[Infowarrior] - A Grand Jury Just Called Tweeting an Animated GIF 'Assault With a Deadly Weapon'

[Richard Forno]

A Grand Jury Just Called Tweeting an Animated GIF 'Assault With a Deadly Weapon'
William Turton
Today 10:30am

On Monday, a Texas grand jury charged a Maryland man with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon” after authorities say he tweeted an animated flashing GIF designed to trigger Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald’s epilepsy last year, “immediately” causing him to have a seizure.

29-year-old John Rivello was arrested in Salisbury, Maryland on federal cyberstalking charges last week. After sending Eichenwald the GIF in December, Rivello allegedly messaged another Twitter user saying “I hope this sends him into a seizure” and “let’s see if he dies.” Another message sent by Rivello allegedly said “I know he has epilepsy” and authorities say a search of his iCloud account found a photoshopped version of Eichenwald’s Wikipedia page with his date of death edited to be December 16, about when the GIF was sent.

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https://gizmodo.com/a-grand-jury-just-called-tweeting-an-animated-gif-assau-1793477149