boston marathon

Reddit regrets role in 'online witch hunt' for misidentified suspect

Reddit General Manager Erik Martin used the company's blog to publicly apologize for the site's role in fueling an "online witch hunt" for Sunil Tripathi, a missing Brown University student falsely identified as a possible suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing.

"The Reddit staff and the millions of people on Reddit around the world deeply regret that this happened," Martin said. "We have apologized privately to the family of missing college student Sunil Tripathi, as have various users and moderators. We want to take this opportunity to apologize publicly for the pain they … Read more

Facial-recognition tech played no role in ID'ing bomb suspects

While surveillance video provided key images of the men suspected of planting bombs at the Boston Marathon, police use of facial-recognition software proved unhelpful in revealing their identities.

Despite several images of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from the scene of the deadly bombings and the existence of images of the brothers in official government databases, facial-recognition software was unable to put names to their faces, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis told the Washington Post in an interview published Saturday. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has a Massachusetts driver's license, while Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder brother who died Friday after a shootout with … Read more

World flocks to funding sites for victims of Boston Marathon blasts

Crowdfunding sites set up by friends and families of the Boston bombing victims are giving the world a way to help. And the world is stepping up.

As of this writing, Bucks for Bauman on GoFundMe has raised more than $192,000 in two days for Jeff Bauman, a 27-year-old marathon spectator who lost both legs to the blasts. Bauman also reportedly helped ID the suspects from his hospital bed.

"Medical bills are going to start rolling in, let's get a head start on helping out Bauman and his family! Every dollar counts!!" reads an introduction by Brooke Gibbs, who started the site. It's just one of a number of crowdfunding efforts that have sprung up this week to aid Boston Marathon bombing victims through grassroots campaigns -- and have collectively drawn more than $1 million in a matter of days. … Read more

Authorities in Boston bombing helped, hindered by social media

Authorities pursuing a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing have a love-hate relationship with social media. After initially asking for help via Twitter, law enforcement later requested that social-media users be a little more conscientious about the kind of information shared (or fabricated) on social networks.

In the immediate aftermath of the dual blasts that killed three and injured dozens near the marathon finish line on Monday, law enforcement turned to the public via Twitter and other platforms for help crowdsourcing leads. On Thursday, the FBI released video footage of two young men carrying backpacks near the finish line of … Read more

Crowdsourcing or witch hunt? Reddit, 4chan users try to ID Boston bomb suspects

As the search continued Wednesday for clues as to the person or persons behind the Boston Marathon bombings, hypothetical suspects and crime scenarios began popping up via online crowdsourcing.

After 24 hours passed without an arrest in the attack, the Federal Bureau of Investigations said Tuesday that the "range of suspects and motive remains wide open" and asked the public to submit photos, videos or anything suspicious that they may have seen or heard.

Members of the link-sharing community Reddit launched a sub-section called "findbostonbombers" late Tuesday to collect clues.

"Sometimes the rules change. Sometimes dogma needs to be flipped: 'Shut up and let the cops do their job' in the case of a terrorist attack is exactly wrong," Jason Calacanis, Internet entrepreneur, said in a blog post. Calacanis suggests that investigators should be combing through services like Twitter and video-sharing app Vine for clues.

Reddit users targeted at least three men, based purely on speculation. A link posted from photos-sharing site Imgur showed photos of the men collected on the Web site 4chan. … Read more

The 404 1,251: Where we find the cipher in the sound (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Did 4chan just find the Boston Marathon bomber?.

- 4chan's Boston bombing Google Doc culls photos, speculation, and accusations.

- Internet tough guys and girls already pointing fingers at the Middle East. Response: "Please don't let it be a Muslim."

- Beating conspiracy theorists at their own game.

- Using Microsoft Photosynth to recreate a panoramic photo of the bombsite.

- Encode hidden messages in your Facebook pics with "Secretbook" extension.

- Demonic portraits and other evils lurking beneath waves of musical spectrograms.… Read more

Boston Marathoner's head-cam captures blast

One of the runners in yesterday's Boston Marathon captured some sobering video footage from a head-mounted cam as the first of two bombs went off.

In their search for suspects, authorities looking into what is now being described as a terrorist act have appealed to the public to share any photos and videos they may have taken in Downtown Boston yesterday. The attack took three lives and injured more than 100 people.… Read more

Facebook's iOS app gets stickers, Chat Heads

CNET Update starts a new type of sticker collection:

In this tech roundup, Google reveals the technical specs for Google Glass, and we also learn that it won't display ads in your eye (at least for now).

Only a select group gets the chance to buy this early version of Google Glass, but here's something Android fans can order now: The Samsung Galaxy S4. Preorders have begun for the smartphone at AT&T and U.S. Cellular, and the phones will ship on April 30.

Facebook found a way to bring Chat Heads to the iPhone, but … Read more

YouTube creates 'Explosions at Boston Marathon' video page

As Boston grapples with the aftermath of two explosions that hit the city during its annual marathon, YouTube has created a way for people to immediately get the latest news.

The video steaming site has built an official YouTube Spotlight page devoted to all video related to the blasts. Titled "Explosions at the Boston Marathon," the page has 26 videos as of this writing -- from President Barack Obama's speech to videos captured by onlookers to police press conferences detailing the explosions. More videos will surely be added as more is uncovered about what happened.

Earlier today, … Read more