Internet 'trolls' will now face prosecution.

[WhiteFoxx]

What's wrong with having a healthy dose of racism and harassment on the Internet? It's the last bastion of American freedom.

[Kasierith]

What's wrong with having a healthy dose of racism and harassment on the Internet? It's the last bastion of American freedom.

The focus was a woman who had people spreading rumors that she was a drug dealer.... do you think American freedom should be allowed to incorporate spreading lies to everyone about people you don't like, resulting in their entire lives being destroyed?

[Methanar]

Agreed. But, there are thousands of people that don't know how to use FB filters/ that it has one/ that it'll block those people.

Then they shouldn't be on that horrible site.

Chances are they also don't know how their data is aggregated and then sold off to advertisers and how they are being manipulated and millions are being made off of people like them because they wanted to be part of the latest fad without giving it ever a second thought like "hey, maybe I SHOULDN'T just give away every single preference I have and ever single product I use and what its going on my my life (wedding, etc) for absolutely free to a company that makes 99.999% of its money from advertising"

[Kasierith]

Then they shouldn't be on that horrible site.

Chances are they also don't know how their data is aggregated and then sold off to advertisers and how they are being manipulated and millions are being made off of people like them because they wanted to be part of the latest fad without giving it ever a second thought like "hey, maybe I SHOULDN'T just give away every single preference I have and ever single product I use and what its going on my my life (wedding, etc) for absolutely free to a company that makes 99.999% of its money from advertising"

But that would require people acknowledging that being completely open about their personal lives makes them, well.... completely open about their personal lives! I mean, there are people who have been fired for posts they made about their work (including things like HIPAA violations) and dismissed from job interviews based on what they had on an open profile. There's also a fallacy about a right to privacy on the internet, like just because its the internet you should be free from all third parties.. when in reality, the lack of regulation means that you're vulnerable to such things

[Vanyali]

Then they shouldn't be on that horrible site.

Chances are they also don't know how their data is aggregated and then sold off to advertisers and how they are being manipulated and millions are being made off of people like them because they wanted to be part of the latest fad without giving it ever a second thought like "hey, maybe I SHOULDN'T just give away every single preference I have and ever single product I use and what its going on my my life (wedding, etc) for absolutely free to a company that makes 99.999% of its money from advertising"

Hey! Stop being all... people should be safe online! That is a place where we shall not go!

But really, I'd say a high percentage of FB users know but don't realize that what is on the internet is ON the internet, meaning anyone, anywhere, anytime can see them posting stupid shit that shouldn't be posted to the world. The internet is becoming commonplace, but people realizing exactly what it IS isn't as commonplace.

[Hellishreaper]

Think about it though, First all the people sending "Death Threats" and constantly abusing people will get prosecuted.. Who do you think is going to be targeted next? No doubt it will eventually get down to the "This guy said "your mom" to me and it made me cry! TELL ME HIS NAME." This is one of those things that once it starts, there will be no end.

[Kasierith]

Think about it though, First all the people sending "Death Threats" and constantly abusing people will get prosecuted.. Who do you think is going to be targeted next? No doubt it will eventually get down to the "This guy said "your mom" to me and it made me cry! TELL ME HIS NAME." This is one of those things that once it starts, there will be no end.

So do you think people should be allowed to continuously harass and spread damaging rumors about others online? What if someone started telling your friends and family that you were a thief and stealing from all of them, and you found out when they started not trusting you.. should they be free to do so because they used the internet as a medium?

[Methanar]

So do you think people should be allowed to continuously harass and spread damaging rumors about others online? What if someone started telling your friends and family that you were a thief and stealing from all of them, and you found out when they started not trusting you.. should they be free to do so because they used the internet as a medium?

Then use that fucking block/filter function that whatever the medium of communication has.

You don't need to waste real people's time and tax payer money because you're too fucking stupid to use the (usually big and red) button that says ignore/mute/ban/kick or any other myriad of names that prevents them from speaking to you.

Your friends suck too if they would believe the word of some anonymous person online without evidence or solid reason for saying what they're saying.

Welcome to the internet.

---------- Post added 2012-06-16 at 06:28 AM ----------

What's wrong with having a healthy dose of racism and harassment on the Internet? It's the last bastion of American freedom.

Don't worry, they're working on fixing that problem as soon as possible. They've just ran into some problems with people discovering their underhanded way of trying to achieve it.

[Kasierith]

Then use that fucking block/filter function that whatever the medium of communication has.

You don't need to waste real people's time and tax payer money because you're too fucking stupid to use the (usually big and red) button that says ignore/mute/ban/kick or any other myriad of names that prevents them from speaking to you.

Your friends suck too if they would believe the word of some anonymous person online without evidence or solid reason for saying what they're saying.

Welcome to the internet.

When was I talking about people I knew personally? I was giving a hypothetical to address his post, in relation to the event this article was based on. No need to get so emotional about it.

As for blocking people.... you can't block people you know from getting random emails, and you can't control what your friends do with their profiles. The circumstances where a person would be able to spread the slander represented in the article are not very common, but they do exist.. what if you were in an extremely intolerant community concerning homosexuals, and someone started telling everyone online that you were gay? Not to go into whether this is right or wrong (not the point of this thread), but that would be pretty harmful given the circumstances.

[Methanar]

To be completely honest I would capitalize on it make a huge shitstorm make everyone hate the city/etc for being homophobic and then get a bunch of money from pro gay groups and other donations for my "horrible mental anguish" or something.

And then once again, your friends suck if they just believe an anonymous email from someone they've never heard from before without any evidence or reason for saying it.

Also, I would like to know how they would get my friend's email address.

Yes I realize its not easy to figure out someone's stuff, I've done it before myself and I would link the txt files I have of all their shit here as proof. but then I'd probably get banned. Its as simple as inviting them onto vent getting their ip, open up http://www.myiptest.com/staticpages/.../how-about-you and then do some 20 minute social engineering/get their skype( offer to play league of legends or something)/infinite other possibilites really and then congratulations, you know their name, their internet company, their location, possibly a picture of them.

Then you can just go to town and bring up their facebook (bonus: you get to see if they're stupid or not at this point), if not then bring up some google archive and play around with that for a while until you find some details of their friends and then you can start bombarding them with photoshopped pictures that look incriminating.

Congratulations, you just trolled someone.

[Vanyali]

Then use that fucking block/filter function that whatever the medium of communication has.

You don't need to waste real people's time and tax payer money because you're too fucking stupid to use the (usually big and red) button that says ignore/mute/ban/kick or any other myriad of names that prevents them from speaking to you.

Your friends suck too if they would believe the word of some anonymous person online without evidence or solid reason for saying what they're saying.

Welcome to the internet

Here's a clue: FB isn't the only place people get bothered on :O

Yeah, you can block people from FB.

But, as the poster below points out, you can't block them from emailing your work/ your friends or posting on your online newspaper. You can't stop them from putting anything up they want anywhere. I mean, yeah, you can block them. Doesn't stop everyone else from reading it, just you. And YOU reading it generally isn't the problem, unless it's to the point where you're being spammed with random accounts by a single person.

As for your friends sucking because of a random accusation, it happens all the time. If someone walked up to your friends and say "hey, I saw him stealing x yesterday. The hell's his problem?" are they going to say "No way he'd never do anything like that ever he's an angel and would never!" if someone is straight-up telling them that you did something? Hell, would your boss believe it if someone is telling them you're doing something (hint: those are usually semi anonymous, depending on the circumstance)?

Shit, even if you're accused of pedophilia/ rape/ anything sexual even if you're clear you STILL get all the fun reactions from people not believing that you were innocent when the court determined you innocent.

[Skavau]

The DMCA is already misused to get people's personal details.

Why would this be any different?

[rederoin]

Wasn't meant as an insult, just an observation.

The intent of the law was what I meant rather than the OP.

Also, in regards to calling people pedophiles, it IS against the law currently. You cannot, in a public place, accuse someone of being a pedophile, committing a crime, or anything else that would ruin their reputation within their community or place of work. You cannot post such things publicly either, whether it's on the internet or on fliers throughout your neighborhood.

If it's true, you can say it/ put it anywhere. If it's false, you cannot. That is the (simplified version) law. It being posted on the internet makes no difference.

---------- Post added 2012-06-15 at 11:45 PM ----------



Agreed. But, there are thousands of people that don't know how to use FB filters/ that it has one/ that it'll block those people.

I was acteally reply'ing to a post that wanted everybodies IRL name attached to everything they post on the internet.