Online sleuths track down US Capitol attackers

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The FBI is still searching for people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6.

So is Kay.

The 34-year-old from Washington state is one of a number of online sleuths tracking down participants in the attack on Congress.

"We're somewhere between journalists and law enforcement," said Kay, who declined to use her last name for security reasons. "We're dedicated to finding everyone."

More than 725 people have been arrested so far for the attack on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump who were seeking to block congressional certification of Joe Biden's presidential election victory.

"January 6 broke my heart and I have never really gotten over it," Kay told AFP, her voice breaking with emotion. "It seemed, like, sacrilegious.

"To me, the Capitol is -- even though I've never been there -- a symbol of our democracy," she said. "And that really matters to me, that we have a healthy, thriving democracy.

"To see the Capitol assaulted like that, and the people inside, was terrifying, just heartbreaking."

Kay has spent months at her computer keyboard, trawling the internet in a hunt for people involved in the assault on Congress.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a speech on Wednesday, thanked members of the public for their assistance in bringing participants to justice.

"We have received over 300,000 tips from ordinary citizens, who have been our indispensable partners in this effort," Garland said.

Kay, who has a background in video production, has sifted through thousands of photographs and hundreds of hours of video of the attack available online, much of it on social media.

"I found that people were proudly posting what they had done on January 6," she said. "They were proud to be there, and it was just perfectly logical to brag