Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Hacktivism isn't Serving Justice

Our world generally spends too much time worrying about what others are doing before thinking about themselves.  It is extremely out-of-line when everyone thinks they can play an authority figure.  The hacktivism dealing with the Cat Lady is an example of unknown people pretending to be authority figures.  What ever happened to good Samaritans?  If these hacktivists discovered Mary Bale and tipped her location to the police, then they would be doing justice.  However, they went to extreme measures to punish her much worse than the petty crime she committed.

"Stupid, petty crime + Bizarre Circumstances = Public Dismemberment/Viral Gold"
-The Ballad of Cat Bin Lady, Brenna Ehrlich

What makes this hacktivism worse is the fact that the hacktivists are anonymous.  No one can equally pull their dirt because technically they do not exist.  However, the "villains" are not spared anything.  Their addresses, phone numbers, and jobs are plastered all over the net for internet thugs everywhere to harass them.  This is not justice.  This is simply ignoring civil rights.  Not even the police disclose this information about felons.  If things continue in this manner, any one of us could wind up being prey to hacktivism for something minuscule.  I think the least hacktivists could do is expose themselves so we can put a name to the "hero."  It really should not be one-sided when it gets so dangerous as to cause someone to go into police protection.

2 comments:

  1. Good Samartians are getting to be less and less, scare of what might happen to them. But if more would step up, and tip off the police so they could do there jobs, to allow for justice to priveal. Hacktivists are nothing more then an anonymous vigilante.

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  2. "This is not justice. This is simply ignoring civil rights."

    This is not the justice we know but is the justice we would rather have? As, Mark pointed out in his post (http://issuesincyberspace.blogspot.com/2011/03/flesh-search-engine-vs-due-process.html#comments) the popularly accepted form of justice can change drastically over time.

    "Not even the police disclose this information about felons."

    Depending on the crime, e.g. a sexual-related offense, information is released to the public detailing your offense, current residence and sometimes your job. Check out the Michigan Sex Offender Registry @ http://www.mipsor.state.mi.us.

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