In an online flame war spanning across party lines, conservative bloggers say they have been targeted recently for blogging about Brett Kimberlin, a man who was convicted in the 1980s of bombings in Speedway, Ind. (Source). The bloggers started “Blog about Brett Kimberlin Day” movement to make the public more aware of him after he became a political activist.
The bloggers now say that they are being retaliated against in the form of SWAT-ting—a tactic that allows hackers to infiltrate a victim’s phone system to call emergency services so it appears the phone call is coming from the residence. Blogger Aaron J. Walker, who writes under the pen name Aaron Worthing and A.W. on the blog Pattrico’s Pontifications, Big Government, Big Journalism, Allergic to Bull, and Everyone Draw Mohammed, was arrested after Kimberlin filed assault charges against him. Walker, an attorney on the East Coast, filed a counter-claim against Kimberlin for defamation, extortion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, tortious interference with business relations, business conspiracy, common law conspiracy, stalking, and harassment. In his complaint, Walker alleges, among other things, that he has been the target of a defamation conspiracy against him. He is alleging $64 million in damages against three total defendants.
It appears that both sides of the political spectrum are attempting to bring their battles using the court system (and perhaps through misusing the criminal enforcement system, if the bloggers’ clams that Kimberlin is behind the SWAT-ting are true).
