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Jake Swearingen writes at The Atlantic that the Internet can be a mean, hateful, and frightening place - especially for young women but human behavior and the limits placed on it by both law and society can change. In a Pew Research Center survey of 2,849 Internet users, one out of every four women between 18 years old and 24 years old reports having been stalked or sexually harassed online. "Like banner ads and spam bots, online harassment is still routinely treated as part of the landscape of being online," writes Swearingen adding that "we are in the early days of online harassment being taken as a serious problem, and not simply a quirk of online life." Law professor Danielle Citron draws a parallel between how sexual harassment was treated in the workplace decades ago and our current standard. "Think about in the 1960s and 1970s, what we said to women in the workplace," says Citron. "'This is just flirting.' That a sexually hostile environment was just a perk for men to enjoy, it's just what the environment is like. If you don't like it, leave and get a new job." It took years of activism, court cases, and Title VII protection to change that. "Here we are today, and sexual harassment in the workplace is not normal," said Citron. "Our norms and how we understand it are different now."
According to Swearingen, the likely solution to internet trolls will be a combination of things. The expansion of laws like the one currently on the books in California, which expands what constitutes online harassment, could help put the pressure on harassers. The upcoming Supreme Court case, Elonis v. The United States, looks to test the limits of free speech versus threatening comments on Facebook. "Can a combination of legal action, market pressure, and societal taboo work together to curb harassment?" asks Swearingen. "Too many people do too much online for things to stay the way they are."
(Score: 2, Informative) by archfeld on Thursday October 23 2014, @11:59PM
OMG someone called me names online. I should run away and hide. While I agree in principle that stalking; the purposeful seeking out of a specific person to continually harass is bad, people need to get a grip and grow some thicker skin. Just as in real life not everyone is going to like you or be polite but people, especially young people need to realize that life is FAR from fair. If they are raised in a bubble, what are they going to do when they get older and realize that even if they do EVERYTHING right, you will still lose, quite often in fact. This age of zero tolerance (read : zero common sense) has become an epidemic of idiocy and is leading to people who can't function in the real world. There is a reason you don't share every little detail about your life online, or to random strangers you met 5 minutes ago, and just because someone issues a "friend" request doesn't mean that they really are your friend or have anything but their own interests at heart. I don't have kids, though I do have a whole boatload of nieces and nephews and they have been brought up in the real world, taught not to trust some stranger they just met, and to deal with the disappointment that comes with living. Little kids, and big kids for that matter can be cruel, the world can be cruel, but that is a basic fact of life, always has been and despite the over-protective helicopter parents of today will always be so...
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Friday October 24 2014, @12:21AM
Exactly.
Growing a skin is the first requirement for being on the internet, or opening your mouth in a crowd.
This isn't even about trolling.
Ethanol-Fueled is a troll, raises trolling to an art-form, actually.
Stocking an harassment isn't really trolling.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 24 2014, @02:40AM
> Ethanol-Fueled is a troll, raises trolling to an art-form, actually.
Yeah, he's the C M Coolidge of trolling alright.
(Score: 2) by strattitarius on Friday October 24 2014, @03:35PM
Second, harassment doesn't mean some random dude on the internet cursed at you and said mean things. Even a death threat doesn't immediately constitute harassment.
Third, STALKING, in it's true form can't really exist on the internet, or at least not in the ways I think they are claiming it is occurring. Maybe Hugh doesn't get this, but Facebook is essentially a public space. If it had a physical manifestation, it would be the equivalent of a Mall, Library, or Starbucks. Yes it is privately owned, but since they welcome anyone in, it is treated as public space in many ways. Guess what? You can't be stalked if the only time someone "stalks" you is when you go to the mall. Want a private place on the internet? Register a domain, install wordpress, and have at it. Guess what... it's boring after a while.
And finally, this is exactly why we can't have true freedom. Because we want security, safety, and niceness more. And the powers that be have no issue ensure your security; they just need to be able to do a few more things...
Slashdot Beta Sucks. Soylent Alpha Rules. News at 11.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 24 2014, @03:45PM
If you think your data is only sent to facebook if you are at a facebook page, you're extremely delusional. Every page that has a facebook like button causes your browser to send information to facebook, telling them that you visited that page. Even if you don't click the button.