harassment
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Instagram lets anyone filter words out of comments
Instagram is making good on its promise to bring word filters to everyone. The photo-centric service has announced that anyone can now filter their comments to keep out abusive (or just plain annoying) feedback. If you're tired of dealing with harassment or "get more followers" spam, you won't have to spend ages blocking users or reporting individual comments. It's just a matter of choosing the right keywords to keep discussions civil.
Recommended Reading: Gaming's gender problems continue in VR
With VR mode, 'Dead or Alive' goes from creepy to harassment Allegra Frank, Polygon Earlier this week, we caught a glimpse of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 in virtual reality that's set to launch the same day as PlayStation VR. The game allows the user to continually touch a female character in a bikini even after she repeatedly asks them to stop. Dead of Alive has already garnered its share of attention for how it depicts and treats women, but now it rekindled the debate about what is and isn't okay when it comes to these virtual worlds.
Recommended Reading: The political media machine on Facebook
Inside Facebook's (Totally Insane, Unintentionally Gigantic, Hyperpartisan) Political-Media Machine John Herrman, The New York Times Magazine A barrage of political links, ads and other content has filled up your News Feed over the last few months. With each new election, the amount of noise seems to get worse and now that we have two candidates who both have quite a list of shortcomings, the chatter is at an all-time high. The New York Times Magazine takes a deep dive into how Facebook is serving as a massive political media machine and its influence on democracy in the US.
Twitter is working on a keyword tool to combat harassment
Harassment is one of the biggest problems facing Twitter right now. Some of the company's most popular and influential users have been driven off the platform because of some truly horrific, hurtful tweets. The problem hasn't gone unnoticed. Twitter has promised to do more to combat trolls, making it simpler to flag abusive tweets and banning controversial figures such as the conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos. Now, according to Bloomberg, it's working on a keyword filtering system that would allow users to hide tweets containing specific terms and phrases. If you've muted keywords before on TweetDeck or Tweetbot, you'll get the idea.
The Engadget Podcast, Ep 3: Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Editors Nathan Ingraham and Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to talk about Android Nougat, PlayStation 4 rumors and why Amazon would create an Echo-exclusive music service. Then the panel addresses the endless harassment faced by Leslie Jones, and use the word "garbage"... a lot.
Homeland Security is investigating the Leslie Jones hack
The Department of Homeland Security is looking into yesterday's hack of actress Leslie Jones' personal information and photos. Deadline reports DHS confirmed Thursday that its New York office has an open investigation into the attack, but the on-going investigation prohibited the release of any further information. Jones' website was hacked and nude photos from her iCloud account were posted there along with images of her passport and driver's license. This comes just weeks after the actress was attacked online following the premiere of the Ghostbusters reboot she starts in.
Hackers target Leslie Jones, post nude photos to her site
Leslie Jones, the Ghostbusters and SNL star who has been the target of vicious online harassment this summer, has fallen victim to a hack that compromised her personal photos and info. According to Variety, Jones' website was hacked and nude photos from her iCloud account were published to its front page. Images of her passport and driver's license have also been shared. Jones has yet to offer an official comment on the situation (either on Twitter or anywhere else) but her personal website is currently down entirely.
Kanye West, incest and Twitter's First Amendment conundrum
NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. On Nov. 11th, 2014, Kim Kardashian's ass broke the internet. Her iconic posterior, photographed by Jean-Paul Goude, graced the cover of Paper magazine and became an instant meme. Like a pillow-y flesh bomb, Kardashian's butt exploded into a firestorm of praise and disgust. The New York Times warned of the perils of a massive ass, while social networks and daytime talk shows teemed with hot takes about the young mother's butt.
Instagram should have had harassment prevention tools years ago
I was never sure when it was going to happen next. I'd open Instagram and see the heart-shaped notification icon lit up. Maybe three of you liked my latest #nofilter sunset shot! Except sometimes, instead of hearts, what I saw were comments from strangers. Usually mean ones.
Instagram is letting users filter words out of post comments
Twitter and Facebook have taken online harassment more seriously in 2016, though their approach is still light-handed, with the former taking years to finally ban one of its worst pitchfork-marshaling demagogues. Instead of coming down harder on moderation, Instagram is putting abuse-prevention in the hands of its users. They will soon be able to set up word filters, letting them control the tone of discussion below each image — or turn off comments in a post entirely. But is it enough to just let folks block triggering phrases?
Tor confirms sexual harassment claims against former developer
Jacob Appelbaum isn't going to get any sympathy from the Tor Project over allegations of sexual harassment. An internal investigation at Tor has determined that the claims against Appelbaum, who's accused of humiliating and intimidating women, are accurate. This doesn't mean that charges are forthcoming, but it makes Appelbaum's own denials (he portrays this as a conspiracy to slander his name) less plausible. Appelbaum quit Tor in May, right as the harassment accusations were coming to light.
Twitter permanently bans one of its most offensive users
Twitter has finally done it. After years of provocative actions, repeated suspensions and even an unchecking, Twitter has permanently banned conservative writer and Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos, from its service. Twitter's decision appears to come in response to Yiannopoulos leading an online trolling campaign against Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones. Jones has vowed to leave Twitter over her treatment, prompting a major online outcry.
Twitter makes it easier to block abusers (updated)
Twitter has already taken a few steps to curb harassment, but what about the basic act of blocking someone? That's getting easier, too. The social network is introducing an improved blocking experience that takes away some of the headaches: just go to the offending tweet, choose Block from the "..." button and that person vanishes from your timeline. It's not going to get rid of systematic abuse (such as people who create dummy accounts or put you on targeted lists), but it will help you get back to your regular tweeting a little bit sooner. Update: Twitter has chimed in to explain exactly what's new. Before, people you'd blocked could still see what you wrote through quotes and retweets. Now, it's a complete vacuum -- block someone and they can't see anything you say, even if someone else is quoting you.
Recommended Reading: Shoes that vibrate to guide your travels
These vibrating shoes guide your steps as you play tourist Maurizio Pesce, Wired Imagine all of the things you might notice on your next weekend trip if you weren't constantly staring at your phone to guide you. EasyJet's Sneakairs vibrate to let you know when to turn or if you've arrived at your destination using Bluetooth and the Google Maps API. And yes, they were made by the UK budget airline, which makes the project even more interesting.
Intel execs received threats over the company's diversity push
Intel's bid to promote company diversity is running into opposition... and some of it is particularly vicious. CEO Brian Krzanich told guests at a technology conference that it has received some hostility, including a "bit of a backlash" from within the company. There have even been threats against executives -- yes, the company that's trying to fight harassment is enduring some harassment of its own. It's not certain how serious those threats are, but it's safe to say that these weren't polite complaints.
Reddit's blocking tool now hides unwanted comments and posts
In a big step towards making Reddit a more welcoming community for everyone, and not just its hardcore users, the site just debuted an upgraded blocking tool. Previously, you could block Reddit users from sending you unwanted private messages, but now the feature also hides hide posts and comments from those Redditors as well. It's similar to Twitter's mute function -- you never have to see activity from a harassing user on the site, and they're also unaware that you blocked them (which could encourage them to continue harassing you).
Facebook fights harassment with impersonation alerts
Online harassment is bad enough by itself, but it can be particularly insidious when harassers try to impersonate you -- they can easily ruin your reputation with a few bogus posts. Facebook might just have a way for you to fight back, though. It's currently testing an impersonation alert feature that automatically warns you when it believes that someone is trying to mimic your account. If you believe there's an impersonator at work, Facebook will manually review the offender and shut them down.
Twitter is keeping its 140-character limit
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared on The Today Show on Friday to celebrate the company's 10 anniversary. While there, Dorsey confirmed to host Matt Lauer that Twitter's 140-character limit will not be expanded to 10,000 characters, as he had previously suggested. "It's staying. It's a good constraint for us," Dorsey said. "It allows for of-the-moment brevity." Of course, Dorsey also once said Twitter "never planned to reorder timelines next week," just days before announcing the new algorithmic timeline that's now rolling out for everyone.
US bill would train law enforcement to fight online harassment
People weren't just talking about how to deal with online harassment at SXSW -- they were also taking steps to put anti-harassment laws on the books. Representative Katherine Clark has unveiled a federal bill, the Cybercrime Enforcement Training Assistance Act, that would provide $20 million per year to law enforcement (including dispatchers, police and prosecutors) to equip it for tackling harassment and other internet crimes. An extra $4 million would go toward a national set of resources that would teach cops how to investigate these crimes and deal with their repercussions for women, the LGBT community and other groups.
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.
