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The freedom to be the asshole you want to be on the internet is really a remarkable achievement of human civilization and modern democracy in the 21st century. But as it usually happens in many anarchistic systems, their members soon tend to get annoyed with it and start inventing some rules. And then more rules. And then institutions to enforce them, and dispense justice, whenever someone breaks them...
In some countries, the enthralling pleasure that haters feel from the fact that they can do just about anything on the internet, is getting gradually pushed against by the other breed of people who take upon themselves the hard task of a PC police, who'll bring peace and prosperity on the internets. So the net trolls, who used to be so confident in their anonymous invincibility before, are now beginning to tremble at the sight of the invasive menace of the online authorities, and they'd probably begin to think twice before crossing those lines that they previously deemed so fun and easy to cross.
For the time being these restrictions and the subsequent punishments only work in some separate cases, but still these cases are multiplying. On September 13, a British court sentenced 25 year old Sean Duffy to 18 weeks in prison, and 6 months on probation - currently the maximum sentence for "hating on the internet". Additionally, he's banned from using the social networks for 5 years. Not sure how this will be enforced, but there it is.
As a whole, the punishment came because he used some really cruel language on the internet, and the situation became pretty serious. Basically, Duffy the troll sat on the bench for choosing the wrong victim. Instead of writing spiteful and ugly comments in various known and unknown blogs like most of his fellow trolls, or spewing venom at banks, political parties, government institutions or junk tabloids like any self-respecting professional troll would do, he decided to infest the FB site of the late Natascha McBride.
( So what really happened, and what are the implications from it )
In some countries, the enthralling pleasure that haters feel from the fact that they can do just about anything on the internet, is getting gradually pushed against by the other breed of people who take upon themselves the hard task of a PC police, who'll bring peace and prosperity on the internets. So the net trolls, who used to be so confident in their anonymous invincibility before, are now beginning to tremble at the sight of the invasive menace of the online authorities, and they'd probably begin to think twice before crossing those lines that they previously deemed so fun and easy to cross.
For the time being these restrictions and the subsequent punishments only work in some separate cases, but still these cases are multiplying. On September 13, a British court sentenced 25 year old Sean Duffy to 18 weeks in prison, and 6 months on probation - currently the maximum sentence for "hating on the internet". Additionally, he's banned from using the social networks for 5 years. Not sure how this will be enforced, but there it is.
As a whole, the punishment came because he used some really cruel language on the internet, and the situation became pretty serious. Basically, Duffy the troll sat on the bench for choosing the wrong victim. Instead of writing spiteful and ugly comments in various known and unknown blogs like most of his fellow trolls, or spewing venom at banks, political parties, government institutions or junk tabloids like any self-respecting professional troll would do, he decided to infest the FB site of the late Natascha McBride.
( So what really happened, and what are the implications from it )
