The dues of internet usage…
Working in the digital and social media space, everyone in this industry eventually comes across the little understood creature called the troll. Unlike the mythological beast that appears in Terry Pratchett and Harry Potter novels (or in your favourite role playing game), the internet troll is a very real, and very nasty creature. In the books and movies, trolls stick to the dark and dank recesses of the fantasy world to prey on unsuspecting travellers or wayward children, but the internet troll is far more bold and far, far more wicked. Unlike their mythical counterpart, the internet troll uses the anonymity of cyberspace to venture boldly into the public eye, and thrives on the reactions, misery and discord they can sow amongst unsuspecting online communities, rather than simply boiling their bones for meals.
Online trolling has been something that most of us have thought very little about. While we recognise a troll when we see one, it’s only been recently that we’ve started asking ourselves what kind of people would dedicate their time and resources into not only upsetting as many people about issues they most likely have no feeling about one way or another, but also prolonging these spiralling conversations for hours, sometimes days, on end. While story tale trolling, that is eating little children, billy goats and so forth was most likely illegal or at least frowned upon in its day, online trolling draws very little attention, at least from the authorities anyway. Until now.
If you haven’t heard the name Andrew Auernheimer (aka weev), then it’s a name that you will come across in years to come as online behaviour becomes increasingly less free from consequence. Sean Duffy may be less known, but probably should be more infamous. Let’s start with him. Duffy was prosecuted in late 2011 for internet trolling after he posted abusive messages about Natasha McBryde, shortly after her suicide. This was not Duffy’s first rodeo. He had developed a taste for posting offensive messages on YouTube and Facebook memorial pages for teenagers who had recently passed, some under very tragic circumstances. Although it not really known why Duffy posted the messages or what his interest in their lives or families outrage was, it was clear that he had never met or known the subjects of his trolling. His lawyer claimed that he suffered from Asperger’s syndrome (making it impossible for him to understand normal human reactions to his behaviour) and also from alcoholism and depression. But before we label internet trolls as mentally disturbed, let’s look at our other case.
Andrew Auernheimer is not primarily known for trolling, but there’s a reason he will become the poster boy for cyber bullying and harassment for the next generation (assuming nobody takes his place in online notoriety). Aurenheimer claimed responsibility for several high profile hacking incidents, notably involving Amazon and AT&T (for which he was later imprisoned, even though his prison sentence was later overturned). But the New York Times profiled him for a far more sinister campaign. From 2007, Auernheimer engaged in the lengthy harassment of software programmer, Kathy Sierra, by trolling her blog and public online presences, as well posting fake accounts of her career, including false claims that had been sex worker. As his harassment campaign drew more attention, Sierra began to receive threats from other trolls of death and sexual violence. Eventually Sierra disappeared online completely and did not return for 5 years. When Sierra did eventually return to the internet, her blog revealed the true reason why trolling is the perfect cybercrime.
In her account of her experience, Sierra mentioned how powerless victims of trolling are. Especially when dealing with technically proficient group of individuals who capable of crashing a website using a DDoS attack (this is a distributed denial of service attack using hacked slave machines to crash a site or server with thousands of requests per minute), you are essentially dealing with a group of people with the capacity and will to escalate infinitely. In the section of her blog post entitled “The Game is Fixed”, Sierra points out that a victim of trolling has only 3 options:
1. Leave (they win)
2. Ignore them a.k.a Don’t Feed the Troll (they escalate, make your life more miserable, DDoS, ruin your career - they win)
3. Fight Back (they win)
She also goes on to describe how trolling translates into the real world. Doxxing is when hackers and trollers publish personal information to encourage fellow trollers to harass the subject of their derision more directly. Swatting is using emergency services, like armed cops (SWAT) to burst into the subject’s home with potentially lethal force based on false reports. From there, it escalates to stalking, death threats and even physical violence. The point here is that trolls on this level not only have their own time and resources to devote to online harassment, but have willing hordes who are equally eager to devote their time to other’s misery.
If you’re thinking of cancelling all your online social media accounts and retreating to a cave in the mountains, maybe I’ve laid it on a little too thick. I doubt most people will ever experience this level of trolling or cyber bullying. But these extreme cases have prompted authorities and law makers to take a stronger stance towards making people more responsible for their online actions. British authorities recently issued strong statements regarding prosecuting online harassment, including social media. This followed feminist activist Caroline Criado-Perez being threatened with assault and rape over Twitter in July last year (which also led Twitter to offering stronger measures and penalties to prevent online harassment, even though they initially assumed no responsibility until the harassment escalated).
Michelle Chapman knows how serious the British are about ending cyber harassment. She was put in jail for trolling - herself. Chapman created fake profiles for her father and stepmother to support allegations that they were harassing and abusing her, initially resulting in their arrest. Once a forensic audit revealed her deception, she was put in prison for just under 2 years.
The days of the cloak of anonymity covering all our tracks on the internet are surely over. That may have a lot people up in arms, especially when privacy and personal information are so vitally important these days. But given how a small (but growing) minority people choose to use this privilege (and the potential harm they can do to people, families and businesses), perhaps it’s a sacrifice most would be willing to make.