Defamatory remarks, racial slurs, and attacking comments and threats are YouTube's daily dose. Unlike Facebook, YouTube pays much less attention to comments, and rarely are demeaning remarks deleted. Though, with the like/dislike or spam options comments can be hidden but it doesn't do much when you have other people liking the comments or repeating or agreeing with them.
I just watched a video on YouTube about a black jail activist with as much comment fervor as any other politically charged clip. The comments were a mix of supportive and critiques until I got to one from a Romanian neo-Nazi calling for the U.S. to stop "africans and mexicans from coming to the U.S....because it will look like Somalia or Angola." She unapologetically said it was the truth even if people got offended. I went a step further to her page. She had limited information on it. No real name, just a pseudonym. Location was chosen as Romania and no other information. Not even videos done by her. She is obviously enjoying the anonymity of the online world.
The greatest of the advantages the Romanian woman is enjoying is security. Her identity is undisclosed, and details about her are not that easy to obtain by most, especially since she is in another country. Secondly, her freedom of expression is secured by the anonymity of the internet experience. She can voice anything she wants with the relief that her identity will remain whatever way she chooses to portray herself as.
In a more positive note, many political activist in countries where freedom of speech is limited can enjoy that security to an extent. If they are internet savvy, they can manage to escape authorities while informing others and building support for their causes.
On the other hand, online anonymity can lead people to impersonate others which can be detrimental to the subject's reputation or take on an anonymous or different personality to bully or hurt others. By impersonating Lori Drew on a blog, Jason Fortuny was able to defame her even more about the Megan Meier case. If he hadn't come out clean about who he was, her case judge would've not been able to overturn her sentence. It could've hurt her more in the end. By the same token, online bullies like Fortuny and Weev can take on different personalities for the sake of their amusement or to deliberately hurt people. Fortuny's Craigslist scam was a malicious act to deliberately expose these men that were just looking to meet a woman interested in them. They lost relationships and jobs just because Mr. Fortuny thought it was funny to do so.
In my view, people like Fortuny use trolling as a way to release their own emotions, and they feel empowered by hurting others and then blame them for taking it seriously. It's never their fault according to them because, in their minds, people should learn to be bothered, offended, and hurt and not take it personal. Further, trolling allows people to let their repressed feelings or ideas run wild for a bit. It somehow liberates them from their socially constructed persona built around certain expectations and political correctness. In the end, online trolls are looking for a way to release themselves in an environment where they they think their actions will have no consequences.
The phenomena of trolling has emerged in an environment that allows freedom of expression while keeping anonymity. By the virtue of the internet being an open place for debate with little laws, that are not easily to enforceable, it has enabled people such as Fortuny to engage in anonymous online activity while allowed them to take their insecurities on targeted users.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to really know if an online user is legitimate. For instance, email accounts can be opened with false information. Thus, allowing people to take on different identities. Also, many websites keep privacy guidelines to secure the activity of their users, making it hard for other to obtain validation of a person. The online community is a vast place for information exchange which greatness rests on its anonymity and relatively secure usage. Nonetheless, it is a place were almost anything goes which can ruin lives and reputations.
In conclusion, cyber bullying and trolling is not something that we can completely avoid. These negative consequences of the benefits of anonymity and open expression can be fought with guidelines for online use. Yet, even with such guidelines it can now be seen that people cross the line without impunity. Instituting laws against trolling can lead to serious loss of freedom on the internet. However, for severe cases laws should be made to protect victims and punish the trolls/bullies. To find a middle ground, online communities must devise plans to fight trolling and bullying that target their own niches. For instance, sites can require that users enter the website from their own computers or validate the user if they are switching computers. Another example is to severely punish users who impersonate someone by banning their IP addresses, email address, etc. Educating the public about dealing with trolls so their activities are not interrupted. Also, publicly exposing bullies and trolls to make others aware of who they are and the tactics and information they use. Finally, making it easier for people to report abusive users such as in the case of Megan Meier, and punish wrong doers to the extent of their crime.
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to agree with you that this isn't something that can ever be avoided. Even potential solutions like "banning their IP addresses, email address, etc." are not truly effective. Users can easily reset their IP addresses. They can easily make a new e-mail address. The address they're using was probably specifically created for mischief in the first place anyway. It's hard to track these people down and even harder to do anything about it once you do.