
Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao: The Trolls Are Winning the Battle for the Internet - uptown
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-cannot-let-the-internet-trolls-win/2015/07/16/91b1a2d2-2b17-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html
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jadell
Duplicate comments thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9898502](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9898502)

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wxs
I really worry that if we don't find a way to fix the abuse problem,
pseudonymity online will be looked back on by future generations as our time's
Klan hood. Abuse stories like these make me embarrassed to support any form of
privacy online.

Platforms need to take a stand and find a way reduce hate and abuse, or public
opinion (and my own) will turn against support of privacy. If it turns out
pseudonymity is fundamentally incompatible with safety of the abused online
then I'll take the latter, but I'd rather search for a way to have both.

Platforms banning abusive subcommunities seems like a good start.

~~~
Nadya
_> Abuse stories like these make me embarrassed to support any form of privacy
online._

If it were easier to publicize scenarios where people are imprisoned,
tortured, or killed for voicing their opinions online - I'm sure people would
swiftly change their tune regarding privacy. I'm sure many of these cases are
never heard of and kept hush-hush. Largely fearing that sharing such a story
would mean "you're next".

 _> Platforms need to take a stand and find a way reduce hate and abuse_

Prohibit the use of posting PII. No addresses, no names, no numbers, no
contact information, not even your age. If nobody has information to threaten
or intimidate you, it's less likely to occur or be credible. In other words,
don't hand your potential future abusers a weapon to use against you.

Privacy _is_ security online. If you give away your privacy - you give away
your security. Even YouTube was aware of those only 4 years ago. [0]

 _" Protecting your privacy means you are taking care not to post personal
information that could result in you being harmed over the internet."_ \- Long
forgotten and often ignored advice

Ironically, your advocacy for lack-of-privacy is exactly what would put people
into _more_ potential danger. First step to harming someone: knowing who they
are to begin with.

[0] [http://i.imgur.com/wbjCmbt.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/wbjCmbt.jpg)

~~~
wxs
> Ironically, your advocacy for lack-of-privacy is exactly what would put
> people into more potential danger. First step to harming someone: knowing
> who they are to begin with.

Just a small note. I actually currently do support pseudonymity with the
caveat that we need to find a way for it to exist non-hatefully. If Reddit, by
shutting down problem communities or some other approach, manages to clean up
their act while staying pseudonymous I will be _very happy_.

Incidentally I don't think your "total privacy" solution will work as we live
more of our lives online. People _will_ post PII. It's almost impossible for
most people not to.

~~~
Nadya
_> Incidentally I don't think your "total privacy" solution will work as we
live more of our lives online. People will post PII. It's almost impossible
for most people not to._

If I hand a criminal a gun and he shoots me, perhaps I should not have given
him a gun? I don't defend the criminal for shooting me, that isn't right
either, but it was preventable. I find it hard to emphasize with people who
_willingly choose_ to hand their abusers weapons to beat them. The choice was
theirs and the outcome predictable.

There are people, like me, whom exist without a Facebook. Without a Twitter.
Who post very little, or sometimes fabricated details, of their personal
lives. We exist and function in society but have opted out of placing
ourselves at risk by sharing our PII with the world. We refuse to give others
a weapon. Not surprisingly, I never hear about an anonymous user being abused.
It's always someone with a name. Someone with an identity. Someone who has
provided people with something to attack.

People have nothing to attack about me but my opinions - and I'm always
willing to _defend_ my opinions; rather than asking my opinions not be
attacked.

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beamatronic
"But to attract more mainstream audiences and bring in the big-budget
advertisers, you must hide or remove the ugly. "

