Hate Crimes in Cyberspace - Hardcover

Danielle Keats Citron

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674368290 ISBN 13: 9780674368293

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Most Internet users are familiar with trolling aggressive, foul-mouthed posts designed to elicit angry responses in a site s comments. Less familiar but far more serious is the way some use networked technologies to target real people, subjecting them, by name and address, to vicious, often terrifying, online abuse. In an in-depth investigation of a problem that is too often trivialized by lawmakers and the media, Danielle Keats Citron"exposes the startling extent of personal cyber-attacks and proposes practical, lawful ways to prevent and punish online harassment. A refutation of those who claim that these attacks are legal, or at least impossible to stop, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace" reveals the serious emotional, professional, and financial harms incurred by victims. Persistent online attacks disproportionately target women and frequently include detailed fantasies of rape as well as reputation-ruining lies and sexually explicit photographs. And if dealing with a single attacker s revenge porn were not enough, harassing posts that make their way onto social media sites often feed on one another, turning lone instigators into cyber-mobs. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace" rejects the view of the Internet as an anarchic Wild West, where those who venture online must be thick-skinned enough to endure all manner of verbal assault in the name of free speech protection, no matter how distasteful or abusive. Cyber-harassment is a matter of civil rights law, Citron contends, and legal precedents as well as social norms of decency and civility must be leveraged to stop it."

About this title

Review:

It is the first systematic account of the problem, and how to counter it. Citron proposes practical and lawful ways in which to punish online harassment and also demonstrates the emotional, professional and financial damage incurred by victims. --Katherine Quarmby - Newsweek

Hate Crimes in Cyberspace s main strength lies in its sustained and detailed exploration of the bizarrely convoluted, sustained and extremely hurtful nature of online abuse of individuals... She makes her case successfully for changing social perceptions and creating a far more effective legal response, particularly by utilising civil rights law. --Times Higher Education

About the Author:

Danielle Keats Citron is Lois K. Macht Research Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0674368290
• ISBN 13: 9780674368293
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352