Thursday, September 11, 2008
What are Trolls?
Trolls are people that go online under fasle identities and antagonize other people in community chat rooms, message boards and bloggs. They go as far as:
Sherrod DeGrippo, a 28-year-old Atlanta native who goes by the name Girlvinyl, runs Encyclopedia Dramatica, the online troll archive. In 2006, DeGrippo received an e-mail message from a well-known band of trolls, demanding that she edit the entry about them on the Encyclopedia Dramatica site. She refused. Within hours, the aggrieved trolls hit the phones, bombarding her apartment with taxis, pizzas, escorts and threats of rape and violent death. DeGrippo, alone and terrified, sought counsel from a powerful friend.
To prevent such events several states have put into effect the "the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act." What it does is make it a federal crime to communicate with the intent to cause "substantial emotional distress."
But how could this be really possible? Do we have enough policing on the internet? No of course not:
In order to prosecute, investigators must subpoena sites and Internet service providers to learn the original author’s IP address, and from there, his legal identity. Local police departments generally don’t have the means to follow this digital trail, and federal investigators have their hands full with spam, terrorism, fraud and child pornography.
Sherrod DeGrippo, a 28-year-old Atlanta native who goes by the name Girlvinyl, runs Encyclopedia Dramatica, the online troll archive. In 2006, DeGrippo received an e-mail message from a well-known band of trolls, demanding that she edit the entry about them on the Encyclopedia Dramatica site. She refused. Within hours, the aggrieved trolls hit the phones, bombarding her apartment with taxis, pizzas, escorts and threats of rape and violent death. DeGrippo, alone and terrified, sought counsel from a powerful friend.
To prevent such events several states have put into effect the "the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act." What it does is make it a federal crime to communicate with the intent to cause "substantial emotional distress."
But how could this be really possible? Do we have enough policing on the internet? No of course not:
In order to prosecute, investigators must subpoena sites and Internet service providers to learn the original author’s IP address, and from there, his legal identity. Local police departments generally don’t have the means to follow this digital trail, and federal investigators have their hands full with spam, terrorism, fraud and child pornography.
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Can we really pass laws to eliminate bullying? People are often mean. We already have laws against harassment and stalking, isn't that enough? Do we really need the kind of online surveillance which would be required to enforce cyber-bullying legislation?
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