The day’s top stories in social media and technology for 4/12 focus on SWATting, cyberbullying in sexual assault cases, bad social media and texting behavior, hacking and botnet warnings, a blogger related legal fight, and a couple of interesting gamer stories.

Summary of stories:  Hawaii restaurant full of people SWATted, congressman claims “hot” Cyndi Lauper tweet was a prank, being a social media junkie hurts marriages, incivility on the rise on social media, Japanese blogger’s vending machine obsession, LAPD to stop publicizing SWATtings, warning about potential Wordpress botnet, social media and sexual assaults and suicides, hacker “th3j35t3r” claims North Korea win, text message prank tries to frame football coach for recruiting, The Oatmeal v Charles Carreon ends in hilarity, after police search for mugger for 3 weeks internet finds him in an hour, gamer plays on as man stabbed in Internet cafe,  girl gamer’s epic win in troll fight over ‘BioShock: Infinite.’

Read below for these stories and more.

============================================
Featured Story
============================================

And now, an entire restaurant full of people has been SWATted.

Waikiki restaurant SWATted! (Video)

(note: h/t to one of my Twitter followers, @KiniAlohaGuy, for sending me that one, which GatewayPundit picked up)

 

============================================
Social Media/Tech Trends, Happenings and Faux Pas.
============================================

Oooooookaaaaay…if you say so, congressman.

Congressman: Tweet Calling Lauper ‘Hot’ a Prank

I’m shocked.

Being a social media junkie may not be good for your marriage: study

Folks are still talking about this week’s social media study that informed us people are jerks online.

Social Media a Source of Rising Incivility, Says Survey

Quite an obsession…but the concept is interesting, especially when you consider how technology changes over time.

Japanese Blogger Obsesses Over Vending Machine

============================================
Hoaxes, Harassment and Hacking.
============================================

The LAPD plans to change its response to SWATtings – silence.  “The LAPD believes press coverage is sparking more of these [SWATting] calls.”

“Swatting”: LAPD to keep quiet about prank 911 call cases

Well, this could be disturbing…

Huge attack on WordPress sites could spawn never-before-seen super botnet

Social media remains a core focus in sexual assaults and suicides:

Audrie Pott: Cyberbullying law urged after alleged sexual assault


Family of teen who killed herself in cyberbullying case says boys tried to destroy evidence

 

“Both Leah Parsons and Canadian authorities have expressed concerns that Anonymous’ involvement in the rape investigation may end up resulting in vigilante justice. For their part, the hacktivists who seem to be closest to the case appear to be showing restraint so far.”

Canada reopens Rehtaeh Parsons rape case following Anonymous involvement

I don’t know that I’d ever describe th3j35t3r as “Anonymous-linked,” but nonetheless…

Anonymous-Linked Hacker Claims North Korea Win

Another hoax (almost) impacts another career.

Text message prank tries to frame football coach for recruiting

============================================
Law and Order.
============================================

For those who followed The Oatmeal saga, the hilarious ending to a take-down demand gone really, really wrong…

The madness ends: Lawyer Charles Carreon to pay $46,100

The internet has been “deputized.”

Police Search For Mugger For 3 Weeks, Internet Finds Him In An Hour

============================================
Gamer-land.
============================================

Crazy.  “This sort of crowd paralysis isn’t an uncommon reaction to such events but even so, I cannot imagine what could possibly be interesting enough to distract a person from a murder being committed just a few feet away – especially when she’s literally being sprayed with blood.”

Man Stabbed in Internet Cafe, Gamer Plays On

No better revenge than a spoiler. Amirite?

Girl Gamer and Troll Fight Over ‘BioShock: Infinite.’ Girl Gamer Wins