3/20/2019 DDoS attacks

More DDoS attacks again tonight, again expected that Twitch user iBreezyy is behind them (specifically because I recently spotted another Comcast IP from the city & state that he lives in on the page written about his organized abuse, that new IP address getting blocked from the site earlier, along with the first one a few months ago).  When I checked my incoming IP logs after rebooting the modem when I got disconnected from the first attempt to stream, there was literally close to 70 connecting coming into it (those logs have been logged & will be listed on my personal site's DDoS IP blacklist later).  Videos of tonight's attacks will also be listed as they become available (Twitch versions will become available much quicker than YouTube version, YouTube versions are only provided to show how I see it on my side without upload interference as you will see in Twitch's versions & to serve as permanent reminders of what continues to happen as Twitch continues to ignore the reports filed about this malicious activity, it will only be a matter of time before subpoenas are issued).

YouTube version

Current status on frequency of streams

Current update on when I'll be able to get back to normal on Twitch streams:

• For a while, getting notices from Medicaid roughly every 3 days kept me busy for roughly 4 months straight (having to do roughly 5 reviews during that time & getting 34 notices over a 4 month period) while they searched for a reason to be able to strip that medical coverage from me.  I got somewhat of a break from that during the first couple months of 2019, however they've lowered the Medicaid spendown in March of 2019 (at $220 per month at the end of 2018, raised to $255 the first 2 months of 2019, now lowered to $226 in March of 2019).  This spendown is why I have to go without a number of things to be able to even afford my living expenses alone (nothing extra), meaning I have to lower my living expenses by going without just to make them affordable & can't have anything nice as a result of it, gaining additional debt each month...
  
  With the lowered spendown, this will mean a lower monthly amount in Food Stamps as well & likely another Medicaid review that will need to be completed (how long this will take before it finally winds down is still to be seen, could drag on for several months like it did in 2018 after I started receiving as a dependent off of my father's retirement, something Medicaid apparently didn't feel I was entitled to & decided to get that back by increasing my Medicaid spendowns & lowering Food Stamps, taking the last 4 months of 2018 to even get it partially resolved & out of the threat of losing those benefits entirely)...


• The second thing that has been preventing me from doing normal streams has been the friend that has been staying with me.  Originally this was only supposed to be for "a few days", it looks like it's going to be at least a few months before he's finally out...  He's been given a deadline that he needs to be out by the end of the month, it appears he should be out by the 25th (supposedly he has a place lined up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it fell through like the last place he attempted to get in January, but he still needs to be out by the set deadline, even if he doesn't have a place to go to; the first night he spent here was roughly Dec. 23rd, 2018).  A lot of my time has been spent cleaning up after his due to his lacking of doing what he's been asked to do while he's here, not to mention he comes back at late hours & isn't allowed to have a key to the house, so I haven't been getting much sleep because I have to let him in (it's been discussed with my landlord that I should set a curfew with him, meaning he needs to be back by a certain hour, but he hasn't been obeying the other rules, I don't expect he would abide by this curfew when he did come back too late to get back in the house & I would go without sleep regardless).


• Around the same time that friend got here, I was getting hit with fairly regular DDoS attacks (expected to be organized by Twitch user iBreezyy), which resulted in a number of videos being uploaded (using the embedded local time display & OBS upload stats to keep records & provide evidence of each of those attacks), this caused technical issues with being able to continue doing regular streams, being able to view those streams without it turning into a slideshow with audio (or full-out disconnecting while in the stream, one of the reasons why YouTube versions of those disrupted streams were uploaded & embedded into the updates regarding those DDoS attacks, keeping backups of those videos on my PC for republication if necessary) & regular resets.
  
  While the report to Twitch seems to have gotten those attacks to somewhat) stop from iBreezyy, the situation continues after that friend decided to try & get another torrent past me.  One of the main rules I gave him when he got here was absolutely no torrents (knowing what he liked to spend his time doing on the internet) & he kept breaking that rule, resulting in my blocking his computer from the internet multiple times.  The last time I blocked his computer, I stated the only way I was going to unblock it was going to be if he installed a software firewall to block the program from the internet, he agreed, however I received an email of a DMCA complaint filed against my ISP the day after I got him to agree to the firewall, his primary computer is now permanently blocked from being able to access the internet.
  
  Aside from the fact I've already taken care of the torrent situation by permanently blocking his main computer from the internet, my modem is continuing to get hit by DDoS attacks & stalking from companies looking to file further DMCA complaints against my account with my ISP (incoming connections have continued for about a week now even after I cut off his computer from the internet, it's possible my IP address is still being held by the trackers for the torrents he was attempting to get past me) & this has lead me to pulling those incoming connections from my router to add them to my DDoS IP blacklist on my personal site (all the ones without linked logs are new from this situation alone), causing that list to triple in a matter of hours from when I started to do it.  Originally I was attempting to get comments about this on WhatIsMyIPAddress.com (a site I use regulardly for IP tracking purposes, especially when it comes to hacking attempts on my personal site), but seeing as they weren't allowing those comments to go public, I started publishing those IP addresses to my personal site instead.  These attacks are effecting my download rate, which also effect my streams on Twitch, my uploads to YouTube (one of the reasons I've take a break from uploading the KickBeat cutscene series I was intending on uploading 1 video per day, along with all the other life issues that I started getting hit with after only a few videos), ability to publish updates to my personal site, as well as confirming validity of game giveaways (currently only available to subscribers on Patreon at $5 or more per month).


• The new issue at this point is related to Case Managers through the Independent Living Program run through Valley Behavioral Health (previously Valley Mental Health).  At this point I'm having to spend business hours of each day trying to sort out the mess with my previous (soon to be former) Case Manager not keeping the appointments he's been making with me for home visits.  I've gotten this partially resolved, but am still having to jump through hoops to get things done & I'll have to wait until after business hours (or weekends) to be able to do any streaming on Twitch (it might come down to me having to file another public complaint against the Independent Living Program just to get it resolved, the only other alternative being I drop them completely because there is no follow-through on scheduled appointments).

So this currently details what is going on & why streams haven't been regular over the past several months.  I'm hoping I can get these issues resolved & I can go back to becoming a normal streamer again, however in the mean time, the only regular streaming frequency I can give is roughly every 1 to 3 days (when my Fortnite dailies fill up); sometimes I may have a more severe issue (like a funeral or family in the hospital, possibly even a surgery I have to personally be in the hospital for) that may prevent me from even streaming that often...  For those who have stuck around & continued to follow (especially those who have contributed to the channel through subs, cheers, raids & hosts), it is appreciated & I wish there was more that could be done to get back to having a normal presence among gamers & streamers alike, however life issues comes first, I can't really ignore them & expect them to just go away, I have to deal with the important stuff before I worry about something that really isn't gaining me any income to begin with (there are some subs & cheers that are currently being held in Twitch's affiliate program, however they aren't obligated to pay anything until that value reaches at least $100; it's currently only got a total of roughly $16.59 on it, according to my records in a local spreadsheet on my PC, started when 3 larger Fortnite streamers helped me get affiliate status through their raids on my channel).

I'm hoping that sooner or later, Twitch streaming will become profitable enough that I will be able to make a living from it & be able to get away from having to live off of Disability benefits, allowing me to get away from the ludicrously-high spendowns to be able to continue receiving Medicaid & Medicare.  Disability discrimination unfortunately nets those with disabilities about the same treatment as those with criminal histories, one of the reasons why I usually fail in being able to keep a job with a company, if I'm even lucky enough to be able to gain one in the first place (I know from experience that hiding this from a company you are applying for doesn't help you after you get the job, you're better off making it known up front so the company can work with you on them if they are equal-opportunity, however that's usually the nail in the coffin that prevents you from getting it)...  Until I have a means to be able to support myself, I have to continue playing this game by their rules to be able to continuing living (even if that means going without certain necessities that I can't afford because Medicaid believes I need to pay overpriced expenses with money I don't have)...

Follower-only chat enabled due to organized trolling

Got hit by a number of trolls in my stream a few days ago, 2 users banned as a result of their actions.  In order to stop the attacks on the channel, I ended up having to enable follower-only chat again; I don't like making users feel obligated to follow to be able to chat, but in cases where it's obvious the privilege to be able to chat in the channel is going to be abused, I have to put measures in place to stop it from happening...  Follower-only chat will eventually fall off provided the attacks have stopped.  There were 2 bans in the last stream due to trolling, so I set the follow minimum at 30 minutes.  It will drop to 10 minutes in the next stream (later today), then down to nothing provided there isn't any more situations during today's stream, being fully removed by the 3rd stream if no more situations present themselves by individuals looking to cause problems.

Article 13 has passed, what you can do now

Article 13 has passed in the EU & at this point a lot of us have questions regarding what is going to happen to media sites such as YouTube, Twitch, Daily Motion & so on.  I spent a little time tracking down some information regarding the matter, this is currently the largest collective of information I can find regarding the matter, however I'm still attempting to locate the actual documentation that EU officials voted on.  Currently the result of what's going to happen with the passing of this new directive is unclear, but the indications where media sites have reached out to their users & content creators make it clear it won't be anything good to those that keep those sites running.  It may be a while before Article 13 goes into full swing, but it's certain it won't take long to start destroying the media sites we know & enjoy visiting, we need to take a stance & get our voices heard, there may still be time to get this matter appealed (or at least toned down to not be as destructive as said media sites are expecting).

The official site apposing this directive can be found at https://saveyourinternet.eu, click on the ACT NOW button to get your voice heard, we need everybody in on this (creators, streamers, uploaders & viewers alike)...

Past posts on this:

• Article 13 is about to make a (negative) difference for streamers...

2/27/2019 DDoS attacks

As is apparently to be expected, I can't even go a few days without getting hit by another DDoS attack.  The last one was on 2/23/2019, but didn't last long enough to write a blog post about it or have videos processed, it was resolved after I restarted by modem.

I've been hit by 2 DDoS attacks back-to-back tonight, both which ended streams early so I could reboot not only my modem, but also by router; the second time I went to reboot my modem, I didn't even get to rebooting it, it rebooted itself as a security protocol in response to the DDoS attack it was currently getting hit with.  As with every DDoS attack I get hit with, the details of them go public & backups of what those attacks cause are processed, re-uploaded & stored for permanent publication.

Again I'll throw out the details of the expected deviant being Twitch user iBreezyy, retaliatory organized attacks from the original situation on 2/19/2018 in Fortnite.  Full details regarding this ongoing vendetta can be found at http://www.wondergamer.net/Twitch/abuse/ibreezyy.htm.  Taking this a step further, I will be filing another complaint against his Twitch channel, first without the new police report case number, then again after I have one that Twitch can reference with the law enforcement looking into the matter.

1st DDoS attack
YouTube version


25202 dropped frames at 21:09 (33.26%)

2nd DDoS attack
YouTube version


47979 dropped frames at 2:01:32 (10.97%)

The following complaint was filed against iBreezyy's channel before I embedded the first 2 videos above:

I have had DDoS interference with my streams twice in a row tonight, the last one actually causing my modem to force reboot (triggering the anti-DDoS security measure, this disconnected a phone call I was on due to being an Xfinity VOIP line).  iBreezyy is the individual that is expected to be behind these attacks, the original situation starting back during a griefing situation on 2/19/2018, followed up by an attack on my channel (including at least 4 different individuals, 3 he brought with him & I have a video of him organizing these attacks over his channel recorded on 3/22/2018, 2 days before he tried a second attack on my channel like the one only 5 days before, which failed due my enabling follower-only chat for a minimum of a month when I saw them coming for a repeat attack; that follower-only restriction stayed for over 2 months, until I decided to remove the Free Games list for abuse, that's currently a subscriber-only benefit on Patreon).  I will be filing another police report against this individual (either with my local police or with the Internet Crimes division of the FBI at ic3.gov), I will be filing a second report against this individual once I have a case number to go with it.  At this point, I'm lucky if I can go 1 day without having my streams on Twitch interfered with using this type of malicious behavior & that information gets published every day it happens with backups of what I am seeing on my end (not only do I stream to Twitch, I also record & keep backups of such situations, these nearly daily attacks giving good reason as to why I still have over a TB of data still backed up for over a decade), that's permanent publications that will not expire & will continue to increase until this internet criminal behavior is put to an end...

I am going to continue attempting to stream tonight despite the DDoS attacks, if only to get the dailies completed.  I have put my modem back into bridge mode hoping I'll be able to get the logs from my router & an IP address for which I can pair the attacks to (this should give the details necessary for an arrest).

2/22/2019 DDoS attack

I originally had a problem before I started this stream, which caused me to have to call my ISP prior to getting an actual stream going (the previous one being ended directly after it started due to immediate transfer rate issues).  Things were going well for the first mission, however part way through the second mission, I again started having transfer rate issues.

Twitch user iBreezyy has been at my throat ever since the original griefing incident on 2/19/2018, where he decided to start griefing under the name of Aluuurt because I wouldn't give him guns when he started begging for him during this mission.  The video evidence of that griefing was originally highlighted on Twitch, but later fell victim to a bug that caused highlights to expire at the same time the original video did (along with another griefing video or a user with the display name of Dr. Jew (luckily I had a local backup of the one of iBreezyy, so it was processed & re-uploaded to YouTube, seems the one on Dr. Jew got deleted & I was not able to restore that one).  It has been over a year of continuous attacks organized through his channel & the DDoS attacks started around the time he got his second temporary Twitch ban (when I reported discriminatory accusations targeted at myself over his VOIP while he was streaming; the first temporary ban was also after I reported his channel for slander & organization of attacks during one of his live streams on 3/22/2018) & yet another of his Steam accounts getting hit with a VAC ban (after I reported it when he was aimbotting while streaming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on his channel).  While he seems to be attempting to keep any discussions of organized attacks out of his live streams (can't say the same thing for the racist/discriminatory discussions), it's obvious this internet criminal activity is still happening.  Note that I have reported this to the police in the past & Twitch already had the case number on that report, however this hasn't resulted in any penalties on his account or an arrest yet...

At the end of 1 hour, 27 minute & 25 second stream (ended early due to the attack), dropped frames were a total of 3901 (1.24% of the stream).  I decided it was time to get the video processed & published seeing as these videos getting published tend to get him to back off for a while.  In the mean time I'll be looking for evidence in my modems logs to see if I have anything solid to give to the Internet Crimes Division of the FBI for an arrest.


YouTube version

Streams postponed due to illness (updated)

Streams are going to be put on hold for a while due to illness.  Normally streams are done every 1 to 3 days, but even if the Fortnite dailies are capped at 3, I currently don't have the energy to spend time playing games or the voice to reply to viewers (my voice is almost completely gone at this point), so I'm going to have to take a loss in the rewards from them until I can get over this sickness & at least have a voice to be able to respond to viewers again.  I might stream something else that I don't use voice in to reply to viewers (games that I know are going to be muted by Twitch in the archived streams due to soundtrack, KickBeat being a big one), but I won't say that for certain, right now I'm just going to have to play it day by day until I know what I'm going to have the energy to do & share with those that are following...

UPDATE:  What I ended up deciding was that I could still stream (when I have the energy to do so), but I won't be using voice.  This means that chat will be done over text in the game & responses to viewers will be done over text in the chat (when I get a chance to, this obviously means that responses will be delayed).  Of course the lack of energy is going to restrict how often & how long I can stream regardless, but this won't cut out streams entirely for 2 to 4 weeks at a time as I originally thought I was going to have to do.  It's a compromise & will result in a loss of quality & viewers/followers I'm sure, but those that have understanding of the situation, I think they'll be the ones that stick around.

Note that this also means I won't be on Discord (or at least won't be speaking if I do happen to be on it, responses can still be given over text).  Until I at least have a voice to be able to speak without having to strain my vocal cords to get a voice to come out, I'll have to limit what I'm attempting to do, even if it means lowered quality in what I'm able to provide in my streams...

DDoS attacks again... (1/23/2019)

Even after getting a new modem today (having my ISP come out to check the lines & switch out the modem) DDoS attacks continued on the first stream after getting the new modem (again expected to be organized by Twitch user iBreezyy); the new modem should have changed my IP address, this shouldn't be happening...  Currently what is available for viewing is on Twitch, however the local video is being processed & will be available on YouTube once it's completed, at which point I'll be embedding the video into this post.  If this continues to be a problem, I will be filing another police report & giving them his address to search his computer for evidence of the DDoS attacks (even if he's hiring somebody else to do it for him, it's likely that evidence is still on his computer), seeing as I located that information several months back (have yet to do anything with it however, figured it might come in handy in the future, which might be tonight).

YouTube version (how it was on my end, gun not firing half of the time)

Article 13 is about to make a (negative) difference for streamers...

Several months ago, I made a blog entry regarding Article 13 with the European Union Directive & how it was going to affect streamers if it passed, even joining the fight for a short time by setting up a timer to get this information out regarding the matter through my bot & tagging my streams to show I was a part of the movement against it (although I pulled out of it fairly quickly due to increased attacks by iBreezyy & his gang of goons shortly after I set it up & it becoming apparent that Twitch wasn't going to do anything about it regardless of how many reported I filed against his channel).

I received another email today from Twitch pointing out that Article 13 is about to go into effect, decided I needed to get involved in this fight once more...  In this email, Twitch states the following:

Dear Creators,

Back in December, we reached out to make sure you were aware of Article 13, a proposal to a European Union Directive that could restrict the content you and your communities make and share on Twitch. It’s a proposal with global consequences, so we asked you and every other creator worldwide to get the facts, talk with your viewers, and sign a petition.

To everyone who shared our concerns and participated, thank you. We see and appreciate your support. To anyone who hasn’t, or to anyone who’s just now hearing about Article 13, it’s still not too late to add your voice to a large and growing group of streamers who don’t want to see their opportunities and creative freedom hindered.

In only a few days, EU national negotiators will sit down with members of the European Parliament to finish drafting Article 13. Lost among the recent debates and negotiations is one core truth: that all of you make the internet a better and more vibrant place by having the freedom to create what you want to create. You use Twitch to communicate, entertain, educate, and bring people together. The negotiators of Article 13 must be shown the value you and your communities bring to this debate, and must understand this law’s potential impact on you and everyone you stream for.

Your voice on this topic matters. If passed, you—the creator who earns a livelihood on services like Twitch, grows communities, and makes original, engaging content—will see more barriers to creation. Please consider these ways to continue educating your community and lending your voice to this important discussion:

• Speak out. Inform and educate your community during a broadcast of the issues with the European Union’s approach to copyright law and motivate folks to take an interest on this topic. Be sure to title your streams #Article13.
• Share your perspective with your member of the EU Parliament. You can find your representative here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/home
• Join with other creators objecting to Article 13 at Create Refresh or #SaveYourInternet.
• Sign a petition.

We’ll continue to do our part by talking to members of the EU Parliament, educating creators, supporting creator action groups, and serving as a home for creators who want to share their views, their way.

And we hope you’ll join us.

Sincerely,
Emmett Shear

Once this goes into effect, expect some changes on Twitch (as well as other streaming sites) & not for the better...  Streamers are going to be the primary force in getting this decision reversed, however I expect even viewers can have their voices heard, because they are also a part of Twitch (what's the point of streaming if you don't have viewers).  For streamers & viewers alike, take the time to make your voice heard, Twitch is going to have some major changes that is going to effect the functionality & what games can be streamed if this new standard is not reversed...

Company staying, streams limited

While the situation with Medicaid may temporarily have been resolved (not that I expect it's going to stay that way, I still have my doubts that it's actually resolved, but I won't know that until later this month or midway through next month), the current situation that is keeping me from streaming as much as I would like is related to some company that is currently staying at my house.  This is an old friend (one of the few local friends I still have that aren't family) that needed a place to stay after his ex-wife manipulated legal procedures to punish him every time anything even smelled funny...

Long story short, this manipulation, paired with paranoia & what I would expect to be bipolar disorder resulted in him having to spend some time in jail, as well as having to sell an impressive house (that happened to be too close to someone in her family, not to the point that it broke the restraining order, but enough to keep her on edge & that was used in his sentencing to get out early, causing further damage on his credit he had just managed to build back up while they were still married) he had purchased with a loan from the bank after the divorce.  Because he lost the house, he needed a place to stay after he got out, he called me (I had done this before for a few days when she threw him out of the house after he signed the divorce papers she kept using to manipulate him to get her way, apparently thinking that it would be a show of good faith that he was willing to work with her if he did sign them, she promptly had them processed after he signed them; I explained to him before you don't get a divorce to save your marriage, you get a separation so you don't have to get divorced, none of my advice on the situation really got through his thick skull, so the inevitable happened...), he was supposed to spend a few days here, but it's already been closer to 3 weeks & looks like it's going to be over a month before he'll have a place to move to & I'll be able to get back to steaming more regularly (I may not have an actual streaming schedule, but I was doing it most days regardless)...

I told him a few years ago if she had this type of severe paranoia towards him (and abusive nature manipulating legal procedures to get her own way), he should just leave her & consider it a blessing it was over; my personal statement was that if I was in a (poor excuse of a) relationship like this, I would have had the marriage annulled within the first week.  Also she forbid him to say anything about what was going on about it, yet she felt she was still entitled to tell everybody in her family to get them to cut ties with him & block him on any social platform online (of course he still talked with his own family & myself about it, but it was an unreal expectation that she could talk trash about him to everybody she knew & he was supposed to keep quiet about it).  The reality of it is that poor excuse of a woman will never be able to keep down a steady relationship if this is her personality & sooner or later karma will come back to haunt her (as well as her mother, who abused her position in Deseret Industries to use company funds to make the situation a whole lot worse), she'll eventually realize that not many people would make as many changes or take as many losses as my friend did to attempt to please her & that she will NEVER keep down a marriage if she expects her partner (if there was ever a case where the term "ball & chain" had relative accuracy, this was it) needs to be the only person making the changes...

So until he's gotten his own place & is out of the house, this is going to restrict how often I can stream online or at least restrict the time I have to be doing things on my own & not spending time with him...  It is possible I might be able to talk him into playing a game I can stream online with him (I did get him Double Dragon: Neon during the Steam Winter sale, installed Shadow Warrior 2 on his computer from my secondary/guest GOG account & he has access to my secondary/guess Steam account's game library through Family Sharing should we attempt a Steam game not on his own account; Killing Floor was a game we used to play together, him playing on my secondary/guest computer when he came to visit before getting married, he currently has his own computer set up in my home office where the secondary/guest computer is still sitting, but detached).

There will still be streams at least every 3 days (don't want to lose potential of missing completion of dailies), but outside of that (and when specific llamas are available in the store), streams are going to be back to how it was around the time that Twitch dailies were broken, only playing the game every 1-3 days when necessary to not lose what is available in the game by not bothering to complete those tasks (as far as Battle Royal is concerned in Fortnite, I don't really care for that mode, so loss of what that mode has to offer doesn't contribute to the importance of the original mode that I purchased access to the game for, that being the co-op mode of Save the World, which was available in Early access as early as mid-2017).