Chapter 5 - The Dark Side of the Internet

Chapter Summary

Trolling

  • Occurs when there is a deliberate attempt to provoke a reaction.
  • The Internet can facilitate trolling via the online disinhibition effect.
  • There are three different types of messages that trolls use, each having a different purpose.
  • The comments that trolls use to get a reaction are called baits.

Flaming

  • Can be seen as a verbal duel but the lack of cues can lead to its intensity.
  • Flaming can be normative behaviour of some groups.
  • The interactional norm framework of flaming is a model suggested by O’Sullivan and Flanagin (2013) to take context into account when judging flaming.

Online prejudice/stereotyping

  • An attitude has three parts: conative, cognitive and affective.
  • Biases that we are unaware of or that we do not admit to having are called implicit biases and these can occur online and offline.
  • A test which measures these biases is the Implicit Association Test.
  • Online prejudice has been found using avatars of different ethnic groups.
  • Through Social Categorisation Theory we divide people both offline and online into those like me (in-group) and those not like me (out-group).
    • We have a favourable bias towards members of our in-group and a negative bias towards any member of an out-group.
  • The effects of this negative bias online (exclusion) is just as painful as it is offline.
  • There are many strategies to reduce online prejudice – more contact with members of an out-group and hearing positive things about individual members of an out-group are some of them.
  • There are some personality/cognitive factors which make it more likely for a person to use stereotyping online. An individual’s need for cognition and personal need for structure are two such factors.

Sexual harassment online

  • It has been suggested that the anonymity afforded by the Internet can lead to a variety of sexual harassment online.
  • The use of stereotypical female characters in gaming such as the princess who needs to be rescued has been associated with sexual harassment in gaming.
  • The culture of gaming can contribute to online sexual harassment.

Cyberstalking

  • This is like physically stalking a person but using technology to do it.
  • It can range from sending unwanted presents and emails to a person to spying on them and their Internet habits to actually meeting them in person.
  • There are strategies to reduce the chance of being a victim of cyberstalking; these include using updated security software, good password management and checking privacy settings on social networking sites.

Griefing

  • This is described in online communities as general aggressive behaviour in gaming.
  • It is usually aimed at a person’s avatar.
  • Motivations for griefing include a desire for power or a desire to show off technical expertise.
  • It can be hard to track down a person who uses griefing due to the anonymity of the Internet.

Further Reading

Some books have been published recently on the dark side of the Internet which give a fascinating insight into the Web within the Internet as well as an introduction to the TOR browser. One such book is The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld (2014) by Jamie Barlett and published by William Heinemann. This book examines the dark side of the Internet, looking at some of the subcultures which exist there. There is some controversial material in this book as it involves interviews with many individuals, from trolls to self-harmers, and political terrorists to bitcoin programmers.

Video links

This TED Talk gives a chilling insight to how technology can enable people’s photographs to be linked to their online data. There is no such thing as anonymity in this dark new world. Alessandro Acquisti talks about how online data mining can be used by marketing companies and businesses to manipulate the person into buying products.

This compilation of TED Talks focuses on the negative aspects of technology such as the loss of identity and privacy, but Del Harvey from Twitter gives a funny and yet insightful talk on how she, in her job as Head of Twitter Trust & Safety, and her team try to keep Twitter users safe from trolling and stalking.

Monica Lewinsky speaks in this TED Talk about the public humiliation that she suffered from social media. She examines the online public spectacle of shaming that has become so common and asks if there are strategies to make social media more compassionate.

Useful websites

The Trolling Academy was founded by the Centre for Research into Online Communities and promotes an Internet free from cyberbullying and where free speech is encouraged. It uses peer- reviewed research and runs courses to advise educators and people how to deal with negative trollers (flame trolling) and how to promote kudos trolling (positive trolling). It has a very interesting trolling database as well as a categorisation system which identifies twenty different types of trollers.

Digital Trust brings together technologists and professionals working with victims and vulnerable people to understand evolving risks and address digital abuse. It gives advice and support to both people and organisations that have experienced digital abuse. It explains revenge porn and cyberstalking in simple language and has tips on how to stay safe online.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g. black people, gay people) and evaluations (e.g. good, bad) or stereotypes (e.g. athletic, clumsy). The main idea is that making a response is easier when closely related items share the same response key. The IAT purports to measure attitudes that you may be unaware of or unwilling to admit to.

About News is an online site which is primarily directed at women. It contains resources and articles that are specifically geared at women. There are some articles detailing cyberstalking with some personal stories from women who have suffered from it.

Multiple Choice Questions

Essay Questions

  1. Discuss fully the interactional norm framework of flaming.
  2. Explain both the personality and motivations of trollers.
  3. Identify and evaluate any strategies to reduce online prejudice.