We remember Maryland fondly as setting for several episodes of The X-Files, but now we’ll remember it also because a man who lives there has been arrested and charged with cyberstalking after sending a tweet that triggered a seizure in a Newsweek writer, Kurt Eichenwald.
A few months prior, Eichenwald wrote of his epilepsy condition, and later received a mention on Twitter with attached an image that caused a seizure. Eichenwald’s lawyer stated that what the user of Salsbury, Maryland has made on December 15, 2016, is not too different than sending an Anthrax envelope: «It was an electronic communication with the sole purpose of obtaining a physical reaction», a harmful reaction for the most part. Not satisfied, the tweet also included: «You deserve a seizure».
Epilepsy is, quoting Wikipedia, a neurological condition with attacks in which a person loses consciousness and has seizures, with convulsive spasms of the muscles. These attacks are sudden and recurrent.