Click here for an amazing article about Internet Vigilantism.
So this week in my Internet and Society class, we dealt with crime fighting on the internet. I believe the Cracked article above is very appropriate to bring into perspective how ordinary, everyday users can help bring justice to our own community in real life or on the internet.
Users like us can buy all the anti-virus software we want and make the most obscure passwords we can to protect our accounts and personal information, but the threat of a virus or a hacker still looms over us. So I wanted to inspire everyone that we can be our own heroes even after a crime has been committed.
It is important for people to realize that mindset is everything. A person can sit down and cry over what has happen, or they can do something about it (or they can cry first [because that is a trauma that must be dealt with emotionally] and then get to acting on it. The action part is the most important step though. Make sure to do that). If an injustice is done to you, then you must act. If your bank account has had money taken out without your permission, alert your bank and have the account frozen. Often, a bank will have your deposit insured and returned to you. Most cases, they can even see how and where the money went to, creating a long web of tracking your burglar and bringing him to justice.
If it’s cyber bullying that’s the problem, the worst thing that a person can do is be silent. Not reporting your problem or sharing your experience only gives the bully power to continue. More often than not, if a complaint is lodged against the site about the user, the user’s account will frequently be frozen or deactivated. If your lucky, the user can be banned from accessing the site ever again.
But my few examples are nothing compared to the greatness of the article I linked to above. If you think a situation is impossible to recover, just read the article above. Nothing is impossible for the vigilante.
NobleAlyssum 