Editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, Noah Shachtman, breathlessly tweeted about an “exclusive” story which was about to go up on their site. One of his cracker-jack reporters, Kevin Poulsen, had “found the guy behind the viral “drunk Pelosi” video.” Pelosi’s voice had been slowed and her “vocal pitch lowered to make her seem even less articulate than usual.”

The article, entitled “We Found The Guy Behind the Viral ‘Drunk Pelosi’ Video,” identifies the man by name and even tells us about his employment and criminal histories.

Poulsen begins, “The video that racked up millions of views and sparked a national conversation was uploaded by a sports blogger from the Bronx, currently on probation for domestic battery.”

Big League Politics’ Tom Pappert reports that this man is a manual laborer and African American who runs a series of Facebook pages and websites promoting President Donald Trump and conservative policies. His name and identity were not public information prior to Poulsen’s post.

First, why did Poulsen dox this individual? He was a private person. Politicians are public figures. Everyone knows the clip of Pelosi was doctored. But she is fair game.

The Daily Beast presents Poulsen’s report as if it’s important journalism. Why would they do this? Are they trying to use their platform to intimidate people from discrediting Democrats?

Here are some responses to Schachtman’s tweet:

“Brooks, a 34-year-old day laborer currently on probation after pleading guilty to domestic battery…Not surprising.” “Court records show that In February 2018 he was written up for a probation violation, and a California judge issued a warrant for his arrest. A spokesperson for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the warrant is still outstanding.” “A review of Brook’s personal fan page reveals him as an avowed conservative and a proud member of Trump’s razor-thin African American support base. A couple of Brooks’ Instagram posts feature misogyny.” “This ought to be a criminal offense. He’s so typical of the usual suspect-a knuckle-dragging trump lover. Worst of all, every bit of subsequent reporting can’t undo what’s been done. There really ought to be a law.” “Wow. A Trump-loving black conservative New England Patriots fan. I’d say he was a unicorn. But unicorns conjure beautiful fantasies with rainbows and pastels and sweetness. And this girlfriend-beating misogynistic rage-filled troll is a nightmare supported by @facebook” “@SpeakerPelosi should sue him.”

There were a quite a few who disapproved:

“Why the f**k are you squawking like a schoolkid about a faked video and calling it what it isn’t? #MediaBozo” “You guys still wonder why people hate you more than Trump?” “This is how you guys spend your time? Lol. Layoffs by August?!” “Really? Wow, you guys do some SERIOUS journalism!” “Wow heros.” “Some truly important journalism happening here. If you ever wonder why the media polls worse than the Ebola virus, it because of nonsense like this.” “Reported. Doxing is NOT cool.” “how do they not yet have a pulitzer for doxxing members of the public for posting content that doesn’t support the MSM’s preferred agenda?” “all details about the guy aside, you think it’s ok for the media to doxx people? you aren’t the authority you think you are. it is not your job to “find facts” just report them. the media is not powerful, you arent the gatekeepers of truth” “I’m going to savor the next round of layoffs. I truly am.” “Wow, you finally found him. Now we can relax.” And this, from Twitchy:

OOF! Twitter lights Brian Stelter UP for sharing ‘truth’ about HOW CNN doxxed Trump gif-maker https://t.co/C5niEwCixH — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 9, 2017

But, a funny thing often happens when one does wrong. Karma:

Pappert writes that Kevin Poulsen has had a little trouble with the law himself. “He is a former black hat hacker who was banned from using the Internet from the 1990s until the early 2000s.” The following is an excerpt from a theta.com archive:

In November 1989, Poulsen was indicted on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, wiretapping and money laundering. If convicted, the charges could have brought him up to 37 years in jail. But Poulsen did not go quietly. He fled, and was beyond the reach of law enforcement for 17 months. Poulsen had burrowed deep into the giant switching networks of Pacific Bell, exploring and exploiting nearly every element of its computers. His forays led to a now-infamous incident with KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. Each week, the station ran the “Win a Porsche by Friday” contest, with a $50,000 Porsche given to the 102nd caller after a particular sequence of songs announced earlier in the day was played. On the morning of June 1, 1990, the trio of songs was played on the air. Businessmen, students, housewives and contest fanatics jammed the lines with auto-dialers and car phones. But Poulsen had a different method. He and his associates, stationed at their computers, seized control of the station’s 25 telephone lines, blocking out all calls but their own. Then he dialed the 102nd call — and later collected his Porsche 944. But that wasn’t all. He allegedly wiretapped the intimate phone calls of a Hollywood actress, conspired to steal classified military orders, cracked an Army computer and snooped into an FBI investigation of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos — all while working on national security matters.

This same information can be found on Poulsen’s Wikipedia biography.

What is it they say about those who live in glass houses?