Man arrested for rape after his Playstation mic allegedly broadcast audio from the crime to other players

Cory Doctorow 2:48 pm Tue Nov 27, 2018

Last June, 18-year-old Daniel Fabian of Pasco County, Florida was playing Grand Theft Auto Online, when he informed the other players in his team chat that he was going to take a break to "smash" (have sex with) a 15-year-old girl.

An unnamed player in that chat says he later heard a woman's voice say the word "no," and cries of "distress" through Fabian's mic, and called the police.

This week, Fabian was arrested for "lewd and lascivious behavior" with an underage victim (there is another 2018 case against Fabian for the same charge, it's not clear if both cases relate to the same incident).

Fox's report alleges that the console in question was a PlayStation 4, but it does not go into detail about whether Fabian's console included a PlayStation Eye camera—which can optionally function as a full-room listening device for in-game chat. Popular game-streaming sites like YouTube and Twitch do not immediately appear to have captured archives of the Grand Theft Auto Online session in question, in spite of PS4 consoles including a one-button way to capture and archive online-game audio and video.

A hot PlayStation mic captures sounds of apparent rape, leads to arrest [Sam Machkovech/Ars Technica]

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