Justice on the Internet

I had two stories cross my view this morning, very different but touching on the same theme.

First this article, from Vox: From Gamergate to Cecil the lion, internet mob justice is out of control.

I find it very hard to disagree too strongly with much written in this article, though it should be stressed that Gamergate and the Cecil brigade are very different things, with only a little similarity in tactics tying them together.

Part of the issue with Cecil is an apparent lack of justice. This might be reduced a little with the news today that Zimbabwe is seeking extradition on poaching charges. But people don’t always read follow-up articles. One of the problems with the internet is that the out-of-date stories can get passed along just as easily as today’s news. But odds are most people will get the message, and hopefully once the real justice system starts churning the internet justice system and step it back a bit.

So if the similarity is in the tactics, what are the tactics? Boycotts, publishing contact information, denial of service attacks, and death threats.

Now I don’t have much problem with boycotts in general. I usually don’t pay enough attention to stick to one, but I admire the effectiveness of a well-done boycott. And certainly a boycott of someone who kills things for fun and is entrusted to sedate people seems like a reasonable idea. Publishing contact info… well, that’s a grey area. I’m not a fan of it, but it seems pretty likely that this guy’s contact info was up on his business website anyway. If they published his home address or phone number, then that’s a problem. May or may not be illegal, but definitely still a problem.

Death threats and denial of service attacks are all kinds of illegal, but this is where we run into a problem, and where I have to bring in this morning’s other news article: Hacker Sends Toronto Woman Creepy Pictures Of Herself Taken Through Her Own Webcam.

That headline says it all, eh? Well, almost all. The hackers in question are not expected to be punished in any way, because according to the Toronto police, they do not police the internet. Nobody does, really. Not except for major crimes, big thefts and drug trafficking and hiring hitmen. Death threats, though… even if the police could track someone down when no money changes hands, could they really get an extradition? These hackers have been possibly tracked down to Egypt, or maybe that’s just a cover for something else...

This lack of policing has come up time and again when it comes to harassment on the internet. Nothing is ever dealt with, and though the threats are usually empty, sometimes they turn out to be Elliot Rodger.

So it’s a lack of justice, real or perceived, that leads to the outrage. And it’s a lack of policing that leads to the worst excesses of the internet outrage mob. Somehow that Vox article didn’t put those two together. They never suggest the obvious: that policing be improved enough that death threats in the mail and death threats on the phone and death threats on the internet can all be treated equally. Rather Vox just wants us all to calm down, never be outraged, let whatever justice comes our way show up when it feels like showing up.

I suppose that might seem to them to be the best interim solution… that if policing will never come to the internet, then less outrage might be the best of the bad options. But I don’t think it’s time yet to give up on ever getting justice. The outrage might make the real-world justice system move a little faster. And the petty crimes might make the internet justice system get here a little sooner, too.