Dir of International Freedom of Expression at @EFF is looking for help on how to admit that online harassment is real.
Victims, got any ideas?
Here’s an idea: an apology on the @EFF website to victims who you all treat as the sacrificial lambs of free speech
My crystal ball says @Eff will pay its penance by building out a hot lil dep't dedicated to tackling the novel new problem of online harassment and hate speech. Handily it will score lots of @WIRED profiles and internet hero awards and attract big tech money, diverting more
resources away from the nonprofits and academics who've been doing the work FOR YEARS and in the face of @eff's denials that individuals are actually harmed online.
I am ALL FOR people admitting when they were wrong and showing contrition for it. But @EFF is the GREATEST denier of the harms of online technology. This wasn't an oops-I-got-it-wrong sorta thing. @eff has been the biggest influencer in the notion that victims of
tech abuse are overreacting babies who are trying to destroy free speech. They've fought against us legislatively, judicially, in the court of public opinion. They've protected the laws and policies that allow big tech to not be responsible for misinformation, disinformation,
hate, csam, sextortion, revenge porn, etc. These freedoms that @eff has protected for decades are the ones they suddenly realize have interfered with our elections, are destroying our democracy, are spreading disinformation about a pandemic and our planet's destruction.
So, yeah, @EFF, you haven't aged well. If only it were as easy as deciding whether an employee should address this in an essay or a chapter in her hot new book.
The problem is that for many orgs, it's all policy and abstraction. I renew my invitation to @eff employees to spend one day with me at my firm. I have clients who'd be happy to tell you about their life.
The 11 year old being sextorted on IG, the 14 yo whose rape video went viral around her junior high on FB messenger, the mom whose daughter was murdered on a first date on Tinder by a known serial abuser, the mom who's kid's murder was live-posted. & about 1000 other stories
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