Steubenville high school football players convicted for sexual assault of intoxicated teen. A verdict that would probably have not been possible without the involvement of Anonymous. Update!

Watch More News Videos at ABC | Technology News | Celebrity News

Courtesy of ABC News:  

Two Steubenville, Ohio, high school football players accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl have been found delinquent by a judge -- the juvenile court equivalent of guilty. 

The teens could serve prison time until they turn 21. 

The verdict comes after a four-day trial that included tearful testimony from the accuser who said she was "embarrassed and scared" after hearing about the night she was allegedly sexually assualted while intoxicated. 

"I honestly did not know what to think because I didn't remember anything," she testified. The teen pieced together the night's events from Twitter, Instagram photos, a YouTube video, text messages and witnesses.

This is an absolutely horrendous case, as any of you have been following it already know, but the thing about it that is so disturbing, and ultimately amazing, is the part that social media played in the humiliation of this young girl and then ensured that justice was done on her behalf.

The troubling fact is that THIS kind of scenario plays out all over the country, in towns and cities both rural and  urban. It happens to young women, at the hands of young men, almost daily.

Most of the time we live in blissful ignorance of that fact.

But THIS time the perpetrators traded pictures of their deeds, and video of them bragging about it, with others, and that led to one lone blogger taking it upon herself to try and bring some justice.

That attracted the attention of the hacker group Anonymous, who hacked into the phones and social networks of the town and the teens involved and spread what they found all over the internet.

If that had NOT happened it is very unlikely that these teens would have seen any jail time.

However don't believe that this has really resulted in justice, according to what Anonymous uncovered this may in fact simply be the tip of a very disgusting iceberg:

Anonymous also claimed to have uncovered additional information suggesting a coverup. While the county prosecutor and the judge in the case recused themselves because of their ties to the football team, the hackers say there are more attackers, as well as more victims. Moreover, they claim the alleged rape occured at prosecutor Jane Hanlin’s home, and that her son may have been involved. They also point to ties between Steubenville law enforcement and the football team.

Like I said not necessarily complete justice, but still a hell of a lot more than would have happened without the "interference" of a group that has made a name for themselves by sticking their noses in places they are not welcome, but where often their attention may be desperately needed.

However it really falls the parents of these, and other, teenagers to educate their children that "No, means no!" and drinking until you are unable to make good judgement does NOT indicate that you are more grown up.

It indicates that you need more grown up supervision.

Update: If you can stomach it, you can read for yourself some of the horrific tweets blaming the victim of this incident here. And here.

And people wonder why victims of this kind of attack don't come forward more often.

My daughter tells me that this is the hottest thing trending on the social networks right now. Which is not good news for Romney concerning the youth vote.

Apparently it all started with this article over at Slate on October 23rd:

Sometimes one gets a little tired of the echo-chamber of election anxiety, the fretful watching of the debates, the scrolling through tweets and Facebook postings to see what everyone else is thinking watching the debates, the brilliant little analyses by friends, the bits of cleverness, the instant polls. So it was sort of relaxing and informative to watch the foreign policy debate with my 9-year-old Violet, who is at that phase of life when she views the world entirely through the lens of Harry Potter. 

It started in the last debate when she said of Mitt Romney, after hearing him talk for a few minutes: “He’s Umbridge!” And of course I saw exactly what she meant, the brittle, lacquered, self-satisfied smile of the ambitious Dark Arts professor and passionate ministry bureaucrat, Dolores Umbridge. The saccharine, almost-girlish chuckle. The proclamations she issues at Hogwarts, the self-important talk about “the ministry this” and “the ministry that.” The classes doomed to read out loud instead of learning the spells they desperately need. The moment where she makes Harry write lines into his own skin with a pen that draws real blood, all the while smiling that fake and brittle smile. Then of course there is her interest in Muggle Registration, and protecting “pureblood” wizards from the dilution and compromise of human blood.

And from there it went viral.

My daughter informs me that these images and humorous comments connecting Romney and Umbridge have been flying fast and furious around the inter-tubes.

And you know, now that I think about it, there IS a rather frightening similarity. Don't you think?