Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of law and computer science at Harvard, says that people seeking justice online fall into distinct groups. There are those \u201cwho think they\u2019re the Bloodhound Gang and want to solve the case,\u201d like the thousands on Reddit piecing together clues about the Boston Marathon bombings. And there are those who believe that \u201cpeople aren\u2019t taking things seriously, either because of corruption or because in the eyes of the vigilante they have a form of bias\u2014\u2018They don\u2019t care, because of their values, and we\u2019re going to shame them into doing something about it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The Internet is uniquely qualified as a venue for public shaming; it is a town square big enough to put all the world\u2019s sinners in the stocks. Activists have gathered online to condemn advocates for abortion rights (and against them) in the United States, a cyber bully in British Columbia, a woman in South Korea who failed to curb her dog. In China, an army of vigilantes known as the \u201chuman flesh search engine\u201d exposes corrupt politicians and cheating spouses. \u201cBy the time people have torches and pitchforks, the system has gone wrong,\u201d Zittrain says. \u201cBut you do want a justice system that generates socially relevant outcomes. The reason we involve juries is that we want the community to be a piece of what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
via Ariel Levy: Was Justice Served in Steubenville? : The New Yorker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of law and computer science at Harvard, says that people seeking justice online fall into distinct groups. There are those \u201cwho think they\u2019re the Bloodhound Gang and want to solve the case,\u201d like the thousands on … Continue reading