I see what you’re saying, but I think you’re thinking about it backwards. You’re assuming people will face negative consequences for their actions, and maybe some would, but there’s already people out in public with their real identities harassing others with impunity.
Imagine you gather a group of like-minded people on Xitter, and you and your buddies pick a trans person, who is simply sharing how they’re finally feeling like themselves, to harass publicly. And then they get harassment outside of Xitter from others via mail, phone calls, or email. Maybe somebody SWATs them. Maybe somebody finds where they work and vandalizes their car. All because it was easy to find out who they are.
Or imagine this scenario. You’re an adult trying to find a job, but you live with your parents, because you can’t afford rent anywhere. Your parents are Christian fundies. You are no longer convinced by Christianity, so you decide it’s time to secretly leave the religion and find a supportive community online. Somebody from their church sees you’ve joined The Atheist Community of Austin, tells your parents, and they kick you out (this has actually happened to people). All of this could have been avoided if you were able to keep your identity secret.
Free Speech as a right is too permissive in the US, imo, but privacy is a right we should continue to fight for regardless.
That’s true as well. Just because someone’s identity is no longer anonymous is not necessarily going to deter them from harassing and persecuting others. Certainly fox news doesn’t try to mask the identities of their bigoted loud mouth louts.
But I’m not saying that people should universally be banned from remaining anonymous if they are responsible and well meaning with their freedom. In the trans example you cite, I agree that you cannot expect humans not to target someone in vile ways, just because that person is somehow different (they really are not different) from themselves.
And I know people who have been kicked out of (so-called) “Christian” households just for coming out as gay (!) As if that was some kind of anethema or horror that just CAN’T be accepted, which just shows that these so called “Christians” are as evil and degenerate as anything they imagine gay people doing.
I’m not blind to any of these possibilities, I’m just expressing some ideas. Free speech certainly is too permissive in the U.S., but I don’t believe we can curb the vile Idiocracy that’s coming our way unless we expose the vermin who would kick people out of houses, target trans people, and otherwise hurt, harass or harm other people online or in real life.
If only because by exposing these dolts, we can perhaps get them some kind of professional mental help. They may not want it, but they certainly need it and our society can’t continue without them getting the help they need.
I like getting ideas out there, and I agree that there’s a definite problem with online harassment. If we had better laws that were specific to online harassment or percentage-based fines/jail time associated with doxxing, we might see some curbing of that kind of behavior. After all, even anonymous people can often be found by people willing to look hard enough.
But I’m not qualified to determine if that’s even a good idea. I just know that privacy shouldn’t be a bargaining chip, especially with so many people who would use its loss in bad faith to cause untold amounts of harm (bad politicians, trolls, domestic terrorists, abusers looking for their victims, etc.).
Me too and I often express ideas just to put them out there. Like anyone, I don’t necessarily want more laws to regulate our lives, but when people abuse their freedom and use it to hurt others, I just don’t see another way. I really believe in counseling as a help for anger issues that people otherwise take out on others online.
I suppose the whole privacy issue is a sticky wicket as they’d say in Britain. There’s two sides to every coin. I don’t want overregulation nor do I want any more people exposed to bad actors, trolls, all those you cited. But I think if you have an opinion and it’s valid, that’s enough to qualify you for putting your two cent’s worth, and speaking up is so critical in times like these.
I see what you’re saying, but I think you’re thinking about it backwards. You’re assuming people will face negative consequences for their actions, and maybe some would, but there’s already people out in public with their real identities harassing others with impunity.
Imagine you gather a group of like-minded people on Xitter, and you and your buddies pick a trans person, who is simply sharing how they’re finally feeling like themselves, to harass publicly. And then they get harassment outside of Xitter from others via mail, phone calls, or email. Maybe somebody SWATs them. Maybe somebody finds where they work and vandalizes their car. All because it was easy to find out who they are.
Or imagine this scenario. You’re an adult trying to find a job, but you live with your parents, because you can’t afford rent anywhere. Your parents are Christian fundies. You are no longer convinced by Christianity, so you decide it’s time to secretly leave the religion and find a supportive community online. Somebody from their church sees you’ve joined The Atheist Community of Austin, tells your parents, and they kick you out (this has actually happened to people). All of this could have been avoided if you were able to keep your identity secret.
Free Speech as a right is too permissive in the US, imo, but privacy is a right we should continue to fight for regardless.
That’s true as well. Just because someone’s identity is no longer anonymous is not necessarily going to deter them from harassing and persecuting others. Certainly fox news doesn’t try to mask the identities of their bigoted loud mouth louts.
But I’m not saying that people should universally be banned from remaining anonymous if they are responsible and well meaning with their freedom. In the trans example you cite, I agree that you cannot expect humans not to target someone in vile ways, just because that person is somehow different (they really are not different) from themselves.
And I know people who have been kicked out of (so-called) “Christian” households just for coming out as gay (!) As if that was some kind of anethema or horror that just CAN’T be accepted, which just shows that these so called “Christians” are as evil and degenerate as anything they imagine gay people doing.
I’m not blind to any of these possibilities, I’m just expressing some ideas. Free speech certainly is too permissive in the U.S., but I don’t believe we can curb the vile Idiocracy that’s coming our way unless we expose the vermin who would kick people out of houses, target trans people, and otherwise hurt, harass or harm other people online or in real life.
If only because by exposing these dolts, we can perhaps get them some kind of professional mental help. They may not want it, but they certainly need it and our society can’t continue without them getting the help they need.
I
I like getting ideas out there, and I agree that there’s a definite problem with online harassment. If we had better laws that were specific to online harassment or percentage-based fines/jail time associated with doxxing, we might see some curbing of that kind of behavior. After all, even anonymous people can often be found by people willing to look hard enough.
But I’m not qualified to determine if that’s even a good idea. I just know that privacy shouldn’t be a bargaining chip, especially with so many people who would use its loss in bad faith to cause untold amounts of harm (bad politicians, trolls, domestic terrorists, abusers looking for their victims, etc.).
Me too and I often express ideas just to put them out there. Like anyone, I don’t necessarily want more laws to regulate our lives, but when people abuse their freedom and use it to hurt others, I just don’t see another way. I really believe in counseling as a help for anger issues that people otherwise take out on others online.
I suppose the whole privacy issue is a sticky wicket as they’d say in Britain. There’s two sides to every coin. I don’t want overregulation nor do I want any more people exposed to bad actors, trolls, all those you cited. But I think if you have an opinion and it’s valid, that’s enough to qualify you for putting your two cent’s worth, and speaking up is so critical in times like these.