Chip StewartDec 14, 2022
There’s the Streisand Effect for you: A mystery buyer bought a Charlottesville weekly’s archives only to wipe them from the internet - apparently to erase several stories about rape allegations he faced in college. Now the Washington Post is writing about it. @mmasnick https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/14/hook-charlottesville-vanished-archive/
A newspaper vanished from the internet. Did someone pay to kill it?

The Hook, a Charlottesville weekly, closed in 2013 but web archives survived until 22,000 stories vanished in June. Speculation swirls around a mystery buyer.

The Washington Post
Show threadBritish Tech Guru
@MediaLawProf @mmasnick This, more than anything is a bloody good example of why nobody should ever post anything online under their own name. Or even have a high definition photograph of themselves online.
Dec 14, 2022 at 5:58pmWeb
Show threadBob VezeauDec 15, 2022
@britishtechguru @MediaLawProf @mmasnick Or alternatively, express only views you would be willing to defend or explain for the rest of your life. Be careful tooting under the influence.
Show threadBritish Tech GuruDec 15, 2022
@BobVezeau @MediaLawProf @mmasnick That could be problematic too. How many ideas were in vogue that everybody agreed with that suddenly became heinous not many years later? I can think of plenty. Support an idea that's in vogue at your peril.
Show threadBob VezeauDec 15, 2022
@mmasnick @britishtechguru @MediaLawProf
I follow your point. Still, it seems to me that anonymity is just avoidance of personal accountability.
Show threadMike Masnick ✅Dec 15, 2022

@BobVezeau @britishtechguru @MediaLawProf ... or someone who is at risk and wants to blow the whistle, or expose domestic violence, etc. etc. etc.

Anonymity is important.

Show threadBob VezeauDec 15, 2022

@MediaLawProf @britishtechguru @mmasnick

Yes, I get it, for those special circumstances. But why do you suppose the KKK wears those robes?

Show threadMike Masnick ✅Dec 15, 2022
@BobVezeau @MediaLawProf @britishtechguru I would suggest, kindly, that you read @jkosseff's latest book: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501762383/the-united-states-of-anonymous/
The United States of Anonymous by Jeff Kosseff | Hardcover | Cornell University Press

In The United States of Anonymous, Jeff Kosseff explores how the right to anonymity has shaped American values, politics, business, security, and...

Cornell University Press
Show threadBob VezeauDec 15, 2022
@jkosseff @britishtechguru @mmasnick @MediaLawProf
Thanks for the recommendation. Looks worthwhile.
Show threadChip StewartDec 15, 2022
@BobVezeau @jkosseff @britishtechguru @mmasnick I concur - it’s very good
Show threadBritish Tech GuruDec 15, 2022

@BobVezeau @MediaLawProf @mmasnick I was stalked in the real world by a naive young lad who was being controlled by a sociopathic woman we both knew. Horrible experience that went of for many months before the young lad presumably woke up and smelled the baloney he was being served.

I have been stalked online too. It’s not fun finding obscene voicemail on your phone. For these and many other reasons, online anonymity is important.

Show threadBob VezeauDec 15, 2022
@britishtechguru @MediaLawProf @mmasnick
Wow, I’m sorry to hear that you had that personal experience. We can also agree that the world is now full of naive people being controlled by sociopaths. So, I’ll just close by saying I understand and respect your opinion.
Show threadJames EdwardDec 17, 2022
@BobVezeau @britishtechguru @MediaLawProf @mmasnick
But it would be nice if we could develop a culture where it was accepted that what people said in the past isn’t necessarily representative of who they are today, and that people are capable of growth and apologising for past indiscretions. I would trust a politician more if they had tooted a bunch of wrongheaded stuff in their youth, but had come clean with an apology rather than trying to delete/bury it or pretend like they never once said anything dumb.
Show threadBob VezeauDec 17, 2022
@britishtechguru @jamesedward @MediaLawProf @mmasnick Absolutely agree. It would be great if there were a way by which one could permanently attach the apology to the original indiscretion.
Show threadJames EdwardDec 17, 2022
@mmasnick @britishtechguru @BobVezeau @MediaLawProf I guess on Mastodon at least there’s the edit button that you could use to prepend a retraction, though the temptation will be to edit a bad opinion into a good one rather than own the mistake.
Show threadBob VezeauDec 17, 2022
@britishtechguru @mmasnick @MediaLawProf @jamesedward I often takes some time for one to recognize such a mistake. That realization can also come in degrees. No easy solutions.
Show threadChip StewartDec 17, 2022
@BobVezeau @britishtechguru @mmasnick @jamesedward a few years ago, I wrote about some of the ethical challenges of Streisand Effect shaming done by journalists, and differences between regular people vs elected officials & prominent people. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3124532
Show threadBritish Tech GuruDec 17, 2022

@MediaLawProf @BobVezeau @mmasnick @jamesedward

About 30 years ago, a newspaper published a deliberately inaccurate article and syndicated it. Nobody picked it up because it was nasty. I never saw the newspaper because everybody tried to protect me from seeing it. It did affect life's progress but as nobody would show the article I never figured out why. 15 years ago I found it online and had the paper delete it. It was nasty! 2:years ago I had to stop a photo being sold on Amazon. What a PITA