The brutal rape of a drunken 16-year-old West Virgina high school student landed two of her assailants one to two years in juvenile detention. An alleged computer hacker who leaked evidence implicating her assailants could go to prison for 10
The brutal rape of a drunken 16-year-old West Virgina high school student landed two of her assailants one to two years in juvenile detention.
An alleged computer hacker who leaked evidence implicating her assailants could go to prison for 10 years.
The Steubenville rape trial caught the nation’s attention earlier this year when two high school football players were tried for raping a young woman at a party last year.
The 16-year-old attackers repeatedly sexually assaulted the unconscious girl throughout the night.
Reportedly, the girl who was assaulted didn’t realize she was attacked until she saw it unfold on social media.
Disturbing videos, photos and text messages circulated on the Internet revealed what happened that night — the unconscience victim was taken from a party, undressed, photographed, taken to a car and assaulted, then transported to a basement, where she woke up missing her underwear.
Outraged that local law enforcement officials were not handling the crime seriously, the hacker group KnightSec — part of the hacker group Anonymous — made good on threats to release incriminating evidence of the crimes.
One piece of evidence was a 12-minute video featuring high school students (and members of a self-proclaimed “rape crew”) making jokes about the attack.
The “hacktivist” — 26-year-old Deric Lostutter — who posted the video could face up to 10 years in jail if he is convicted of hacking-related crimes.
The Kentucky man said the FBI raided his home in April as part of an investigation into the role he played with the hacker group linked to the rape case.
While hacking is a serious crime, in this case, national security was not at risk. Lostutter wasn’t hacking into the CIA databases, National Security Agency or orchestrating an attack to jeopardize the people of this nation.
He was highlighting an injustice that is often swept under the rug.
It is important to note that Lostutter has yet to be indicted, but it is disturbing to think his involvement in sparking a national dialogue on rape and rape culture will land him more time in jail than the perpetrators themselves.
