{"id":5435,"date":"2017-05-18T15:25:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T09:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/?p=5435"},"modified":"2017-05-18T15:25:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T09:55:15","slug":"internet-trolls-troll-hunting-and-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2017\/05\/18\/internet-trolls-troll-hunting-and-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"ABP Blog : Internet Trolls, Troll Hunting and Censorship"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote on Internet\u00a0Trolls, Troll Hunting and Censorship<\/strong><\/a>, for the ABP<\/p>\n

\n

Sometime last year, the Pew Research centre, conducted an extensive research on the nature of the internet, and asked<\/a> \u201cIn the next decade, will public discourse online become more or less shaped by bad actors, harassment, trolls, and an overall tone of griping, distrust, and disgust?\u201d\u00a0 The results very pretty dismal. 42% said it will remain the same, 39% said it will be worse than it is today, and 19% said it will get better.<\/p>\n

There are two views of the internet. And, neither is inherently wrong. At one end, there are those who see it as a repository of all those values that epitomise the best in humanity. The world-wide web leads you to the best resources in every aspect of human endeavour. As a medium that is difficult to censor, because no one country really controls it, it allows for a plethora of ideas. At the other end of the spectrum are quite convinced, that those things that we find \u2018good\u2019 about the internet, are going the same ones that are going to be used to enslave us. They point to the spread of disinformation, and the ease with which societies can be divided. They point to the trolls and anonymous hate mongers who vitiate the atmosphere. As it is becoming clear that terrorist are using the same decentralised, democratised technology, to brainwash, recruit, and spread their tentacles worldwide, \u2013 a perverse form of the gig economy \u2013 there is a growing fear, that the bad of the internet, will overwhelm the good.<\/p>\n

Right now, at least as per the Pew research, it looks like the pessimists are winning. \u00a0With the increased negative sentiments about the kind of ecosystem \u2013 hate filled, abusive, anonymous, calls, deeply misogynist, based on superiority and exclusion, \u2013 the internet is becoming, the calls for filters, and censorship have begun. There are talks of AI moderated spaces, that ensure sanitised areas for interactions. There are predictions that anonymity \u2013 a cornerstone of the internet \u2013 will have to be barred, to ensure that people \u2018behave\u2019. There are many who believe there we will have to balance out the privacy of some, for the security of all. Which Is all very well, except it is as na\u00efve as believing that technology is the panacea for all societal ills.<\/p>\n

Censorship and outing will simply move what is visible and in your face, underground. Where the miserable, spend time with others equally miserable, and concoct plans to spread their narrow miserable world view, without check.\u00a0 And, as in any society, whatever is forbidden is exciting. There is no reason to believe that banning or censoring will not make these \u2018extreme\u2019 groups more attractive.<\/p>\n

The internet did not create hate. That has been a part of human behaviour from the start of history, or even earlier. \u00a0What, it however, effectively does, is allows haters to come together and congregate, easily. The problem of hate speech, and a call to hate driven actions is real; as are the misogyny and inherent sexism of certain groups There is no easy solution to the problem of abusive internet trolls. \u00a0Except extreme forms of censorship \u2013 that pick out and ban, specific individuals, handles and groups. How far do you really go to stop anonymous internet trolls and haters \u2013 do you restrict your own freedoms to get at \u2018them\u2019?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ultimately filters that are used to keep out one set of people, can and will be used elsewhere. The Chinese, for example, have a very sophisticated system of filters, dubbed the Great Chinese Firewall<\/a>,\u00a0 to keep out \u2018undesirables\u2019<\/p>\n

There is no universal solution to this problem, not one. Unless we want the solution to be applied to us, at a later point in time. My answer would be no. The solution is community policing rather than an universal ban, with the right for the \u2018accused\u2019 to find redressal. Having universal filters for content as \u2018desirable\u2019 and \u2018undesirable\u2019 is dangerous for all our freedoms. The other solution is compulsory media citizenship programmes for students from school, so that they learn about how to navigate the innerwebs, with security and privacy, along with learning etiquette and norms. \u00a0While we discuss on line behaviour, the question we need to find an answer for, is not how terrible the trolls are or how low they will sink; but are we willing to reduce our freedoms to reduce theirs ?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Internet<\/p>\n

image from here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote on Internet\u00a0Trolls, Troll Hunting and Censorship, for the ABP Sometime last year, the Pew Research centre, conducted an extensive research on the nature of the internet, and asked \u201cIn the next decade, will public discourse online become more or less…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,51,54,27],"tags":[317,807],"class_list":["post-5435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-in-msm","category-censorship","category-digital-media","category-media","tag-censorship","tag-internet-trolls"],"yoast_head":"\nABP Blog : Internet Trolls, Troll Hunting and Censorship - A PoV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should Governments get involved in trying to control Internet trolls, and can they do this without reducing our freedoms. 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