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Bounties vs. Extreme Internet Harassment
squiggleslash writes Brianna Wu, a game studio owner in Boston, found herself the target of numerous anonymous death threats last month, apparently the escalation of a campaign that started when she spoke up for women in gaming, and that intensified during the GamerGate train wreck. Rather than hide, she's offering an $11,000+ cash reward for anyone who helps put her attacker in jail, and she's reporting — albeit at a time many see GamerGate being in its death throes — that it's already having an effect. Wu is also setting up a legal fund to go after those promoting more extreme libels against her and others, with screenshots of a forged tweet purporting to be written by her still circulating around the Internet.
Death threats are illegal, they don't become legal because they're On The Internet any more than an old technology should become patentable because it's done On The Internet.
She isn't demanding that all women on the internet not be degraded online, she's trying to bring criminal charges against people who are sending her death threats.
We don't. Because the people in question are likely 12 and 13yrs old and couldn't get convicted anyway. The people in an uproar over this have this idea in their heads that there are an army of tech savvy Rush Limbaughs out their attacking them. And that's certainly not what's going on. The majority of people on the internet are under the age of 18... think about it for more than a second and you'll agree. The idea that you could sit in a chat room filled with teenage boys that can speak in complete anonymity and not get made fun of is a laughable. "The Internet" is not a PBS debate forum, it's a dirty coed locker room in highschool and there's no teacher.
The fact that anyone takes this seriously shows just how naive they really are. Think about it... someone can type words... on the Internet... and you're in an uproar. That's like putting a button in the middle of the mall that if you push it, it calls a swat team. Of course it's going to get pressed over and over and over again. Stop sending the swat team, the kids will stop pressing it.
Gotcha... You would rather live in a Soviet or Iranian style police state where even the smallest bit of mindless nonsense is treated like a threat against the state.
Now hoooooold on thar, pardner! I'm more or less with you in this debate, but your hyperbole is old and tired. There's a very big difference between death threats against a private citizen, and seditious speech. And let's face it, a death threat is kiddie grade terrorism. There's nothing defensible about it in these circumstances whatsoever. It is a form of assault, and it should be investigated and prosecuted. We could argue about what constitutes a threat (I'm not going to, but we could) but if you think it's okay to tell people that you're going to kill them, then you really are part of the problem. Words do have consequences, you are responsible for what comes out of your face, act accordingly. Obviously, the same goes for any other kind of expression. You're only responsible for other people's mental state as a result of your words if, in short, you are trolling. If your goal is simply to hurt them, that's not actually legal. It's a form of assault, and the law recognizes that in certain clear-cut cases.
Death threats are the children's version of terrorism. Only abject cowards engage in such pathetic behavior in an attempt to change others' actions, however they might feel about them. They might be justified if used to prevent violence. Not in this case.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Hey, I've got a fun fact for you:
Threats aren't protected under any nations' free speech protections. Zero of them.
Having stupid opinions, and insulting people are protected under: a great many.
Whether you pretend there's no difference or not, this is a long-settled question, and you need to grow up.
How much of a loser do you have to be to make death threats over anything remotely linked to video games?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
"they're not out there issuing death threats when the subject is global warming or football"
Yes, they are. Trolls are trolling every person in every topic. If you choose to only see some of them that is your bias.
The majority of people on the internet are under the age of 18... think about it for more than a second and you'll agree.
I went one better and googled it: http://www.statista.com/statis...
So, not really then.
The trolls seems to vary in age but most are adults. Just head over to YouTube and watch a few of their videos.
Think about it... someone can type words... on the Internet... and you're in an uproar.
That fact that it is only a minority going as far as death and rape threats suggests that such behaviour is extreme and unacceptable to most people, even with the shield of anonymity. Anyway, it goes beyond just typing stuff on the internet. When people post threats along with your home address you have little choice but to take it seriously and secure yourself.
This isn't about children screaming at each other, it's about people making credible threats that they have the means to carry out against. They must have spent time researching the crime to get her home address, it's not just an idle threat.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
destroying the lives of kids saying stupid things online.
Me? I'd call it a valuable life lesson.
The moment you target someone else, personally and by name, and threaten to kill them... that's a very clear and very obvious line. There's nothing slippery about it. Protection against threats like that is not a police state. It's called civilization. I don't care if the cesspools of the internet have been getting away with it up until now just because it didn't catch the public's eye. Enough's enough. This shit has got to stop, and frankly, it appears that the only way to make it stop is if people have a reasonable fear that there might be real-world consequences - that's something few people like to admit. Their rights stop right at the line where they start trying to ruin other people's lives.
It's pretty damn easy to pontificate about slippery slopes or a police state when you're not the one getting personally addressed death threats. Or aren't a women, who, coincidentally, happen to be a bit physically smaller and weaker on average than men and therefore are more vulnerable to physical assaults.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
You know, maybe GamerGate was sparked by those events, but it's really not about that any more for me. The moment the unbelievable misogyny and the death threats started, it overshadowed everything else. I don't care who was behind it. Frankly, I think it actually exposed a problem far worse than anything related to journalistic integrity, and that's the lack of even the most basic tenets of civilization in many of our online communities. And actually, it's not just relegated to GamerGate.
Ask any prominent female figure who's active online, and she'll probably tell you some eye-opening stories about online harassment. How about having pictures taking of your house along with implied threats? How about photos of your children Photoshopped with pornographic or violent content? That's stuff that's actually happened, and it's driven some women off the internet and out of the public eye entirely - which was probably the intent to begin with.
You wonder why the issue is only framed in terms of misogyny and harassment? Because people are getting doxxed and real, honest-to-God death threats are being made against them. You dismiss them as "anonymous", but seriously, who exactly signs a death threat with their real name? What distinguishes a "lol troll" death threat from a "legitimate" one other than the intent to kill in the minds of the senders? The notion that these women are sending themselves or making these threats up seems a bit far-fetched to me. In either case, whether an intent to kill is real or not, what is undeniably real is the intent to threaten and harass these people.
Do you know why GamerGate is being "buried"? Because compared to "journalistic integrity", women getting harassed with death threats is about a 100x bigger deal. It's not a mystery. Gamers who verbally attacked those women instead of articulating a message should have taken a page from Ghandi or MLK. If you take away your opponents ability to attack your methods, then all they have left is the ability to attack your message, and then you can compete on the merits of your arguments.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.