>The same tactic that trolls use to target people is the same tactic that people use to out trolls. And in a networked world, trafficking in gossip is far easier than ever before. Well-meaning people may hope to spread their messages far and wide using Twitter or Facebook, but the fast-spreading messages tend to be sexual, horrific, or humiliating. The 'Koan': Technology as Tool and Technology as Weaponīy enabling the rapid flow of information, technology offers us a unique tool to publicly out people or collectively tar and feather them. He has to deal with being outed – in this case, wrongly – going forward. It doesn't wipe his digital record clean. Needless to say, this shift in information doesn't relieve the original target of the public shame he felt from Anonymous' pointed finger. Earlier this week, Canadian police reported that Todd's stalker was someone else: reportedly a 19-year-old. Yet it appears they got the wrong person. They identified a 32-year-old man, enabling outraged people to harass him. The amorphous hacktivist collective known as "Anonymous" decided to make a spectacle of the situation by publishing personally identifiable information on – " doxxing" – Todd's stalker. In a town outside of Vancouver, a young woman named Amanda Todd committed suicide a few weeks after posting a harrowing YouTube video describing an anonymous stalker she felt ruined her life. Yet, how do we as a society weigh the moral costs of shining a spotlight on someone, however "bad" their actions are? What happens when, as a result of social media, vigilantism takes on a new form? How do we guarantee justice and punishment that fits the crime when we can use visibility as a tool for massive public shaming? Is it always a good idea to regulate what different arbiters consider bad behavior through increasing someone's notoriety – or censoring their links?Īs the Gawker/Reddit story was unfolding, another seemingly disconnected case was playing out. >What happens when, as a result of social media, vigilantism takes on a new form? Another is censorship, as evidenced by the Reddit community’s response to Gawker. Public shaming is one way in which social norms are regulated. In identifying Butsch and shining a spotlight on his insidious practices, Chen's article condemns Butsch's choice of using the mask of pseudonymity to hide behind actions that have societal consequences. Many celebrated this public shaming, ecstatic to see a notorious troll grovel. As expected, Brutsch lost his job and the health insurance that paid for his wife's care Chen reported this outcome three days later. Chen chose to publish the piece – including Brutsch's pleas and promises to do anything that Chen asked in return for not ruining his life. He simply begged Chen not to publish his name, citing the costs that publicity would have on his disabled wife. When Chen contacted him, Brutsch did not attempt to deny the things he had done. Two weeks ago, Gawker journalist Adrian Chen decided to unmask the infamous Reddit troll "Violentacrez" as Michael Brutsch. She is currently working on a book that untangles myths about young people and social media.||| () is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research a Research Assistant Professor in Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University and a Fellow of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. But what if he wasn't? What are the moral and ethical costs of outing people and focusing unwanted attention on them? This is a hard moral conundrum, in part because Sipple was clearly a "good" guy who had done a good deed. But for Harvey Milk, the potential social good from using Sipple's story far outweighed what he perceived as the costs of outing him. Many around Sipple reported that he regretted his act of heroism and the attention resulting from it. He gained massive amounts of weight, began drinking profusely, and died at the ripe young age of 47. The White House distanced itself from him, his family rejected him, and he sunk into a dark depression. But Harvey Milk, a famous gay rights activist, chose to out him so the public could see that gay men could be heroes, too. While Sipple was very active in the gay men's scene in the Castro, he was not out to family or work. When the press began contacting him, he asked that his sexuality not be discussed. A former marine named Oliver Sipple grabbed the gun, preventing the assassination attempt. President Ford was visiting San Francisco in 1975 when a woman attempted to shoot him.
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