2nd August 2008, 12:10 AM
Fixed the first image.
Indeed... releasing lots of personal information isn't a great idea. I don't.
Indeed... annoying and strange. I wonder why us... just trying to knock out American sites in general?
... And then 4chan's response (and /b/ in particular) is to laugh at the dead girl and her family. How can people not find that reaction incredibly disturbing, whether or not they are being serious? I'm not saying anything should be DONE about that, they have free speech, but it's disturbing to hear, that's all.
And of course, you have a good point about 'emotional damage'. How much is "too much"? How would you gauge what is allowed and what isn't? Most people don't kill themselves just because they are being treated badly, only a few... and we can't say "then the highest standard in all cases" because that would be a massive breach of first amendment rights, among others. You can't censor it all away.
It is certainly true, though, that anonymity pushes people to go farther. 4chan's "Anonymous" culture feeds into this, really -- in a normal webforum, everyone has a username. Sure it's a pseudonym, but they have that identity at least, so you can track one user's comments. But there, there's none of that... so it's impossible to know who's saying what and you're pretty much encouraged to do whatever you want... becasue it's not like there are any consequences for you anyway.
It's a massive legal headache, that's what. Because yeah, on the one hand, I don't want to just stand here and have nothing done after someone was driven to suicide... but on the other hand, given the method used, actually doing anything substantial would be very, very difficult. As you say, how would you police that, or decide what is allowed, or even figure out that it is happening? Can you, really? It's not like kids are going to tell their parents. Web harassment is a big issue... and a very challenging one, because on the one hand, we cannot break our constitutional rights; the Bush Administration has spent eight years ripping apart the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and we need to put it back together. And methods like universal ids or whatever, as the article references, aren't going to happen. So what can, or should, be done? I'm really not sure...
Stuff like the phonecalls and serious harassment should be tracked and punished somehow, though. That may be impossible, but it should at least be tried. Things like that are clearly illegal and wrong.
But on the other hand, if it's just people on /b/ or wherever insulting eachother or something, go ahead. As the article says, the key is whether people take it seriously or not... their "if you take it too seriously you're a moron and deserve it" attitude is wrong of course, but the solution, "don't take it seriously", is the best one. But some people can't do that. So how do you help them, without infringing on people's rights?
Quote:This is essentially a new form of the stocker , You got to be careful what information you release online.
Phone number and address is out of the question.
Indeed... releasing lots of personal information isn't a great idea. I don't.
Quote:TC has been bombarded with Russian trolls.
Indeed... annoying and strange. I wonder why us... just trying to knock out American sites in general?
Quote:Good article. Some of the stuff out there can get really creepy, you really have to watch out for yourself. The internet is a great sociological experiment; some of the evil things that sociopathic people do balance out every great thing about the internet: a wealth of information, networking, entertainment, porn... On the other hand, it's absolutely insane in cases like Lori Drew and what she went through to drive Megan Meier to the point of suicide. This isn't just some dumb kid or manchild hooting and snorting while they totally pwn someone in a dumb debate, this is a grown woman harassing a poor insecure teenage girl to the point of taking her own life.
... And then 4chan's response (and /b/ in particular) is to laugh at the dead girl and her family. How can people not find that reaction incredibly disturbing, whether or not they are being serious? I'm not saying anything should be DONE about that, they have free speech, but it's disturbing to hear, that's all.
And of course, you have a good point about 'emotional damage'. How much is "too much"? How would you gauge what is allowed and what isn't? Most people don't kill themselves just because they are being treated badly, only a few... and we can't say "then the highest standard in all cases" because that would be a massive breach of first amendment rights, among others. You can't censor it all away.
It is certainly true, though, that anonymity pushes people to go farther. 4chan's "Anonymous" culture feeds into this, really -- in a normal webforum, everyone has a username. Sure it's a pseudonym, but they have that identity at least, so you can track one user's comments. But there, there's none of that... so it's impossible to know who's saying what and you're pretty much encouraged to do whatever you want... becasue it's not like there are any consequences for you anyway.
Quote:None of this gets into evidence of emotional damage, of course. I doubt Meier would have had enough time to get, say, evaluated psychiatrically before she reached the breaking point. Legislation like this wouldn't have saved her, but there would still at least be punishment for the responsible parties. It also doesn't address what happens if someone isn't harrassed directly. Let's say that a particular myspace or youtube video or blog or website is brought up in a web forum for people to laugh at it and make fun of it. They're taking something public and sending opinions about it over the lines. Is that harassment?
It's a massive legal headache, that's what. Because yeah, on the one hand, I don't want to just stand here and have nothing done after someone was driven to suicide... but on the other hand, given the method used, actually doing anything substantial would be very, very difficult. As you say, how would you police that, or decide what is allowed, or even figure out that it is happening? Can you, really? It's not like kids are going to tell their parents. Web harassment is a big issue... and a very challenging one, because on the one hand, we cannot break our constitutional rights; the Bush Administration has spent eight years ripping apart the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and we need to put it back together. And methods like universal ids or whatever, as the article references, aren't going to happen. So what can, or should, be done? I'm really not sure...
Stuff like the phonecalls and serious harassment should be tracked and punished somehow, though. That may be impossible, but it should at least be tried. Things like that are clearly illegal and wrong.
But on the other hand, if it's just people on /b/ or wherever insulting eachother or something, go ahead. As the article says, the key is whether people take it seriously or not... their "if you take it too seriously you're a moron and deserve it" attitude is wrong of course, but the solution, "don't take it seriously", is the best one. But some people can't do that. So how do you help them, without infringing on people's rights?
![[Image: logo_bos_79x76.jpg]](https://www.tendocity.net/logo_bos_79x76.jpg){kind=logo}