Thread by @mor10

Let's talk about what happened at #Metrotown in #Burnaby British Columbia yesterday and why it is far more serious than a "prank." Background: Police were called to an active shooter and possible pipe bomb. People were evacuated. cbc.ca/news/canada/br…

The mall is one of the biggest in Canada. It's actually two malls which merged some years ago into one gigantic mega mall. Yesterday afternoon, reports came in of shots fired, and videos of panicked people running out of the mall while heavily armed police entered were shared.

This mall is also a central transit hub. Bus service and SkyTrain service was halted as the police incident unfolded.

On social media people shared videos of customers and staff fleeing in a panic, of heavily armed police entering the buildings, of people sheltering in the cold under mylar blankets, running across the street in the middle of traffic, evacuation mayhem.

At the same time, a Twitter account with less than 40 followers claimed it was the source of the event and a similar one at a school in Port Moody where the bomb squad was called.

The account, and an associated account, said this was a "swatting" event: A type of criminal harassment where someone calls in a credible threat to law enforcement in the hopes fully armed SWAT teams will attend the call. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

Swatting is directly harmful to the public as well as police and is illegal in Canada and many other countries. Swatting has also lead to the death of several people in the past.

The police cleared the entire mall, sweeped for hours, and concluded no shooting had occurred, there were no pipe bombs, and the reports were "unfounded" bc-cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.actio…

"Burnaby RCMP is investigating the source of the call, and whether the incident was related to swatting, where fake emergency calls are made to provoke a large response from police and other agencies. Swatting is a criminal offence in Canada."

Meanwhile, the Twitter account claiming to be the source of the threat kept sharing information and goading on angry respondents. The account also threatened further such events over the weekend and claimed it has been perpetrated similar events in the past.

The Twitter account links to a GitHub account purportedly of someone living in Germany. That GitHub account holds several repositories with hacker-related materials including what appears to be ransomware.

I'm not posting the accounts here, but they are relatively easy to find.

Here's the thing: Even though this was most likely a hoax, a "swatting" event done "for the lulz" or whatever else the perpetrator argues, the harms done are real and severe.

The hundreds, maybe thousands of staff and customers at the mall will carry permanent mental and emotional trauma from the event. It doesn't matter that there was no actual physical manifestation of the threat; the threat itself causes trauma.

In the aftermath, some were quick to argue because the threat wasn't real, people were "overreacting" or "living in fear" and should "go on with their lives." That's not how this works. The harm is real even if the event is not. And it is long-lasting.

I've heard harrowing stories of parents clutching their children to their chests as they sprinted for the exits, of staff barricading themselves and their customers in stores, of people thinking "am I sacrificing myself to ensure my clients get out safely?"

Meanwhile, the Twitter account mocked the response claiming it was "just a swatting" and a joke and therefore not harmful. The people panicking were being "weak" and "sad" and stupid etc. To the perpetrator, this is all a joke.

The people who commit these types of harassment online, the entire thing is just a game. They find pleasure and enjoyment in the suffering of others and want to watch the world burn at their hand.

The common refrain is that because "it's just words" there is no real harm done and anyone who "doesn't get it" are weak or "cucks" or "snowflakes" etc. This tendency to write off the harmful effects of speech acts is also bleeding into our political discourse.

Key takeaway: Speech acts are real-world acts with real-world consequences and real-world harms to real people. If they weren't - if they were "just words" - the perpetrator wouldn't use them because they would be, literally, inconsequential.

The real harms done by this event and events like it span far beyond the direct physical, psychological, and emotional harms done to the people at the mall and their families. They also harm our society in significant ways.

The cautionary tale of Chicken Little exists for a reason: The next time there's a threat at the mall, people will be less quick to evacuate, and law enforcement possibly less quick to respond. Could it be another hoax? This slow habituation to threat increases risk significantly

These types of events also cuts deep gashes in the already frayed fabric of society by eroding trust. Today, many families are changing their plans and not going to the mall because even though the threat was a hoax, their minds can't shake the feeling it could have been real.

Which is true: It very much could have been real. Which is why swatting is illegal, just as crying "fire" in a crowded theatre is illegal. These acts are directly harmful to the public trust.

Somewhere in the world, a person is sitting behind their computer keyboard laughing at people fearing for their lives and having their trust in society permanently marred. And other people are watching this thinking "hey, I can do this too! It'll be so much fun!"

Police are investigating. Hopefully they'll find this perpetrator and bring the full force of the law down on them. As a community and society, we need to do our part as well: Talk to friends and family about the real harms of speech acts, and promote solidarity with one another.