Anyone involved in any kind of activism, bloggers and even casual internet users need to be aware of "internet trolls". They are a scourge to the online community and can, in some instances wreak great havoc upon a person or group. Sometimes, their activities can even be dangerous. Trolls come from all walks of life and they have many different agendas. Some are politically motivated, hired by corporations and in some cases, even the government, to try and discredit people and sources who provide valid and vital social discourse-often this is done to confuse the issues and the general public.The best thing to do is IGNORE them, thus the saying "Don't feed the trolls". The worst thing you can do is try to engage them and try and reason with them. You will find that trolls are not at all resonable and interacting with them often only escalates their attacks.
So, what exactly is trolling?
“ Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they — and the troll — understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.
Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community.
Source: Judith Donath (1999)
Mainstream media outlets have focused their attention on the willingness of some Internet trolls to go to extreme lengths in their attempts at eliciting reactions. Often, trolling can lead to seriously egregious and even dangerous activity. Especially given the fact that a great majority of trolls suffer from anti-social personality disorder. One of the most common threats trolls pose to legitimate interest groups and individuals is cyber-bullying-which is illegal in nearly all states and at the Federal level. Federal prosecution is usually the desired venue for prosecuting cyber-bullies because they are using telecommunications to facilitate their behavior in additon to living in differing states or jurisdictions.
Cyber-bullying/Cyber-Harassment is "the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others". As it has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it. Although there are laws in place to protect against cyber-bullying, most law enforcement agencies are not knowledgeable or trained to effectively deal with and prosecute such individuals. Often, law enforcement's actions are reactionary only- responding and prosecuting after a crimehas been committed usually resulting in death or suicide of the targeted victim.
Harmful effects
Research had demonstrated a number of serious consequences of cyber-bullying victimization. For example, victims have lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, retaliating, being scared, frustrated, angry, and depressed.
One of the most damaging effects is that a victim begins to avoid friends and activities, often the very intention of the cyber-bully.
Cyber-bullying campaigns are sometimes so damaging that victims have committed suicide. There are at least four examples in the United States where cyber-bullying has been linked to the suicide of a teenager.The suicide of Megan Meier is a recent example that led to the conviction of the adult perpetrator of the attacks.
Intimidation, emotional damage, suicide
The reluctance youth have in telling an authority figure about instances of cyber-bullying has led to fatal outcomes. At least three children between the ages of 12 and 13 have committed suicide due to depression brought on by cyber-bullying, according to reports by USA Today and the Baltimore Examiner. These would include the suicide of Ryan Halligan and the suicide of Megan Meier, the latter of which resulted in United States v. Lori Drew.
Lost revenue, threatened earnings, defamation
Studies are being conducted by large companies to gauge loss of revenue through malicious false postings. Cyberstalkers seek to damage their victim's earnings, employment, reputation, or safety. A 2008 High Court ruling determined that, generally speaking, slander is when a defamatory statement has been made orally without justification. Libelous statements are those that are recorded with some degree of permanence. This would include statements made by email or on online bulletin boards.
Adults and the workplace
Cyber-bullying is not limited to personal attacks or children. Cyberharassment, referred to as cyberstalking when involving adults, takes place in the workplace or on company web sites, blogs or product reviews.
A survey of 1,072 workers by the Dignity and Work Partnership found that one in five had been bullied at work by e-mail and research has revealed 1 in 10 UK employees believes cyber-bullying is a problem in their workplace.
Cyber-bullying can occur in product reviews along with other consumer-generated data are being more closely monitored and flagged for content that is deemed malicious and biased as these sites have become tools to cyberbully by way of malicious requests for deletion of articles, vandalism, abuse of administrative positions, and ganging up on products to post "false" reviews and vote products down.
Cyberstalkers use posts, forums, journals and other online means to present a victim in a false and unflattering light. The question of liability for harassment and character assassination is particularly salient to legislative protection since the original authors of the offending material are, more often than not, not only anonymous, but untraceable. Nevertheless, abuse should be consistently brought to company staffers' attention.
Common tactics used by cyberstalkers is to vandalize a search engine or encyclopedia, to threaten a victim's earnings, employment, reputation, or safety. Various companies provide cases of cyber-stalking (involving adults) follow the pattern of repeated actions against a target. While motives vary, whether romantic, a business conflict of interest, or personal dislike, the target is commonly someone whose life the stalker sees or senses elements lacking in his or her own life. Web-based products or services leveraged against cyberstalkers in the harassment or defamation of their victims.
The source of the defamation seems to come from four types of online information purveyors: Weblogs, industry forums or boards, and commercial Web sites. Studies reveal that while some motives are personal dislike, there is often direct economic motivation by the cyberstalker, including conflict of interest, and investigations reveal the responsible party is an affiliate or supplier of a competitor, or the competitor itself.
A number of businesses and organizations are in coalition to provide awareness, protection and recourse for the escalating problem. Some aim to inform and provide measures to avoid as well as effectively terminate cyber-bullying and cyber-harassment. Anti-bullying charity Act Against Bullying launched the CyberKind campaign in August 2009 to promote positive internet usage.
Firms have developed tools to help parents combat cyberbullying. In 2008, the company Vanden unveiled a tool that allows children to instantly notify selected adults when they are bullied or harassed online. CyberBully Alert also documents the threatening message by saving a screen shot of the child's computer when the child triggers an alert. CyberPatrol and LookBothWays are two firms that keep up with internet trends.
In 2007, YouTube introduced the first Anti-Bullying Channel for youth, (BeatBullying) engaging the assistance of celebrities to tackle the problem.
Mossley Hollins High School in Manchester has recently taken the national lead in developing resources and material in the UK for schools and services to use. Will Aitken, coordinator of ICT, recently organized the countries first cyber-bullying awareness day for students and parents.
In March 2010, a 17 year old girl named Alexis Skye Pilkington was found dead in her room by her parents. Her parents claimed that after repeated cyber-bullying she was driven to suicide. Shortly after her death, attacks resumed. Members of an online website forum, referred to as "eBaums World", "Baums", and "EB", began trolling teens' memorial pages on the social networking site Facebook. Comments included expressions of pleasure over the death, with pictures of what seemed to be a banana as their profile pictures. Family and friends of the deceased teen responded by creating Facebook groups denouncing cyber-bullying and trolling, with logos of bananas behind a red circle with a diagonal line through it.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-bullying
If you or someone you know is being harassed or bullied, you should immediately report it to police. WiredSafety.com also offers some wonderful resources and support for those suffering from cyber bullying and harassment victimization. CLICK HERE to be redirected to their site.
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cause stalking, cyber bullying, cyber harassment, cyber stalking, danger, gang stalking, illegal, internet, online, targeted individuals, trolling, trolls, wiredsafety
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