Instant Justice
Over the last weekend, an expat working in Singapore got himself into hot soup by having a rant on Facebook over the lack availability of Pokemon Go in Singapore which escalated into a rant on Singaporeans. What he wrote on the Facebook was inappropriate but not important. What is important was the speed which the entire saga unfolded within a weekend.
First there was a post on Facebook which led to an exchange with a lady that went on for about 3 hours. Shortly after the exchange, another Facebook uploaded the exchange on to a popular Singaporean Internet forum. Shortly after that upload, an enterprising Internet user figured were the expat was working and then exposed the information. More Internet users then pile up into this incident and wrote on the expat's company's Facebook page. By the end of the weekend, the expat was fired from his job and his employer had to send a placating message out to drop the argument.
Now, I had heard stories of China's "human flash search engine" and how they tracked down people within hours or days. (Eg. Kid who vandalise an Egyptian temple. ) I also read about the PR employee who sent what her thought was a humorous tweet before her flight and found herself hounded by Netizens when she landed in another country. And now the instant justice team has reached Singapore. Well, it probably had reached Singapore earlier but I had not noticed.
Now, I like to clarify I do not know anybody that I am writing about or do I have any interest in these people. What worries me is that people can be destroyed within days by Netizens. I read a book regarding the rise of blogging. It write that one of its proudest moment was when it highlighted an off the cuff comment by the Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. He spoke positively of a known racist Senator Strom Thurmond at his retirement event. Due to the outcry that followed, the Senator resigned has to resign in that same month. That was in 2005. Today, almost everyone has the privilege of being destroyed by Netizens.
Are you on social media? If yes, everything you write has the potential to be used against you. If you changed your mind, the Internet may notice your change in position and use it against you. Misunderstood by the Netizens? It happens to a lot of people who were then harassed.
So what if you are using social media? You are pretty safe until any of your actions upsets a Netizen who uploads your picture, name or anything related to you on the Internet. Then it is starting day of hunting season. Netizens who think that they are working on the side of justice might like to remember that the victims they inform about often have people who are sympathetic who have the same tools to avenge their victims.
The problem is that the reaction is usually not restrained or composed. The person who hunts down the information is seldom the same person who harasses the victim. The many Netizens who fan the flames with their frank or even exaggerated comments. This in turn encourages other Netizens to either try to raise the bar and take it to the next level.
There are also professionals who are interested in making any trivial issue a major news story. Their intension can be as simple as to get more followers and as Machiavellian as to influence the financial markets. These are the people who are keen to put a spin on things or highlight facts in the worst possible way.
The saddest part of the story is the collateral damage. The victim will usually find that his or her family or friends or co-workers targeted as well. Even if you are the Hulk, you will find people going after the Bad Widow the same way Ultron did. Anybody who offers any assistance to the victim can easily find him or her targeted.
With so many different views and so many different personalities, perhaps we should think twice before hitting the Enter key. We could all learn something from Abraham Lincoln who had a habit of not sending letters when angry.
First there was a post on Facebook which led to an exchange with a lady that went on for about 3 hours. Shortly after the exchange, another Facebook uploaded the exchange on to a popular Singaporean Internet forum. Shortly after that upload, an enterprising Internet user figured were the expat was working and then exposed the information. More Internet users then pile up into this incident and wrote on the expat's company's Facebook page. By the end of the weekend, the expat was fired from his job and his employer had to send a placating message out to drop the argument.
Now, I had heard stories of China's "human flash search engine" and how they tracked down people within hours or days. (Eg. Kid who vandalise an Egyptian temple. ) I also read about the PR employee who sent what her thought was a humorous tweet before her flight and found herself hounded by Netizens when she landed in another country. And now the instant justice team has reached Singapore. Well, it probably had reached Singapore earlier but I had not noticed.
Now, I like to clarify I do not know anybody that I am writing about or do I have any interest in these people. What worries me is that people can be destroyed within days by Netizens. I read a book regarding the rise of blogging. It write that one of its proudest moment was when it highlighted an off the cuff comment by the Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. He spoke positively of a known racist Senator Strom Thurmond at his retirement event. Due to the outcry that followed, the Senator resigned has to resign in that same month. That was in 2005. Today, almost everyone has the privilege of being destroyed by Netizens.
Are you on social media? If yes, everything you write has the potential to be used against you. If you changed your mind, the Internet may notice your change in position and use it against you. Misunderstood by the Netizens? It happens to a lot of people who were then harassed.
So what if you are using social media? You are pretty safe until any of your actions upsets a Netizen who uploads your picture, name or anything related to you on the Internet. Then it is starting day of hunting season. Netizens who think that they are working on the side of justice might like to remember that the victims they inform about often have people who are sympathetic who have the same tools to avenge their victims.
The problem is that the reaction is usually not restrained or composed. The person who hunts down the information is seldom the same person who harasses the victim. The many Netizens who fan the flames with their frank or even exaggerated comments. This in turn encourages other Netizens to either try to raise the bar and take it to the next level.
There are also professionals who are interested in making any trivial issue a major news story. Their intension can be as simple as to get more followers and as Machiavellian as to influence the financial markets. These are the people who are keen to put a spin on things or highlight facts in the worst possible way.
The saddest part of the story is the collateral damage. The victim will usually find that his or her family or friends or co-workers targeted as well. Even if you are the Hulk, you will find people going after the Bad Widow the same way Ultron did. Anybody who offers any assistance to the victim can easily find him or her targeted.
With so many different views and so many different personalities, perhaps we should think twice before hitting the Enter key. We could all learn something from Abraham Lincoln who had a habit of not sending letters when angry.
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