cyberbullying
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Cyberbullying nets '13 Reasons Why' mature rating in New Zealand
New Zealand has come out hard in its opposition to Netflix's series 13 Reasons Why. The high-school-focused show centering on a girl's suicide and its aftermath already has content warnings ahead of certain episodes, but a recent edict by New Zealand's Office of Film & Literature Classification rules that Netflix "will now be required to display a clear warning in respect to the series, as well as in respect to each episode." This comes after the country's 2015 ruling that makes cyberbullying a punishable offense. Furthermore, the series has received the region's first-ever RP18 rating, which means unless viewers are 18 or older, they should watch the show with an adult.
Police make first arrest in Facebook Live sexual assault case
Law enforcement is taking sweeping action following a horrific sexual assault streamed on Facebook Live. Chicago police report that they've made the first arrest in the case, bringing a 14-year-old boy into custody. There will be more arrests soon, according to the CPD, including a 15-year-old who's next in line. Details of the case are mostly under wraps beyond a connection between the victim and one of her attackers (their age prevents disclosing some of the facts). However, it's already clear that the livestream wasn't the end to the internet-based trauma -- in fact, it's still ongoing.
A security expert's guide for digital domestic violence victims
Domestic abuse takes many forms. And given the future we live in, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that your digital life is another venue for intimidation. If you find yourself in such a situation where your phone is being used against you, Hack*Blossom has put together a guide for how to protect yourself from location stalking and text abuse, among other scenarios.
Twitter's next anti-abuse measure cordons off 'offensive' profiles
Twitter is taking another step toward curtailing abuse on the platform. But, it seems like the microblogging service is being a tad overzealous. Now, rather than just marking certain attached media as potentially offensive, it's doing so for entire profiles. Mashable first noticed it with tech analyst Justin Warren's profile. Everything was greyed out (header and profile pictures included) with a message reading:
UK issues new guidelines for punishing online trolls
Lawmakers in the UK are slowly coming to the realisation that online abuse can be just as damaging as its real-world equivalent. Last year, revenge porn became a specific crime, and the maximum prison sentence for internet trolls was increased from six months to two years. Acknowledging these serious cybercrimes is one thing, but it's also important to know what exactly constitutes a punishable offence. To this end, The Crown Prosecution Service is proposing an update to its Social Media Guidelines to help criminal prosecutors bring keyboard cowards to justice.
UK claims its spying bill will protect you from cyberbullies
When politicians want approval for controversial security measures, they sometimes like to lean on insecurities about your kids' safety -- the "won't somebody think of the children?" trope is so common that it became a joke in The Simpsons. And the British government isn't above using that tactic to get its draft Investigatory Powers Bill past critics, apparently. Home Secretary Theresa May tells a member of Parliament that the far-reaching surveillance legislation would help tackle the "pernicious" problems of cyberbullying and trolling. She claims that the bill would make it easier for police to pinpoint both the harassers and their victims, making it harder to threaten someone anonymously. See? Your young ones will be safer!
An insurance provider is offering cyberbullying coverage
A high-end insurance provider in the UK has become what's thought to be the first to include personal cover for victims of cyberbullying. Chubb Insurance -- unrelated to the lock and security system companies of similar name, if you were wondering -- began offering the so-called "troll insurance" to new customers last month, and will extend the option to policy renewers in the new year. While some other providers will cover the cost of launching or defending a cyberbullying lawsuit, Chubb's policy focuses on the wellbeing of the adult or child on the receiving end of online abuse.
SXSW cancels online harassment panel, because of harassment
Online harassment is a real world problem, and you don't need to look any further than a cancelled South by Southwest Interactive panel for more reasons why. Citing "numerous threats of violence" the SXSW planning team has annulled "Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games" at next March's event according to an email sent to panelists that was obtained by Jezebel. What's more, the festival has cancelled a pro-GamerGate panel, dubbed "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community," as well. An official statement from the organizers says that since announcing the two panels they've been inundated with threats of on-site violence and in the interest of keeping the marketplace of diverse people and diverse ideas (their words) safe, the best way to do that was simply not act as a venue for the discussions. "Maintaining civil and respectful dialogue within the big tent is more important than any particular session," the statement reads.
New Zealand makes cyberbullying a crime
New Zealand has passed a law that criminalizes one of the least desirable facets of the internet: cyberbullying. The legislation effectively prohibits sending messages to people that are racist, sexist, critical of their religion, sexuality or disability. The rest for determining harm will be if these communications were designed to cause "serious emotional distress," and if a person is found guilty, could face up to two years in jail. In addition, the bill creates a separate crime of incitement to suicide, which will see a person jailed for up to three years if they are found to be encouraging such an act.
'#Notifications' is a weak attempt at simulating online abuse
Spend enough time on social media and you're bound to make a mistake that'll piss a few people off. It's pretty much inevitable. That's what the free indie "game" #notifications is all about. It begins the way many of us start our day: lying in bed, checking Twitter ("Twiddler" in this case) on a smartphone. There's a single eponymous notification for you at this point: a favorite on a tweet from the night before reading, "Tomorrow's going to be good, I can feel it!" That was incredibly short-lived.
GamerGate target working with 'major social media' to end online abuse
Along with game developer Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian is likely one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to online harassment. Both have been targets of intense cyber-abuse campaigns stemming from the GamerGate movement, and like Quinn, Sarkeesian is tackling the problem head on. She's going to continue giving speeches and making videos examining media (what she calls public efforts), but the digital abuse she's receiving has changed her long-term goal: "There is also work being done behind the scenes in private meetings and consultations with major social media and gaming platforms, and by partnering with other organizations to form a task force with the goal of ending online harassment."
GamerGate target starts online harassment prevention program
Despite Twitter making it easier to report cyber harassment, its measures still fall woefully short. To wit, game developers Zoe Quinn, one of GamerGate's biggest targets, and Alex Lifschitz have teamed up to form an online abuse help network. Crash Override says its goal is to provide a support network for victims of SWATting, doxxing and other maliciousness both preventatively and reactively. It accomplishes this by using "well-established, humane and transparent channels to disempower abuse and reduce the ability abusers have to perpetuate it." The outfit notes that in its trial runs it's effectively helped abuse targets head off SWATting attempts and lock down their personal information, too, all without resorting to more harassment. What's more, Crash Override counts whitehat hackers, infosec professionals and lawyers among its agents.
UK wants tougher prison sentences for internet trolls
Online harassers in the UK may soon face much harsher consequences for their scare tactics. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling tells the Daily Mail that a newly proposed measure will let magistrates send cases of internet abuse and threats to crown courts, boosting the maximum prison time for those cases from six months to two years. The measure likely won't intimidate the most determined of trolls if it takes effect, but it could serve as a warning to "casual" abusers who don't think they'll pay a price for their long-distance hate campaigns. Given how nightmarish internet threats have become as of late, the proposed tougher sentencing might be well-timed. [Image credit: Eirik Solheim, Flickr]
EVE Evolved: Eleven years of EVE Online
It seems that every year another few MMOs have closed their doors or convert to free-to-play business models to stay afloat. EVE Online has always enjoyed a level of insulation from these market trends elsewhere in the genre, and just last week on May 6th it celebrated its 11th year of year-on-year subscription growth. Following on from my previous column celebrating the EVE Evolved column's sixth year of operation, this week I'll be summarising all the major EVE news stories throughout the year. It's been a big year for EVE fans, one that many of us can be proud to have been a part of. The EVE community turned its financial wizardry toward the real world and raised over $190,000 US in relief aid following a typhoon hitting the Philippines, and CCP even built a monument dedicated to the community. Several massive player battles once again put EVE on the global media's radars, and the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions revitalised the game for explorers and PvPers alike. But not everyone can hold his heads up high this year, with details of more cyberbullying within EVE coming to light and several players being banned for defacing the EVE monument in Reykjavik. In this anniversary retrospective, I summarise all the major EVE news from the year in one place and take a look at what the future may hold for the EVE universe.
Here's some of the cyberbullying that happens in EVE Online
EVE Online griefers have grabbed their share of headlines during the game's first decade, but rarely have the masses gotten a chance to witness them in action. Now you can, though, thanks to a player named Erotica 1 who has publicized an audio recording of a "Bonus Round" scam being carried out via voice chat. Jester at EVE News 24 has the full story as well as a link to the Soundcloud file. It's worth noting that portions of the audio are NSFW due to graphic language. [Thanks Max!]
Alt-week 7.14.2012: Bleeping sheep and ATLAS art
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. While there might not quite have been the epic science news that we had last week, that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty going on in the world of Alt. In this installment we get to see how CERN tricks out its offices, how one farmer tries to keep his flock, and learn about how the military will be high-tailing around the planet in just a few years. This is alt-week.
'Retweet,' 'sexting' added to Oxford English Dictionary, alongside words that are actually words
Every so often, Chuzzlewitt, Figglesworth and the rest of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary's Council of Elders gather around a stone in Puddingshire, where they come up with ways to modernize the English language. New words are added, archaic ones are cut, goats are sacrificed. It's all very messy -- especially when internet lingo gets involved, as is so often the case. It's no different this year, with the latest class of inductees including words like "retweet," "sexting," and "cyberbullying." Also making the cut is "woot" (which is apparently spelled without zeroes) and "surveil," which was added primarily as a reflection of today's privacy-conscious society. In fact, the dictionary's purveyors say they make their decisions based not on intuition or cage match results, but on cultural ubiquity, which they gauge using a database of more than two billion words culled from contemporary sites. So if you're wondering why words like "jeggings" and "mankini" are now part of the English tome, you have only the internet to blame.
WiFi hacker lands 18-year prison sentence, sex offender status for campaign of cyber vengeance
Look, we understand that being accused of pedophilia is horrible but, if you're not keen on spending time in the pokey, it's probably not best to exact your revenge by hacking and framing your accusers for making terrorist threats or downloading child pornography. That was the unfortunate route chosen by Minnesotan Barry Ardolf, whose neighbors Matt and Bethany Kostolnik went to the police after he allegedly kissed their four-year-old son on the lips. Ardolf broke into the couple's Wi-Fi and e-mail accounts, and used them to post porn on MySpace, send threats to Joe Biden, and explicit come-ons to Matt's coworkers. Now the 46-year-old cyberbully is facing 18 years in prison, a tough sentence for a first time offender sure, but an investigation revealed the Kostolniks were not his first victims. In addition to his lengthy stay in jail Ardolf will also have to register as a sex offender -- an irony we're sure isn't lost on him. [Thanks, Alan] [Image courtesy Jason Morrison]
MMO Family: 17 internet safety tactics for gaming families
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family. From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. "Be careful, there's nasty stuff out there on the internet." It's frustrating to hear this warning clarioned over and over again. We're gamers ourselves, after all. We know easily children can get in over their heads on the internet. "Be careful," intone the experts. "Watch carefully, and be very, very careful ..." But how? What must we be careful to do? To not do? What does "being careful" mean in actual practice? Specific online safety tactics – and putting them into practice without driving anyone crazy in the process – become an epic quest reward that always manages to stay two turn-ins out of reach. As we mentioned last week, your main objective as the parent of a young MMO player is to remain figuratively logged in to their activity. When children are online, parents cannot afford to be figuratively AFK. We're not suggesting you pull up a chair and some popcorn to faithfully oversee kids' every move online. No child needs direct supervision to kill 10 rats (or pick 20 flowers or befriend 30 fairies or frag 50 enemies ...). But young gamers do need your boundaries and your guidance (as well as your feedback, your enthusiasm and your support). Just how strong the boundaries should be will depend on the age of your child and the game that they're playing. Apply common sense, based on your own MMO experience, along with these 17 tactics for safe online gaming.
Mobiles blamed for cyberbullying, dubbed 'offensive weapons'
As if the UK didn't have enough gadget-related mischievousness going on, here's another liter of fuel for the perpetual fire. NASUWT -- that's the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers for those out of the loop -- is suggesting that mobile phones be classified as "potentially offensive weapons" and banned from school premises, all because a select few students found it necessary to use their handset to engage in "cyberbullying." Apparently, some students have used the camera function in their phones to snap pictures of their instructor, only to then post said images on "rating websites that can damage teachers' self esteem and careers." Sheesh, first iPods, now mobiles -- what are kids to do? Study?[Image courtesy of Textually]
