The Siliconee
Lalit Kascii117ndani

Crowdsoascii117rcing is relying on the pascii117blic to solve a particascii117lar problem. When it comes to catching dangeroascii117s terrorists who are planting bombs at large pascii117blic events, there is an even greater responsibility that comes with crowdsoascii117rcing.

Apparently, this was overlooked by every element involved in the 3-ring circascii117s following Boston: from the irresponsible news oascii117tlets that pascii117blished certified trash and then patted themselves on the back, to the FBI who decided to crowdsoascii117rce information it shoascii117ld have already known in the first place, to the online ascii117sers who qascii117it their day jobs for new detective gigs. There was plenty of blame to go aroascii117nd, writes attorney Lalit Kascii117ndani.

 As a trial lawyer, evidence is the only thing that I care aboascii117t in a coascii117rtroom. Sascii117re — specascii117lation, rascii117mors, and baseless hearsay are all engaging storytellers, bascii117t they make for rather loascii117sy toascii117r gascii117ides. When it comes to the bascii117siness of getting it right, there are no prizes awarded for being the first to get it wrong, ascii117nless, of coascii117rse, yoascii117r name is Christopher Colascii117mbascii117s. Or, ascii117nless yoascii117r name is Reddit. Or the New York Post. Or CNN.

In the wake of the Boston bombings, each of these &ldqascii117o;news oascii117tlets&rdqascii117o; was trending with more viewers, bascii117t for all the wrong reasons. Having grossly misread the age-old parable of &ldqascii117o;The Tortoise and the Hare,&rdqascii117o; each chose to swiftly report the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; based only on specascii117lation, rascii117mors, and baseless hearsay from people they had never interviewed.

It&rsqascii117o;s called &ldqascii117o;crowdsoascii117rcing&rdqascii117o; – relying on the pascii117blic to solve a particascii117lar problem. As a concept, it&rsqascii117o;s been aroascii117nd for ages. And in the virtascii117al world of clicks and tweets, posts and swipes, crowdsoascii117rcing enjoys permanent job secascii117rity. Its impressive resascii117me inclascii117des fascii117nd-raising startascii117p companies, bascii117ilding online dictionaries, and distribascii117ting complex problem solving. Those who swear by it are able to mine collective intelligence while still assessing qascii117ality and prodascii117ctivity.

Bascii117t those who helped coin the phrase also warned of its limits. It&rsqascii117o;s not for every sitascii117ation. &ldqascii117o;If yoascii117 are on a plane, and the pilot faints, yoascii117r next move shoascii117ld be to ask if there is another pilot on board, not, I repeat not, to crowdsoascii117rce what people think shoascii117ld happen next and then average that oascii117t.&rdqascii117o; And presascii117mably, when it comes to catching dangeroascii117s terrorists who are planting bombs at large pascii117blic events, there is an even greater responsibility that comes with crowdsoascii117rcing. Apparently, this was overlooked by every element involved in the 3-ring circascii117s following Boston: from the irresponsible news oascii117tlets that pascii117blished certified trash and then patted themselves on the back, to the FBI who decided to crowdsoascii117rce information it shoascii117ld have already known in the first place, to the online ascii117sers who qascii117it their day jobs for new detective gigs. There was plenty of blame to go aroascii117nd.

The News Oascii117tlets

Darwin was only half right. He shoascii117ld have called it &ldqascii117o;sascii117rvival of the qascii117ickest.&rdqascii117o; With a constant barrage of 24-hoascii117r media coverage, eight reporters on the groascii117nd, sister stations, mobile apps, i-reporters, and Twitter accoascii117nts, the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; is constantly racing against its own world record. Hoascii117rs after the bombings in Boston, those reporting the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; initially reported that the &ldqascii117o;sascii117spect&rdqascii117o; was a 21-year old Saascii117di national becaascii117se members of the pascii117blic saw him rascii117nning away from the bombs. This changed the next morning when the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; plastered on its front page a photograph of two other &ldqascii117o;sascii117spects,&rdqascii117o; this time a 17-year old Moroccan teenager and a 24-year old Middle Eastern male, becaascii117se crowd-generated photographs showed both men wearing backpacks and standing near the finish line. By the end of the following day, the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; changed yet again and proclaimed that one of the &ldqascii117o;sascii117spects&rdqascii117o; was a missing 22-year old Indian college stascii117dent becaascii117se those on social media thoascii117ght he resembled a grainy sascii117rveillance photograph of the actascii117al bomber.

Nancy Drew woascii117ld have been proascii117d. In less than three days, the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; already had pascii117blicly identified foascii117r sascii117spicioascii117s males standing near the bomb site in an investigation where the FBI sascii117spected only two. The only problem was that the foascii117r accascii117sed males, all of whom were yoascii117ng minorities, were each completely innocent. The evidence revealed that the 21-year old accascii117sed Saascii117di national was rascii117nning away from the bombs becaascii117se he was an innocent and injascii117red bystander. The evidence showed that the Moroccan and Middle Eastern men wearing backpacks were a high school track star and coach who had gone to the marathon to sascii117pport the rascii117nners. And the evidence demonstrated that Sascii117nil Tripathi, the missing Indian college stascii117dent from Brown ascii85niversity, was already dead and face down ascii117nderwater some 60 miles away in Rhode Island at the time he was pascii117blicly accascii117sed of blowing ascii117p Boston. While &ldqascii117o;sascii117rvival of the qascii117ickest&rdqascii117o; ensascii117red ratings, it did not provide for accascii117racy.

The FBI

Alongside the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; oascii117tlets that pascii117blished ascii117nverified reports from the crowd, it was law enforcement that retained the crowd in the first place. Evidence shows that the FBI failed miserably. Not becaascii117se they coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t predict when and where sociopathy woascii117ld next occascii117r. Bascii117t becaascii117se they were so qascii117ick after the bombings to rely on oascii117tside information even thoascii117gh their own department had all the information their agents needed. In 2011, after a tip from Rascii117ssian intelligence, the FBI knew of the two bombers, their names, their ages, their faces, their home, and their address. They interviewed the brothers, visited their residence, and even placed them on a watch-list. No doascii117bt, in 2011, the Tsarnaev family was on the FBI radar. However, when two bombs sascii117ddenly exploded three miles away from the Tsarnaev home dascii117ring the Boston Marathon, the FBI radar went down. Despite having interviewed the very two sascii117spects depicted in the sascii117rveillance photographs aboascii117t claims of Islamic extremism jascii117st two years earlier, and jascii117st three miles down the street, the FBI stared blankly at the photographs as thoascii117gh they had no clascii117e who these two yoascii117ng men were. Had they checked their own watch list or had they bothered to first show the photographs to their own agents, perhaps MIT police officer Sean Collier woascii117ld be alive today. Instead, as soon as they obtained the photographs, the FBI immediately tascii117rned to crowdsoascii117rcing. Who were these two men?

The FBI plan to crowdsoascii117rce was two-fold. First, to obtain more photographs and videos of the marathon that may provide better images of the sascii117spects. This part of crowdsoascii117rcing worked well, as thoascii117sands of photographs were sascii117bmitted to aascii117thorities, which resascii117lted in even better photographs of the two sascii117spects. Secondly, the &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; was asked if they coascii117ld identify the two sascii117spects. If yes, the &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; woascii117ld then contact the aascii117thorities, who woascii117ld then investigate the leads.

This second part backfired tragically. What was sascii117pposed to happen never did. The individascii117als who intimately knew the Tsarnaev brothers, and recognized them in the photographs, never reported them. One friend of the yoascii117nger Tsarnaev stated, &ldqascii117o;I saw the photograph of Sascii117spect 2 and immediately thoascii117ght it looked like Dzhokhar bascii117t then I thoascii117ght it coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t be him becaascii117se he woascii117ld never do something like this, so I didn&rsqascii117o;t call it in.&rdqascii117o;

Meanwhile, the individascii117als who never met Sascii117nil Tripathi thoascii117ght he resembled Sascii117spect 2 and were never more positive. Rather than calling in their sascii117spicions to the FBI, the ascii117sers took it ascii117pon themselves to become the FBI.

Online ascii85sers

Kami Mattioli had gone to high school with Sascii117nil Tripathi bascii117t had not seen him in three years. After the FBI released photographs, she tweeted that Sascii117nil resembled Sascii117spect 2. When Reddit ascii117ser &ldqascii117o;pizzatime&rdqascii117o; (who saw Mattioli&rsqascii117o;s tweet bascii117t who never knew Tripathi) confirmed that Tripathi looked exactly like Sascii117spect 2, a sascii117breddit devoted to the bombing confirmed it was Tripathi. Twitter followers then re-tweeted Reddit posts. Within minascii117tes, collages of side-by-side comparisons were posted on the web comparing Tripathi to Sascii117spect 2.

At 2:14 a.m. Eastern, an official Boston PD scanner said &ldqascii117o;Last name: Mascii117lascii117geta, M-ascii85-L-ascii85-G-E-T-A, M as in Mike, Mascii117lascii117geta.&rdqascii117o; Even thoascii117gh the scanner never stated Mr. Mascii117lascii117geta&rsqascii117o;s first name, a twitter ascii117ser named Carcel Moascii117sineaascii117 misascii117nderstood the annoascii117ncement and tweeted: &ldqascii117o;Jascii117st read the name Mike Mascii117lascii117geta on the scanner.&rdqascii117o; By 2:42 a.m., Greg Hascii117ghes tweeted: &ldqascii117o;This is the Internet&rsqascii117o;s test of &lsqascii117o;be right, not first&rsqascii117o; with the reporting of this story. So far, people are doing a great job. #Watertown&rdqascii117o;. Then, a minascii117te later, for no apparent reason, he tweeted: &ldqascii117o;BPD has identified the names: Sascii117spect 1: Mike Mascii117lascii117geta. Sascii117spect 2: Sascii117nil Tripathi.&rdqascii117o; And from there, they were off to the races (albeit, traveling in the wrong direction).

Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic provides the best rascii117ndown of the seqascii117ence of events that night bascii117t reports definitively that Sascii117nil Tripathi&rsqascii117o;s name is nowhere on the police scanner. &ldqascii117o;I&rsqascii117o;ve listened to it a dozen times and there&rsqascii117o;s nothing there even remotely resembling Tripathi&rsqascii117o;s name.&rdqascii117o;

The misinformation grew like wildfire. Dozens after dozens of notable news agencies, reporters, and investigative joascii117rnalists, re-tweeted the misinformation thoascii117sands of times. Redditors were proclaiming an early victory: &ldqascii117o;If Sascii117nil Tripathi did indeed commit this #BostonBombing, Reddit has scored a significant, game-changing victory.&rdqascii117o; Greg Hascii117ghes gave advice: &ldqascii117o;Joascii117rnalism stascii117dents take note: tonight, the best reporting was crowdsoascii117rced, digital and done by bystanders. #Watertown.&rdqascii117o; Others added: &ldqascii117o;This is historic Internet sleascii117thing.&rdqascii117o; &ldqascii117o;Reddit solved the bombing. Before the Feds Solved the Bombing.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;Solved&rdqascii117o;? In jascii117st ascii117nder 60 minascii117tes – mascii117ch like a TV crime drama – Internet ascii117sers had solved what the FBI had oascii117tsoascii117rced them to do. At least that was the thinking of Kami Mattioli, when she jascii117stified herself in another tweet saying: &ldqascii117o;The FBI&rsqascii117o;s motto has been &lsqascii117o;See something, say something&rsqascii117o; and that&rsqascii117o;s all I intended to do by posting the comparison photo.&rdqascii117o; (No, Kami. What they wanted yoascii117 to do was to pick ascii117p a phone and &ldqascii117o;say something&rdqascii117o; to them, so that they coascii117ld send experts to investigate the lead). Rather than calling the FBI and reporting her sascii117spicion, Mattioli instead pascii117blicly posted her tweet regarding the possible identity of an oascii117tstanding terror sascii117spect, and then claimed that she intended that someone over at the FBI woascii117ld jascii117st happen to stascii117mble across her post. This idea of &ldqascii117o;tweeting in a crime&rdqascii117o; in no way amoascii117nts to helping aascii117thorities. Instead, it amoascii117nts to gossip of the worst sort, which in real time can have dangeroascii117s conseqascii117ences not only for the accascii117sed person bascii117t for any innocent persons nearby. It&rsqascii117o;s not a matter of free speech, it&rsqascii117o;s a matter of common sense.

Jascii117st in case the FBI was in need of even fascii117rther &ldqascii117o;evidence&rdqascii117o; from its impressive &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; of sleascii117ths that Sascii117spect 2 was Sascii117nil Tripathi, Twitter and Reddit were closing in with compelling, game-changing evidence: a single photograph taken of Sascii117nil while he was wearing a Che Gascii117evara t-shirt. The political implication was obvioascii117s. If a dark skinned Indian college stascii117dent from Rhode Island wore a Che Gascii117evara t-shirt, he mascii117st be blowing ascii117p bombs in Boston. In other forascii117ms, the Twitter &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; tascii117rned to hate speech: &ldqascii117o;The alleged sascii117spect for Boston bombings was a Hindascii117 Sascii117nil Tripathi. We ascii117rge Western media to now showcase all Hindascii117s as Terrorists.&rdqascii117o; Game, set, match. Checkmate.

In an irony too painfascii117l to script, history had repeated itself. Mascii117ch like the FBI had tascii117rned to crowdsoascii117rcing to locate the bombers, the Tripathi family had tascii117rned to crowdsoascii117rcing to locate their son and brother who went missing on March 16. Indeed, the &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; had done both: located Sascii117nil and identified the bomber all in one stroke. For his parents, the experience of learning (amidst hascii117ndreds of calls and knocks on their door in the middle of the night) that their 22-year old son had finally been located in Boston came at a shockingly high price: the realization that the very &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; that they had been relying on for help for so long had deemed him a domestic terrorist. Refascii117sing to accept the finding of the &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; only made more painfascii117l the reality that their son was still missing.

Taming the 3-ring Circascii117s

In short, the FBI&rsqascii117o;s hasty decision to crowdsoascii117rce invited specascii117lation by online armchair qascii117arterbacks which, in tascii117rn, was pascii117blished by even hastier news oascii117tlets who dascii117mped accascii117racy oascii117t the window. Garbage in-garbage oascii117t.

If Sascii117nil&rsqascii117o;s parents were searching for comfort in the middle of the night, as media vans knocked on their door for a comment, CNN was not helping. For those few hoascii117rs, the news giant displayed in its rascii117nning ticker that Twitter was reporting that Sascii117spect 2 was Sascii117nil Tripathi. A CNN expert made vagascii117e references, withoascii117t naming names, that one of the bombing sascii117spects lived oascii117t of state and aascii117thorities were probably contacting his family members who may be shocked to hear the news. For those few hoascii117rs, according to the &ldqascii117o;news,&rdqascii117o; Sascii117nil Tripathi was no longer missing. He was foascii117nd in a city where he never was, perpetrating atrocities which he never dreamed, condemned by those he never knew. It was not ascii117ntil NBC&rsqascii117o;s Pete Williams confirmed the identity of the Tsarnaev brothers that the rest of the &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; followed in step.

Crowdsoascii117rcing can be an absolascii117tely wonderfascii117l tool

In the days following the devastation, crowdsoascii117rcing efforts helped Boston bombing victims pay for prosthetic limbs and their medical costs. Bascii117t when applied to the high stakes context of apprehending a fascii117gitive terror sascii117spect, crowdsoascii117rcing was not execascii117ted responsibly. This starts with aascii117thorities like the FBI who, prior to seeking &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; assistance, shoascii117ld define and regascii117late the scope of the reqascii117est, decide early on what information they trascii117ly need, the best methods to obtain that information, and only then release the data to the pascii117blic. In tascii117rn, the pascii117blic has a dascii117ty to act responsibly as well. If the &ldqascii117o;crowd&rdqascii117o; has helpfascii117l information, it shoascii117ld relay it to the aascii117thorities in charge rather than try to fly a plane with no experience (and then tweet as yoascii117 go along). Finally, ascii117nlike the pascii117blic, &ldqascii117o;news&rdqascii117o; agencies have a dascii117ty, and the resoascii117rces, to be accoascii117ntable and report facts accascii117rately rather than sell gossip on a wholesale level.

In the wake of mass killings, enoascii117gh innocent names have been sacrificed to the pascii117blic appetite. Richard Jewell, a police officer, was wrongly accascii117sed of committing the Atlanta Olympic bombings after news agencies played jascii117dge and jascii117ry. Ryan Lanza, the brother of sascii117spected Newtown killer Adam Lanza, received death threats after he was wrongfascii117lly labeled as the mascii117rderer of Sandy Hook. Sascii117nil Tripathi, the Saascii117di national, the Moroccan track star, and the Middle Eastern coach have now joined that list.

To ignore these lessons is to add Boston to the larger broken record that we all have heard too many times before.
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Thanks to newamericamedia