Internet harassment in the modern age
When I was in college, some people thought it was a right fun prank to sign other people up for wildly-inappropriate catalogues and suchlike. These days they use the Internet for that. Any site that blithely accepts an email address without sending confirmation email to that address is contributing to the problem, big-time.
I know that already, but reading this article about a victim of the Ashley Madison breach -- spoiler alert: not an actual user -- reminded me how problematic this still is. Definitely worth five minutes of your time.
I want to ask you, Internet, to please stop taking all of this [supposed evidence] at face value. Please stop taking things like lists of names stolen from a company as a reason to abuse others - online or offline. When you see a story about someone doing something you think is either wrong or even just lame, it’s not a reason for you to abuse, stalk or attack someone you don’t know.
A friend whom I trust quite a bit not to be using their services is also on that list. So if you don't believe a random person on the Internet, there's that.
I know that already, but reading this article about a victim of the Ashley Madison breach -- spoiler alert: not an actual user -- reminded me how problematic this still is. Definitely worth five minutes of your time.
I want to ask you, Internet, to please stop taking all of this [supposed evidence] at face value. Please stop taking things like lists of names stolen from a company as a reason to abuse others - online or offline. When you see a story about someone doing something you think is either wrong or even just lame, it’s not a reason for you to abuse, stalk or attack someone you don’t know.
A friend whom I trust quite a bit not to be using their services is also on that list. So if you don't believe a random person on the Internet, there's that.