Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook

Online harassment and real harm: How to fix the biggest web bug

It should have been a celebration: Brittan Hecker would soon be graduating from college and heading to one of the top law schools in the country.

- 207 reads.

Online harassment and real harm: How to fix the biggest web bug

He turned his anger on Heller after a classmate who had unresolved feelings for him was denied admission to the same school. He created a manifesto entitled "A stupid b---h to attend Yale Law School" that he posted on a popular site for anonymous trolls. He urged them to do their worst.

Soon, strangers began to make derogatory and sexualized comments about her and posted her photos online. They threatened her. They posted her personal information. Heller was taken to class by FBI agents.

People say "Oh, log off." It's not worth reading. Heller said, "Don't read it." Heller turned her 15-year-old personal experience into a legal specialty and is a recognized expert in online harassment. "This is the 21st century and everyone has the right to use the internet to do their work, to have fun, or to express their opinions. It is not enough to tell people not read comments. This problem is not being discussed enough, and we must.

Online harassment is so common that it's hard to imagine the internet without it. Online toxicity can be found everywhere, from teen cyberbullying to authoritarian governments that silence dissent to teen cyberbullying, and women, teens, and religious and racial minority groups being the most vulnerable.

There is also evidence that the problem is only getting worse.

15% of Americans claimed that they were subject to severe or significant online abuse in 2014. This includes stalking, harassment, and physical threats. According to Pew Charitable Trusts studies, the percentage was 25% by 2021.

Journalists, teachers, journalists, police, and government workers all reported an increase in harassment online in the last year. This is because of the political polarization and pandemic that led to many people venting their anger and fear online.

A survey conducted by UNESCO/the International Center for Journalists found that nearly three quarters of female journalists had received threats or other forms online harassment. The survey surveyed more than 700 journalists from more than 100 countries. One fifth of respondents said that harassment escalated to physical abuse and assault.

With the growth of the internet, there are many more ways people can be targeted. This includes email, social media posts, direct messaging, and streaming video. With the advent of smartphones and the ubiquitous internet, harassment is now possible 24-7.

Tina Meier, who founded a foundation to educate parents and kids about online harassment following the death of her daughter in 2006.

Megan Meier, a thirteen-year-old girl, was bullied by Josh, a man she had met online. They had been having a relationship until one of them suddenly turned on Megan. "Everybody hates your," Josh wrote. "The world would not be the same without you."

Later, police discovered that Josh was an adult woman and the mother to Megan's classmate.

Although online harassment is widespread, polls indicate that all people are vulnerable to it. However, extensive research shows that women and people from minority backgrounds are more likely to be targeted. This is true even for those with disabilities, members of religious minorities, and members the LGBTQ community.

Pew found that online harassment is more common in women than it was for men. Pew found that women are more likely than men to report being victims of online harassment, as well as more severe abuses like threats of physical harm.

This is because many men don't understand the gravity of the sexualized insults, demeaning language and unwanted attention women face online. Gamergate is a coordinated harassment campaign against female game designers that started in 2014. It included threats of rape and torture as well as murder. Some women even hired security or fled to hide.

Online harassment is also used to harass journalists, dissidents, and other public figures around the world.

Maria Cardona, a political consultant, began to receive snide emails and direct messages after she started voicing her views on national news programs. Many of her critics focus on the notion that a Latina woman can be considered an authority in politics.

One message was: "I hope that you are raped, and have your throat cut."

Cardona said, "They want us to shut up, they want scare us, and they want us to intimidate them." She now locks her office after someone accosted her.

Anonymity can allow you to be cruel and not fear of any offline consequences. This phenomenon is known as the online disinhibition effects. It's why trolls are able to say things that they wouldn't say to someone face-to-face.

She asked for a meeting with her harassers as part of a 2009 settlement in Heller's case against them. One was a 17 year old boy who posted that he would like to gouge Heller’s eyes out and have sexual relations with her corpse.

Heller recalls that "they all basically said the same thing: they didn’t realize that their actions were affecting a person in such a way, and that they didn’t realize that there was someone on the other end of the screen." "And they all said, "I am so sorry."

In 1999, California passed the first national law against cyberbullying. Since then, most other states have followed California's lead. It can be difficult to enforce because the lines between harassment or free speech can sometimes be blurred. Many times, resources and training are not available to police or prosecutors.

According to tech companies, they are improving their ability to identify and stop harassment. Instagram, owned by Meta, a parent company of Facebook, has made several changes to reduce harassment. These include warning labels for abusive language, making it easier to report and block harassers, as well as making it easier to report them.

These moves are not enough. Ex-employee Frances Haugen leaked internal Facebook documents showing that executives are well aware of the potential for their products being used to harass others. According to an internal study, 13.5% of teenage girls said that Instagram makes it more difficult to commit suicide and 17% said it makes eating disorders worse.

Online harassment is a problem that affects everyone, but it's particularly problematic for children," Natalie Bazarova, a Cornell University professor who studies social media, said.

She stated that a multifaceted approach was required to address the problem. This includes legislation to require minimal safeguards from tech companies, technological innovations, and extensive education efforts such as simulations to teach teens how to spot cyberbullying.

There are technical solutions that include automatic systems that flag posts for signs or harassing language, such as all-capital letters and repetitive phrases. Or instituting a brief delay before users can reply to posts to give them time to cool down.

Heller stated that the internet, despite its "awkward age", is not the first invention to alter how people communicate.

She said that similar comments were made about the telegraph, telephone, and television. They all seemed to be saying they would ruin society. "They all were regulated around 25 years into their lives. These regulations didn't endanger the telephone, television, or radio.

Avatar
Your Name
Post a Comment
Characters Left:
Your comment has been forwarded to the administrator for approval.×
Warning! Will constitute a criminal offense, illegal, threatening, offensive, insulting and swearing, derogatory, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, indecent, personality rights, damaging or similar nature in the nature of all kinds of financial content, legal, criminal and administrative responsibility for the content of the sender member / members are belong.