizure-inducing strobing tweet. “Details of their cases are with the FBI. Stop sending them,” Eichenwald tweeted Friday.
Eichenwald, who lives in Dallas, asked a Dallas County court on December 19 to order Twitter to divulge account information connected to his alleged assailant. Newsweek reported that somebody going by the name John Doe, citing the First Amendment, filed a motion to prevent the disclosure. Eichenwald dropped the case because he said he had figured out, without the court’s help, who had sent him the tweet.
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