Papers in Your Desk Have More Protection than Those in Your Inbox
UncategorizedPapers in Your Desk Have More Protection than Those in Your Inbox In 1989, my master’s thesis, in part, argued that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 should protect emails and other communications stored on a server in perpetuity, not just those stored for less than 180 days. I…
GitHub’s “Contributor Covenant” Makes Waves; Curbs Online Abuse
UncategorizedGitHub’s “Contributor Covenant” Makes Waves; Curbs Online Abuse Over a year ago, I wrote about GitHub’s issues with bullying and discrimination, which came to a head when a female developer quit the collaborative coding hub – a victim of gender-based harassment by white male managers and…
Riot Games’ Tribunal System Reduces Abuse on Its Platform
UncategorizedRiot Games’ Tribunal System Reduces Abuse on Its Platform Riot Games, producer of the PC-based multiplayer League of Legends (LoL), has been selected as Inc. magazine’s Company of the Year. One of the reasons they are the most popular PC game in North America and Europe is due to their success…
Online Moderation is the Elf on the Shelf
UncategorizedOnline Moderation is the Elf on the Shelf For many families with small children, the Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition. Based on the 1994 book and toy by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, during the Christmas season, the Elf is sent by Santa to watch over children during the…
Steve Brock discusses Online Safety on the Community Signal Podcast
UncategorizedRecently I was the featured guest on Patrick O’Keefe’s “Community Signal” weekly podcast, where we discussed my career as a community manager for over 25 years (17 of them with many of the same clients and members of the Mzinga moderation team), how to use law enforcement agencies to keep clients…
Reddit CEO is Late to the Party: Realizes Trolling Isn’t Cool
UncategorizedReddit CEO is Late to the Party: Realizes Trolling Isn’t Cool Last month, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, frustrated with the bullying and personal attacks taking place in the The_Donald subreddit group, decided to use a tactic that had been successful in the past: trolling the trolls. Initially believing…
Boston Police to Begin Monitoring Social Media Content for Terrorist Threats
UncategorizedBoston Police to Begin Monitoring Social Media Content for Terrorist Threats The Boston Police Department (BPD) announced recently that it will be purchasing software that will allow it to scan content in blogs, forums, websites, and comment areas such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The software…
Use of Encrypted Software Thwarts Anti-Bullying Efforts
UncategorizedUse of Encrypted Software Thwarts Anti-Bullying Efforts What can a cyberbullying victim do when they are told by both police and school officials that there is nothing they can do to help them because the bully’s account is untraceable? A CNN article says that is what 18-year-old Brandy Vela of…
Is the Prevalence of Internet Shaming Causing it to Lose Potency?
UncategorizedIs the Prevalence of Internet Shaming Causing it to Lose Potency? The author of a recent Scientific American article speculates that Internet shaming (personal attacks that go viral) has reached a crescendo and because there is so much of it, the impacts are becoming less severe. To illustrate,…
University Athletes Suspended For Posting Offensive and Racist Texts
UncategorizedUniversity Athletes Suspended For Posting Offensive and Racist Texts Two recent cases highlight the need for increased monitoring of messages posted to social media sites by University students. The most recent took place at Columbia University, where members of the school’s wrestling team, over…
