IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Couple was swatted 55 times in 2 years over a post about Norm Macdonald

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

Theme 1 – Police overreaction and lack of accountability
Many commenters argue that officers repeatedly respond with full SWAT force even when they know the calls are false, treating the situation as a game or a way to “play soldier.”
- “The cops know it's fake, but they enjoy driving over and yelling and waving guns around, so they don't care.” — ndiddy
- “They know they don't have to worry about facing any consequences for their actions so they can do whatever they like.” — autoexec
- “At some point, the responding local police should be held criminally liable.” — valleyer

Theme 2 – Need for better police procedures and verification
Several users suggest simple reforms: call residents first, flag known “swatting” addresses, and use less aggressive tactics after repeated false alarms.
- “When getting a report of a house that's known to be swatted frequently, call both numbers and verify.” — shagie
- “After circa the first 10 calls it should start to become apparent.” — diydsp
- “We've really got to rein in qualified immunity in this country.” — failbuffer

Theme 3 – Holding the swatters (online harassers) responsible
The discussion also focuses on the perpetrators of the false calls, calling for them to be prosecuted and noting the difficulty of tracing anonymous tips.
- “At some point, the people doing the ‘swatting’ (false police call) should be held criminally liable, maybe even for attempted murder by cop.” — blooalien
- “The problem seems to be that a certain tribe of always online far‑right leaning sociopaths have decided MacDonald is one of them.” — RajT88
- “Swatters are little bitches on the internet in some other state hiding behind proxies…” — pixl97

🚀 Project Ideas

VeriCall: Pre-Response Verification Platform for 911 Dispatch

Summary

  • Provides dispatchers with an automated check to see if a caller’s number is associated with a known swatting victim or has a high spoof risk.
  • Enables a quick verification call to the resident before deploying SWAT, reducing false‑positive raids.
  • Core value: saves lives, reduces trauma, cuts unnecessary militarized response costs.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Municipal police departments, 911 call centers, sheriff’s offices
Core Feature Real‑time lookup of incoming emergency numbers against a victim registry + optional automated callback to confirm threat
Tech Stack Node.js/Express backend, PostgreSQL, Twilio Programmable Voice for callbacks, Docker, Kubernetes for deployment
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: SaaS subscription per dispatch center (tiered by call volume)
#### Notes
- HN users complained that police “show up guns blazing” despite knowing the address is a known swatting location (see comments from hakunin, autoexec, shagie). VeriCall gives them a concrete tool to act on that knowledge.
- Quote: “calling known swatting victims before responding would avoid dangerous encounters” – shagie. This directly implements that suggestion.
- Potential for discussion: privacy concerns around storing victim data, integration with existing CAD systems, and policy impact on qualified immunity debates.

SwatTrack: Community‑Driven Swatting Incident Registry

Summary

  • A web app where victims can log each swatting event (timestamp, caller ID if available, officer notes, media) and generate a shareable report.
  • Provides a searchable map/dashboard that police can query to see if an address has a history of false calls.
  • Enables victims to demonstrate pattern of harassment for lawsuits or policy change.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Swatting victims, advocacy groups, journalists, police oversight bodies
Core Feature Incident logging with optional encryption, searchable address history, exportable PDF/JSON reports
Tech Stack React frontend, Firebase/Firestore for storage, Google Maps API, optional end‑to‑end encryption via libsodium, hosted on Vercel
Difficulty Low
Monetization Hobby (open‑source, optional donations via Open Collective)
#### Notes
- Commenters asked for a way to “have policies for such situations” and to “add them to the swatting house list” (hakunin, autoexec). SwatTrack creates that list.
- Quote: “After circa the first 10 calls it should start to become apparent” – diydsp. The registry makes that pattern visible.
- Practical utility: victims can show documented history in court (as in the Milwaukee case) and push for policy reforms; journalists can investigate trends.

SpoofGuard: Real‑Time Caller ID Spoofing Detection for Law Enforcement

Summary

  • Uses STIR/SHAKEN signatures and carrier‑level metadata to score the likelihood that an incoming emergency call is spoofed.
  • Provides dispatch with a spoof risk score and, when possible, the originating carrier/network to aid traceback.
  • Helps police prioritize verification resources and focus investigation on true threats.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Telco fraud units, federal/state law‑enforcement cybercrime units, 911 PSAPs
Core Feature Real‑time spoof detection API that returns risk level and carrier info; dashboard for analysts
Tech Stack Go microservice, Kafka for streaming call events, PostgreSQL for signatures, Grafana for monitoring, deployed on AWS/GCP
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: per‑query fee or annual license for carriers/LEAs
#### Notes
- Many HN commentators pointed out that calls are anonymous and police lack tracing ability (pdonis, hakunin). SpoofGuard addresses the “why is it SOP to send SWAT based on nothing but an anonymous call?” concern.
- Quote: “why is it SOP for the police to send a SWAT team to a random house based on nothing but an anonymous phone call?” – pdonis. This gives a technical answer.
- Potential for discussion: balancing privacy vs. security, effectiveness of STIR/SHAKEN adoption, and impact on reducing SWAT misuse.

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