Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald filed a criminal complaint form with the Dallas Police Department Monday in relation to a tweet that allegedly caused a seizure Thursday.
Eichenwald provided the complaint to The Daily Caller Tuesday.
It states: “On the evening of December 15, 2016, John Doe (a/k/a Ari Goldstein, a/k/a @jew_goldstein) (‘Doe’) tweeted to Eichenwald an image known to trigger seizures in people with epilepsy, e.g., a strobe image flashing at a rapid speed. Doe sent this image with the intent of causing a seizure, as evidenced by the words Doe typed onto the strobe, ‘You deserve a seizure for your posts.’ Doe succeeded in his effort to use Twitter as a means of injuring Eichenwald, causing Eichenwald to have a seizure which led to personal injury.”
The Daily Caller reported Monday that the Dallas Police Department has no police report available on the alleged Twitter assault of Eichenwald. A Dallas Police Department spokeswoman told TheDC Tuesday that the department still does not have a formal report, but that detectives have been looking into the case since Monday.
On Friday, Eichenwald tweeted, “At this point, the police are attempting to determine if this is a federal crime because it appears to be cross state.”
A Dallas Police Department spokeswoman told TheDC Monday that a police investigation cannot happen without a police report. The spokeswoman Tuesday did not know the reason why there is no police report and did not know what the potential charge would be.
A Texas judge on Monday issued an order allowing Eichenwald’s attorney Tim Perkins to issue subpoenas to compel Twitter to divulge information related to the identity of “Ari Goldstein.”
A petition filed by Eichenwald’s lawyer stated, “Twitter’s registration process requires a user to provide a name and address before he or she can post a tweet. Further, on information and belief, Twitter also records the user’s Twitter account information and IP address every time he or she logs into Twitter and posts a tweet.”
Twitter requires a name, which can be falsified, and an email address, not a street address. Unless “Ari Goldstein” used software like Tor, Twitter should be able to get an IP address with an accurate location for “Ari Goldstein.”