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Maybe his parents smelt of elderberries

A Harvard sophomore allegedly got his wish: He didn't have to take finals yesterday. But Eldo Kim might be facing a sterner test: He's been charged with calling in the bomb threats that shut four Harvard buildings where finals were being given.

According to one profile of him, from last term, Kim was helping a professor analyze taunting:

Eldo Kim is a freshman intending to concentrate in Psychology and pursue a secondary in Japanese. He is currently a research assistant for Professor Gary King in analyzing partisan taunting. On campus, Eldo writes for the Harvard International Review and dances as a member of the Harvard Breakers. In his free time, he enjoys playing pool, trying new restaurants, watching terrible cult films, and playing with his Mini Schnauzer puppy.

The Crimson reports Kim was considered "bright, studious and kind" and talks to Alan Dershowitz about his case (not good, the Dersh says).

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Comments

His LinkedIn page has been flushed down the memory hole.
Cache

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Why in heaven's name would someone with this level of accomplishment pull such a bone-headed stunt? Drunk? Self-sabotaging flame-out?

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"Why in heaven's name would someone with this level of accomplishment pull such a bone-headed stunt?"

You could have said the same thing four years ago about Philip Markoff, who [allegedly] murdered someone, then committed suicide while in jail awaiting trial.

By the way, the Crimson is reporting that Mr. Kim is [was] a sophomore, which fits with his age [20] and his having graduated from a high school in Mukilteo, Washington, in 2012. The profile cited above may have been written last spring.

The Crimson also reports that he had an exam starting at 9:00 am in Emerson Hall, which was one of the buildings that were evacuated at 9:02 am.

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Hubris x mental illness?

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I don't know how how much you follow national news but a 16 year old kid in Texas who was drunk driving and had Valium in his system hit and killed four people and injured several other people. His punishment? 10 years of probation plus a year in a rehab facility that puts the most luxurious resort to shame (paid for by Mommy and Daddy's money).

The judge let him off because he has "affluenza" and was so sheltered that he didn't realize the consequences of his actions. I don't know much about Eldo but I would imagine that a fair number of children at Harvard have it too.

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Why didn't he just pay someone to take his exam, like the late Lion of the Senate?

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that can't be seen through the lens of partisan politics, is there.

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that can't be seen through the lens of partisan politics, is there.

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> through the lens of partisan politics

...or anti/pro-bike mania.

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.

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Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.

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This is in no means an excuse, but, I wonder if the kid was just so completely self focused, overwhelmed and not his usual high-achieving self that he lost sight of reality.

That said, it sounds like he's not ready for the big time, if this is his solution to a problem.

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But apparently he's up on federal charges so hope he's ready for the big house.

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I flatter myself into thinking I know something about what level of surveillance is within easy, quick reach of those tasked with investigating this sort of crime, and I'm thinking that either I'm wrong (that surveillance is better than I think,) or that this kid was an eedjit.

(And no, I'm not going to discuss specifics. Nothing that I know is even remotely close to being secret or even clever, but there's no point in laying out cookbooks to help other eedjits avoid getting caught.)

[edit: I just read the affidavit, which answers my questions and confirms my suspicions that there was eedjocy involved.]

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He wasn't as good a hacker as he thought he was.

Not the first to be like that.

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My guess: He sent the email after connecting through TOR. They were able to determine that someone on campus accessed TOR around the time the email was sent. Narrows the possibilities down quite a bit.

This kid put way too much confidence in the anonymity that TOR provides.

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Yeah, it appears he logged onto the local network - that was all it takes. There are few things you can do on our network that we can't track in one way or another. As a network admin that's kinda the focus of my position.

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Ask anyone who works in the square how "smart" they think Harvard kids are.

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But not half a lifetime - you have to open a campus broom closet and download journal articles to get that sort of attention.

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