Speak up, Stay Safe(r)

December 10, 2015 5:04 AM

Feminist Frequency (the website created by pop culture critic and Gamergate scourge Anita Sarkeesian) has published a guide for protecting yourself against harassment in digital spaces.
posted by selfnoise (12 comments total)

Just skimming, so far the site looks like it is very well put together and comprehensive. It even looks like translations are underway so it can be a more globally available resource. It looks like a really great tool, thanks for posting about it.

It continues to blow my mind law enforcement is still unable or unwilling to more forcefully address the problem. Private individuals should not have to be the ones picking up the burden, especially people who have routinely been targetted themselves.
posted by Drinky Die at 5:16 AM on December 10, 2015 [7 favorites]

Thank you for sharing this, selfnoise.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:08 AM on December 10, 2015

It continues to blow my mind law enforcement is still unable or unwilling to more forcefully address the problem.

Law enforcement tends to have a very macho culture.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:16 AM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]

Thank you for posting this. It's super timely and something I need right now. I finally made the decision to go ahead with a project in as this site calls it a particular 'social sphere' and primarily for security reasons am doing it separate from my current online accounts. This looks like a great guide to help make sure I haven't missed anything in this set-up.

It's also got some good information on tightening up my security on my current online life. I've done bits and pieces so it's nice to have an all in one place guide to go through step by step.
posted by Jalliah at 6:32 AM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]

XQUZYPHYR is right that this is as much of a legislation issue as a law enforcement issue. You can't enforce laws that don't exist or are written badly (not well, anyway). The last time I saw Anita Sarkeesian speak she was talking about how police departments, legislators, etc. barely even understand what Twitter is and how she faces the same bemusement every time. There's more to do, but this is a great resource.
posted by thetortoise at 6:38 AM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]

I am fairly active on Twitter and Instagram using my real name, but given I'm gearing up to do an all-female podcast that will delve heavily into a male-dominated industry from a female perspective, I am preparing to have to lock down those accounts as well as future podcast social media accounts. I have been extremely lucky so far in that I've only ever had to deal with a handful of asshats on my current social media accounts, but should this project get traction, I imagine I wish sigh wistfully for those days. Thanks for sharing this.
posted by Kitteh at 6:40 AM on December 10, 2015 [10 favorites]

It continues to blow my mind law enforcement is still unable or unwilling to more forcefully address the problem.

In my experience, law enforcement tends to be pretty much behind the curve when it comes to tech stuff. I once saw someone in a Yahoo group try to dox a doctor, but when I called the number they said was their "home number", I learned that the "home number and home address" was actually the address of their second office. But they got scared and called the FBI, who in turn called me because I was the one who told them about it.

And I spent a good 20 minutes painstakingly explaining to the agent:

* The difference between email and the Yahoo group
* That I personally would not be able to provide the perpetrators' contact info, but Yahoo might
* How to navigate to that page on the World Wide Web
* What the World Wide Web IS and how it is different from email

At one point I had to pull up the exact URL for the page with those comments on it and painstakingly tell the agent, "Okay, so you have that netscape thing up, right? Okay, in that bar across the top, type this: 'h-t-t-p-colon-backslash-backslash-w-w-w-dot-y-a-h-o-o-dot-c-o-m-backslash-v-a...."

We just had the one call, and I said he was welcome to contact me again if necessary. He never did.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:07 AM on December 10, 2015 [9 favorites]

It's sad that there hasn't really been much improvement in police response since the first time I had to call them about online threats 22 years ago.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:09 AM on December 10, 2015 [5 favorites]

Thanks for this. She is such a hero.
posted by allthinky at 7:35 AM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]

You know what's amazing about "Cops say they don't understand Twitter" is that they seem to understand it just fine when they are tracking black people or other types they don't like who are going to protests.

I therefore call shenanigans. These are the same people who took thousands of rape kits and just...didn't test them for decades while the criminals in question ran around hurting more women.
posted by emjaybee at 8:19 AM on December 10, 2015 [17 favorites]

well you know law enforcement agencies have a limited number of tech-savvy officers and so they have to triage to some extent, applying their resources to important things like monitoring the social media accounts of Black Lives Matter activists, instead of to relatively unimportant things like protecting women from detailed, targeted threats of being raped and murdered. It's a matter of priorities.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:51 AM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]

That is a HUGE list of stuff to do. Honestly this is pretty ridiculous. You essentially have to put yourself through witnesses protection protocol, but without any outside assistance for it. I once tried erasing my real identity from the internet but it is incredibly hard to reach everything. I at least take comfort in the fact that my name is so complicated (and different from the rest of my family), and I move so often, that the same thing that screws me over in government databases and college enrollment may also save me from stalkers.
posted by picklenickle at 2:59 PM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]