NESIT Hackerspace Vandalized

NESIT Hackerspace Vandalized

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The New England Society of Information and Technology (NESIT) in Meriden, CT, was robbed and vandalized on March 1st.

All computers and monitors used in our community programs were destroyed. Extensive damage was done to our classroom and project areas. A massive clean-up effort has been under way for the past week and we continue to assess the damage.

Will Genovese, President of NESIT, said, “We offer so much to the community, it’s terrible someone would do this, but we’re not giving up on our mission.” NESIT’s specific charitable and educational mission is to create, educate, and foster learning in the fields of computer, information and communications technology, wood working, metal working, and other disciplines while exploring the benefits of productivity through volunteer collaboration.

To achieve this we have to replace the computers and monitors that were destroyed. We need to replace our servers, printers, routers and various other items. We need an upgraded alarm system. The volunteers as NESIT are committed to our mission and supporting the communities around us. We will continue to offer free classes, our quarterly free computer repair clinic, hands on build sessions, guest speakers and project space to members and guests.

NESIT has started a Pledgie campaign to pay for the repairs. Please help out if you can!

See more photos of the damage.

48 thoughts on “NESIT Hackerspace Vandalized

  1. Will Lyon says:

    That’s messed up. People disgust me

  2. Sander says:

    Man, some people in this world don’t really deserve their lives. I hope NESIT can recover from this asap.

  3. will says:

    We are also taking bitcoin donations through bitpay http://nesit.org/donations/
    Thank you in advance to everyone who helps out!

  4. James says:

    That seriously sucks. One struggles to comprehend the motivation for such a thing. Tagging the walls or something would have made some kind of weird sense, but this seems to have been more thoroughly about resource-denial. What would motivate someone to do that? I can’t think of anything at first blush except the unfortunately all-too-common misunderstanding of what “hack” means. Maybe these were folks who thought a “hackerspace” is a haven for cybercriminals, or something.
    In any event, this is probably the nearest such space to where I grew up, and I wish I’d had a place like this when I was a kid. To that end, I’ll be donating to help, and may drive down and volunteer some time.

  5. JT says:

    “If you have haters, you’re doing something right!”

  6. Alex Echeverria says:

    Vandalized RepRap! That is a first!

  7. miroslava von schlockbaum says:

    someone(s) inside NESIT know the someone(s) who did this, (even if they currently don’t know that they know)

    1. James says:

      Is this supposition, or are you asserting that you have inside knowledge?

      1. jammit says:

        He has a point. Most criminals stick to what’s familiar. They normally go back to the same place again.

  8. raster says:

    Ugh, nasty nasty stuff! I’ve already kicked a few bucks in… hopefully it will help.

  9. danielmcgregor says:

    Looks like the ugly work of young morons with no ambitions in life but to destroy.
    I wish their stuff would get wrecked so they know exactly how it feels like to have things taken from them.

  10. naPS says:

    I was expecting to see more damage. This looks like someone went half-a**ed into a vandalism attempt with half a spray paint can and some orange soda. Doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to clean up – some paint thinner / acetone and a little elbow grease should do the trick. It still sucks, but I was expecting to see a lot of broken stuff since they were talking about having to replace everything.

    1. will says:

      Chemicals, alcohol, and bleach were poured in all the electronics that weren’t stolen. Being that the power was out at the time most of the equipment came back up with the power and were shorted out/ruined.

  11. JustPlainJim says:

    “Some people just want to watch the world burn” is unfortunately true. :(

    1. Sean says:

      True but if that is the only motivation for this then it’s a SERIOUS case of “Stick it to the ‘man’ FAIL.”
      Destroy authority = sometimes fine, destroy your own community = always not fine.

      1. JustPlainJim says:

        Agreed. I can only imagine what goes through people’s minds, and I can’t begin to understand why someone would do that. … But then, I never understood why people would break into a school to trash it, or why people would steal/destroy things from a library (happened when I was in college).

  12. asciimation says:

    Now would be a good time to think about putting in hidden cameras. After they clean up and replace everything there is a good chance whoever did it will come back for a second go.

  13. jaden says:

    my GOSH people are messed up. it makes no sense to give other people problems to try to make theirs better. it makes me so angry when people dont begin to understand how dear and important things are in someones life and they do damage, totally oblivious to the pain they are giving people. there is no respect.

  14. Joshua Morgan says:

    Wow… really. I can’t even properly express the anger and frustration I feel about something like this.

  15. Seb says:

    Something feels wrong about this story and those pictures posted to the icloud account “We need to replace our servers, printers, routers and various other items”
    Just going through each item in the gallery analytically.

    1. Pink desktop – No liquid damage just needs a clean
    2. iMac – No liquid damage just needs a clean.
    3. Power supply and motherboard liquid damage.
    4. Silver medion screen TFT – looks like water damage.
    5. Alarm panel – should be replaced or upgraded.
    6. NA
    7. Arcade machine – minor repair and a clean.
    8. See above
    9. Bench need a clean and that ATX power supply may be damaged.
    10. 3D printer – need a clean and no visible damage.
    11. See above
    12. Solar panel – Can be cleaned no damage.
    13. Sampo TFT screen and PC – Can be cleaned only splashed so no damage.
    14. Small LCD screen – Can be cleaned no damage
    15. TV and old networking equipment – Switches were unused at time of spraying(looks at the ports) and can be cleaned. The TV is not worth cleaning.
    16. See above
    17. See above
    18. PC and screen – no liquid damage but needs a clean.
    19. TFT screen – can be cleaned
    20. a picture of an empty bottle but no visible liquid damage.
    21. Liquid on table but no obvious damage to any equipment.
    22. Liquid on table but no obvious damage.
    23. Liquid may have damaged the power plug board.
    24. Dell CRT screen – can be cleaned.
    25. TV and PowerSupply – May have liquid damage
    26. See above two
    27. PowerSupply – should be replaced.
    28. See above
    29. HP screen – needs clean no liquid damage.
    30. PC – needs a clean no liquid damage.
    31. Server cabinet – neds a clean and a replacement keyboard.
    32. TFT Screen may have liquid damage.
    33. See above
    34. WRT54G WiFi router – liquid damage
    35. HP Printer – Needs a wipe and highly unlikely damaged.
    36. See above
    37. See above
    38. LCD screen needs a clean
    39. NA
    40. ViewSonic Keyboard – Liquid damage
    41. NA
    42. PC/DVR – liquid damage
    43. See above
    44. NA
    45. CocaCola machine – Lease or rental but can be cleaned.
    46. See above
    47. NA
    48. NA
    49. Junk

    I guess NESIT was lucky most of the higher value items were passed by like the Dell Desktops, Piano, Tools, Modern desktops, Phones, WebCam, Large format printer and Soldering Irons.

  16. Computer Repair says:

    Truly sad… do not get this type of activity…

  17. Clayton says:

    Is this not covered by your insurance?

    Also, someone should write a blog post about how [make|hack]er-spaces should have insurance. Vandalism coverage is pretty standard for businesses.

  18. you says:

    every hackerspace should have cams, something small scale like this is actually helping the hackerspace if rifkinite junk is actually to blame. :P fairly cheap advertizing if it was self done

  19. Computer Repair Redding says:

    Sad but true… going to come down to having to have full coverage surveillance…

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My interests include writing, electronics, RPGs, scifi, hackers & hackerspaces, 3D printing, building sets & toys. @johnbaichtal nerdage.net

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