Flash Mob Gone Wrong by Tom Scott, Ep 77

[deviant2k]

Oh people, you make me laugh...

[fashnek]

Particularly relevant today with social media's role in the London rioting....

[Kontaktt]

Well I thought until the death part that I was a true story... so it's plausible to me

[scotty12347]

No chance.

The biggest internet phenomenon was the boxxy saga. 4chan users issued death threats to her, others proclaimed their love. The biggest anonymous forum on the internet was violently divided.

A meeting at her house was planned weeks in advance, people were worried what it would lead to. Would people act on the death threats?

In the end about 7 people turned up and were flummoxed and confused by a small iron gate so just left flowers on the driveway. The end.

[chuckeyloCs]

What the fuck is this

[jin455]

british police, no it wasn't fucking sarcasm. they're fucking dancing.

[dub0033]

What's that song at the end of the presentation?

[Everfalling]

this just happened to an extent. no deaths but one hell of a flashmob/party for a somewhat unsuspecting victim:

watch?v=xxDTe-T__dQ

[dbspin]

The weak link in this story is the violence. Flashmob turning to a riot is certainly possible, especially given the policing tactics of the Met. But multiple fatalities, given the demographics of the 'rioters' is ludicrous. Worse, it's bringing BOFH geek prejudices about collaboration and large amorphous groups of people to the debate on the side (implicitly) of increased surveillance, censorship and top down governance.

[jtpruzz]

i could see something like this being on the news

[FUTTAHSIKK]

this is awesome. well produced and well executed. this guy got a great point across

[hadomaru1121]

enlighten us, but make it quick = you can share with us what you have to say, but we don't really care.

[ZeroTwoTwo]

Its happening right now in Bulgaria!! Dobby's Birthday. Dobby created a group in facebook to invite her friends to her B-day party. Forgetting to make the group privete now less than 2 days later there are more than 15000 attending!

[Ba4oKolio]

@ZeroTwoTwo Yes. Yes it is.

[zerowing3r]

@ZeroTwoTwo And we gonna partaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay with snejanka :)

[estoqueTV]

trololololoolololololololololo­lolo

[ToxicBeware]

This is nearly possible - abot 1,54% possible.The S.W.A.T can fuck up the crowd for exactly 3:34 minutes with only 1 harmed man.

[svengalisvengali]

Well, I can't get that 5:40 back.

[larhonda41]

That took a dark turn there at the end i wasn't expecting lol

[buu2]

There has never been violence/death to my knowledge from a friendly organized (ie. dance) flash mob - only from mobs gathered for violence.

[pukabowers]

what a waste of time

[Nhordmyr]

gj

[RobertBorgersen]

The point is that no this didn't happen, but every part of this story did happen - short notice flash mobs, flash mobs to riots, personal detail leaks, etc. Everything has already happened individually, and his point is "would you be surprised if this exact story happened tomorrow?". The answer is no, because this is what the world is like today, where even 2 years ago, this couldn't have happened.

[brickct123]

Now to be a troll: Did she died?

[zombiesecurity]

I killed everyone.

[rg0057]

But... did she died?

[drcarico]

Stephen Fry is a /b/tard

[rushoffailure]

Damn those fictional bastards!

[Serflak]

The fact that it isn't true is...kind of the entire point. Bits and pieces are of the story are true, but they didn't all come together in that fashion (those bits at the end about the flash mob riot at the Gallery Mall Mob in Philly and such? Those actually happened). But the point was that it COULD have been true, that until that disclaimer at the end, we all thought it wasn't just plausible, but possible. And that 2 or 5 or 10 years ago, we would have thought it to be impossible.

[ThePeacant]

@Serflak

Yes, this is all possible, but what does that prove?

Many horror stories are possible, and many worse ones happen all the time

[neoncyber2001]

I just tweeted this and posted on face book. Is that ironic?

[blummy24x7]

BUT IT ISN'T TRUE - it even states that at the end of the video. What a crock......

[CrispinFreemont]

I surrender at five seconds. This guy's accent + urgent delivery is an ice pick stabbing my eardrums.

[unityemissions]

just keep your critical thinking skills with you at all times, and don't follow or lead, do your thing independently of the group.

[rhonan]

I think a number of people are missing the point. When you get a large crowd like that, where people don't know each other, and don't know the area, things can get out of control very fast. Especially given how paramilitary influences have altered our police, I could easily see police over-reacting to a peaceful crowd, and trying to force them into a dead end, triggering panic.

[SciStarborne]

I'm surprised infiltrators haven't used arranging flashmobs as a method of arresting select groups yet. It could be so easy.

[SaintFnordius]

The closing comment is truly poignant: a few years ago, this would have been dismissed as science fiction. Today, it's a situation law enforcement and, well, all of us have to be prepared for.

Now imagine it retold in a newscaster voice. It takes away the amusement that the manic speed dictated by the Ignite Speedy restrictions generate.

Thanks, Tom!

[twilightgirl4343]

whats the video?

[zachpmorgan]

"Would anyone be shocked?"

Yes, very much so. Since when did Londoners start rioting for no reason?

[CHANNELMICHAEL]

@zachpmorgan 1986?

[rhonan]

@zachpmorgan any number of footy matches. That's his whole point, it just takes a couple of jerks who want to exploit the large crowd for something like this to happen. The Seattle WTO riots were actually calm and peaceful protests until a group of out of town agitators intentionally provoked a police response.

[TugaPipeJunior]

This story is very believable!

[0mathew0]

tom scott is great

[rocketplumber]

And Larry Niven shakes his head...

[Unclesamslair]

anon would never turn violent irl. They're too cowardly for that. They've never been violent before irl

[Skyrius]

@Unclesamslair ........*laughs nervously* I think you'll need to do a bit more digging.

[Unclesamslair]

@Skyrius I think the burden of proof falls on you, I can't prove a negative, but if you can show me one example in which anon did more than just phone in empty threats, you'd prove your point.

[xBLiTZxKRiEGx]

@Unclesamslair

lmao

I guess 2 years of worldwide protests doesn't count.

[Unclesamslair]

@xBLiTZxKRiEGx worldwide PEACEFUL protests? nah. I don't think so

[stiggiethefirst]

RULES 1 AND 2 !

[GetzIGtestbug]

@stiggiethefirst fight club?

[Thiefree]

Chilling stuff. I read this before, can't recall where, and I forgot that it was all fictional and got creeped out all over again. 'Cause it really could happen, to anyone.

[xzbyte2002]

The internett, we love you <3

[3Gyro]

OH, THE FICTIONAL HUMANITY!

[josephheck]

Brilliant commentary in Ignite format!

[Cjn604]

GOOGLE EM PEOPLE

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE EVENTS HAVE HAPPENED

WHAT

IS

OUR

WORLD

COMING

TO

[PolarisUSMC]

Never underestimate the wrath of the swarm.

[Becbumps]

wow that's really chilling and an amazing comment on how things can go wrong! If you've been in a flashmob you know that things can escalate in seconds...

[hamneggwich]

@Becbumps

I think you missed the point, lol

[SlightyDisturbedNBK]

A very plausible situation. Information if used correctly can be beneficial. But (even though this is just fiction) sites like 4chan can be very dangerous with information, I would pretty happy to see the back of 4chan.

[Danosuke]

Just having a large group does not mean there will be a riot. The one instance they cite as "already happened" was not a riot at all. There was no reported property damage or injuries. This is pointless fear mongering.

[manaen1lds]

He didn't make this presentation. There is no Tom Scott. It all was computer animation -- as is what you suppose you see through your bedroom window.

[montavilla]

It's obviously very clear he's never been in a riot in a Western country.

I was in the WTO riots and the 20k Seattle Obama street celebration - 23 people didn't die. Ridiculous presumption.

This was stupid. Definitely not Spider Robinson worthy.

[Stirnbernd]

@montavilla oh, it can happen.. you've obviously never been to a love parade...

[endlosschleife]

@Stirnbernd Yes, but that was a melting kettle. Nothing like that ever happened when the love parade took place in Berlin's streets.

[MLE05]

I'm glad it's not true.

I was feeling left out for never having seen the video.

[JesperChalmer]

So yesterday i saw this young woman eating a baby!!!

Or that's not true, but it could've happened, shocking right? - i guess the world turns, scary shit

[Nickydisko]

yeah... what?

[R4d4mantus]

Quite plausible actually. And quite scary as well.

[thepappytube]

Wow. The internet is incredible. Incredible, but scary.

[StevenTheWilson]

How could Stephen Fry single-handedly murder all those people by supporting such an act?!? He always seems like such a nice, timid fellow. I'm sure the guilt will haunt him for the rest of his life...

@crispycrab Because she ends up being murdered during the mob.

And yes, I did notice that it's fictional...

[ProjectDystopia]

Be AFRAID OF THE INTERWEBS......(what rubbish!!)

[AshCairo]

Does anyone know what was used to make the slides for this presentation?

[fr3d420]

Its fake? how fucking stupid.

[xicer0]

Shockingly plausible. So, what should we do to prevent tragedies like this from happening? Better 3G? Stronger privacy laws? No more anonymous forums? Use phone identity and position to peg who was in the house and charge them with murder? Prevent Stephen Fry from posting on Twitter?

[crispycrab]

Flashmobs are the this. I can rape about 67 people in two hours when I go to flashmobs.

The best part? They can never tell it was me! :D WIN!!

It is far more trickier to sneakily rape people in the line at Aldis, but it's possible. Takes forever, but eh, can usually do about three while waiting in line.

[crispycrab]

The last thing she is ever going to type.. um okay Brittish guy. I don't get it.

[andrethegiant6969]

Oh goodness, read the last slide at 5:01, he's explaining how each of those scenarios has already happened, maybe not the murder and such. But it's a believable story to all of us now. People need to calm down, go play some Pikmin for gamecube, you never did finish it and it was pretty fun, but you kinda forgot about it cause FF9 came out. Don't worry, it forgives you.

[TheBusDriver420]

just googled it. nothing came up, cant be real, the internet said so.

[bcgabriot]

boooo

[retrac1324]

FYI: Fictional story. Read the last slide.

[km1898]

who fucking cares. there are so many more important issues in the world than this internet obsessive trivial bullshit.

[vincent21212]

There weren't enough people within a 1 hour radius of her who could've been interested in that video. The vid was stupid.

[Killraine]

@camerabbit it wasn't real

[SolInvictus]

This is literally horseshit.

[gggggggasdfasdfasdfs]

The first "victim" of the Net is truth. Amusing fiction though.

[kickinapouch]

try 13/10, people not even there and those yet to be born would have/will enjoy it

[ForceUser]

Well that was a great presentation up until it's revealed its fake, and I don't believe any 4chan event has ever gotten violent.

[netcrusher88]

@ForceUser You missed the point.

[sirlegendhead]

Brilliant!

[georgeofthajungle]

haha like that many internet users are that social and active...

[funwithphobias]

I loved the nonchalant way he reported the invasion of Jacqueline's home and her subsequent murder. Kinda blew the entire presentation.

[SiddifOnline]

Was completely believing it right until the last slide. Though like he said the internet can have the potential to do this, lets just hope it never does go this bad.

[Rasheeke]

Everyone, before you get sad, read the last slide. "Any similarity to actual events or people is purely coincidental."

It didn't really happen, his point did though.

[Cjn604]

@Rasheeke IDK, google his examples......

didn't even read the comment before I thought to do it. Fuck yeah journalism school

[frochi]

@Rasheeke

No shit? Who are you?!? Captain obvious?? Is that a rock?

[MikeLaBike]

@frochi What is this, the 80's? Captain obvious, yeah good one. Look, he was stating that it was fictional, some people didn't see the part where it said that so they thought it actually happened. You saw and I saw that it was fictional so we weren't saddened by what he said happened, but other people were not aware that the events didn't happen so he is just attempting to explain it to them. There is no need for you to be a dick about it.

[YooToobCanSuckIt]

@Rasheeke He kinda said that. Nobody thinks that it actually happened.

[shatzofhudson]

Great talk!

[welkinator]

/quote on

Any similarity to actual events or people is purely coincidental.

/

[NumbSkull34]

god damn it...

i realy wanted this story to have a happy ending :(

[Zurox15]

@NumbSkull34 it didn't happen, is that good enough?

[egokick]

@NumbSkull34 she got gang raped before she died 9 out of 10 people enjoyed it.

[mooseclamps]

@egokick try 10 out of 10

[TheSophera]

@NumbSkull34 Technically, it does; it never happened. But it *could*...

[ndu192]

... RIP jacqs in that case?

[Ryuuken24]

Well, I don't think it went that bad, Jaqueline did die, I mean, it was the point of the boyfriend's wish, what was bad about that ?

[grauntlet]

pecha kucha sucks

[Blackout5871]

Damn I remember reading about that. Fucking people.

[hclouston]

@Blackout5871 yeah I remember when that fictional story happened... those fictional bastards!

[minusstrike]

o.O, It does not surprise me, anonymous is a powerful person.

[JesusTheGardener]

dis never happnd, ees lie

[PureNasher]

@JesusTheGardener Read the last slide.

[clearmenser]

+9001!!!

[foojoku]

b3tard.