{"id":185,"date":"2008-08-22T13:45:20","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T17:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/?p=185"},"modified":"2008-08-22T13:45:20","modified_gmt":"2008-08-22T17:45:20","slug":"trolling-for-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/2008\/08\/22\/trolling-for-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"Trolling for Trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, a guest post by Daniel LaMagna, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children summer intern.<\/em><\/p>\n

This past summer I interned at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. While researching for an online communication mini-documentary the other interns and I were working on (Dr. Palfrey and Miriam Simun kindly contributed!), I came across Matthias Schwartz\u2019 fascinating New York Times Magazine article \u201cMalwebolence- The World of Web Trolling<\/a>.\u201d While this phenomenon is not directly related to online child safety, it raises some interesting issues with regard to ethical questions of online behavior. <\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s obvious that these particular web dwellers (on image\/message boards) are a pretty nasty bunch. They seem to really get their \u201clulz\u201d (naughty troll \u201ckicks\u201d) out of making other people miserable. As mentioned in the article, they don\u2019t simply tease or taunt or \u201cverbally\u201d abuse their \u201ctargets,\u201d but also threaten and harass them (both online and sometimes offline). If they want to be really rotten, they\u2019ll even steal someone\u2019s identity (social security number and all) and post it on an online public space for the world to see. This, of course, is criminal activity, but they\u2019ve found ways to use the anonymity of the internet to avoid getting caught. Some espouse philosophical theories\/ideals to justify their actions, but I think they\u2019re just saying this to either: <\/p>\n

1.\tLie and confuse others just for the sake of it (for the lulz)
\n2.\tRationalize their behavior
\n3.\tSound complicated and \u201cdeep\u201d (and way smarter than the rest of us)<\/p>\n

Apart from the purely vicious and \u201csee- how- bad- I- can- be\u201d elements, a lot of this meanness seems to be about social acceptance (from the other trolls) and posturing. When you read what they write or say (whether online or offline in Schwartz\u2019 interviews), they all seem to have one common tendency: to imagine (or at least want to imagine) themselves as all-powerful Internet gods. And with all their bragging and threatening and lusting for \u201clulz,\u201d it\u2019s pretty obvious that they, like most gods, want others to believe in their \u201cawesomeness\u201d as well. And thou best not question them or challenge them, for thou shall incur their wrath. Gulp. Note: See the nytimes.com reader\u2019s comments section on the article, and you\u2019ll find that they say this repeatedly. It\u2019s clear to me that despite their claims to the contrary, they desperately care about how they are perceived. <\/p>\n

For example, one of the trolls was clearly trying to impress Schwartz by picking him up in a Rolls Royce. Another troll took a picture of Schwartz\u2019s debit card number and proudly showed him the image of it on his cell phone. I guess it was supposed to make him seem \u201cdangerous.\u201d The segment of the article ends there; Curiously, Mr. Schwartz has no response. Maybe he was afraid that a little moral judgment would lessen the objectivity of his story? Or maybe he was afraid of what the trolls could do if they decided that he\u2019d make a nice \u201ctarget.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of any clear ethical or moral opinion from Schwartz has made the article, at least to me, seem to agree with the trolls boasts and add to their credibility and sense of empowerment. The implication was \u201cWow, this guy really is as scary as he claims to be. Don\u2019t mess with him.\u201d Unfortunately, this has probably achieved exactly what trolls wanted. It has elevated the \u201clegend\u201d of the invincible troll out from under the bridges and caves of cyberspace and into the mainstream consciousness. There is a good chance that, like offline criminals always have (pirates, outlaws, gangsters, etc\u2026), they will be both feared and admired (at least by some). For the first time in their lives, normal people might actually think they\u2019re \u201ccool\u201d (which is what they really want). Interestingly enough, I can\u2019t think of anything more \u201chuman\u201d (and less \u201cgodlike\u201d) than the desire to be acknowledged and \u201crespected\u201d by others.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s my opinion. I\u2019d like to hear your views on Schwartz\u2019 article and on internet trolls in general. And in particular:<\/p>\n

1.\tAre trolls dangerous? What threat do they pose to individuals and the Internet as a whole?<\/p>\n

2.\tWill their influence \u201cnormalize\u201d and\/or popularize deviancy (In a social, sexual, political, etc\u2026 context)? If so, to what extent?<\/p>\n

3.\tWhat effect could they have on mainstream society? <\/p>\n

4.\tHow can (or should) they be stopped? Should they be simply ignored, as some have suggested, or should they (especially those who commit crimes) be actively resisted (\u201ccounter-trolling,\u201d increased law enforcement efforts, etc\u2026)?<\/p>\n

5.\tOne troll referred to himself as \u201ca normal person who does insane things on the Internet.\u201d Do you think this statement reveals anything about the effects that online communication can have on people?<\/p>\n

6.\tYour other concerns?<\/p>\n

Visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children<\/a> or its NetSmartz Workshop<\/a> department if you are interested in learning more. The film featuring Dr. Palfrey and Ms. Simun will be posted on the NetSmartz website in (probably) a few months, after production is complete. <\/p>\n

– Daniel LaMagna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, a guest post by Daniel LaMagna, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children summer intern. This past summer I interned at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. While researching for an online communication mini-documentary the other interns and I were working on (Dr. Palfrey and Miriam Simun kindly contributed!), I came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1633,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2872,1],"tags":[17419],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-safety","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}