Slashdot Mirror
New Campaign Features Internet Trolls On Roadside Billboards (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A campaign taking shape in Brazil seeks to fight online harassment in an unusual way: by posting the abusive comments on real billboards. "The group collects comments from Facebook or Twitter and uses geolocation tools to find out where the people who have posted them live. They then buy billboard space nearby and post the comments in huge letters, although names and photos are pixelated." Brazil has laws prohibiting racial abuse, but this group doesn't think the government is doing enough to stop it. The campaign's founder said, "Those people [who post abuse online] think they can sit in the comfort of their homes and do whatever they want on the internet. We don't let that happen. They can't hide from us, we will find them."
The meaning of trolling has changed now from "pretending to take an inflammatory stance on a subject with the intent of pissing people off" to "offending people".
But you're right in that whichever definition you use, this seems like a bad idea. If the "troll" fits in the traditional definition, they've basically won the game by getting someone so riled up that they took out an entire billboard about it and put their comment in a kind of hall of fame. If they fit the modernized definition and actually believe their own nonsense, they'll probably be happy to see their comments reaching a wider audience.
Best case it might raise awareness in parents in the sense of them seeing it and thinking "that's terrible! I wonder what timmy posts online?" and maybe looking at their kids comment history for once.