
Twitter is giving its users new powers to block internet trolls - Jerry2
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/12069560/Twitter-vows-to-wage-war-on-internet-trolls.html
======
mintplant
Is it just me, or is this almost a non-article? The only new information seems
to be:

> Bruce Daisley, the head of Twitter in Europe, said the site would give its
> 320 millions users new tools to protect them from trolls

...and even that is non-specific.

~~~
teaneedz
Also without any specifics on how this will not be abused - Twitter really
needs a lesson in comms.

Would much rather hear a firm statement that they are keeping reverse
chronological tweets and 140 char limits because that is their identity.

------
firloop
I wonder if the implementation of these tools will be similar to something
already happening on Reddit, where users that comment/post on hate subreddits
are automatically banned from many other places on the site.

~~~
Cyberdog
It sounds more like the "Good Game Auto Blocker," [1] by that wonderful human
being Randi "freebsdgirl" Harper [2]. It will block people on your Twitter
account who are on a list of accounts believed to be associated with the
#GamerGate movement, though it's known to have been overzealous at times,
including an account operated by KFC in its lists [3] to much amusement. (This
list seems to be generated by checking an account's followers to see if it
follows the accounts of too many "leaders" or known pro-GG partisans.) In
theory, there's nothing wrong with lists like these if they're just used for
their intended purpose, but there's some fear that they might be used as
industry hiring blacklists, as some have already proposed [4].

In short, if you're going to "troll" on Twitter (which includes sharing
opinions others might not like) and end up on one of these lists, it might be
best to do so strictly pseudonymously.

1:
[https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker](https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker)

2: [http://www.breitbart.com/big-
journalism/2015/06/29/harping-o...](http://www.breitbart.com/big-
journalism/2015/06/29/harping-on-the-hypocrisy-and-lies-of-twitters-most-
notorious-anti-abuse-activist-randi-harper-part-1/) and
[http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/07/02/the-
fact-a...](http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/07/02/the-fact-and-
fiction-of-randi-harper/) \- NSFW language, and the author clearly has an
ideological bias, but damn.

3: [http://gamesnosh.com/igda-kfc/](http://gamesnosh.com/igda-kfc/)

4: [http://www.gamerheadlines.com/2014/11/blizzard-engineer-
pose...](http://www.gamerheadlines.com/2014/11/blizzard-engineer-poses-
blacklist-gamergate-backpedals/)

~~~
nailer
It's interesting it contains a list of people in sourcelist.txt and code like
this:

    
    
        # get a list of idiots
        open B, '<', $sourcelist_file or die "Can't open $sourcelist_file: $!\n";
        foreach ( <B> ) {
            chomp;
            push @idiots, $_;
        }
        close B;
    

I'd imagine calling people idiots via source code is against the GitHub TOS.

~~~
adventured
> I'd imagine calling people idiots via source code is against the GitHub TOS.

Not specifically. They have two clauses however that open it to a strictly
subjective determination. First, they reserve the right to cancel any account,
at any time, for any reason. Second, they have sections regarding offensive
content (G.7/8), that gives them the right to remove such at their discretion.

------
joshburgess
Weird. I literally JUST watched a talk by Martin Fowler on YouTube that
addressed this as Twitter problem 30 minutes ago.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E3xfR6IBII](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E3xfR6IBII)

