"I routinely cope with tweets that sexualize, objectify, insult, degrade and even physically threaten me. I have already ¡ª recently, in fact ¡ª looked into what is legally actionable in light of such abuse, and have supplied Twitter with scores of reports about the horrifying content on its platform. But this particular tsunami of gender-based violence and misogyny flooding my Twitter feed was overwhelming.
Instead, I must, as a woman who was once a girl, as someone who uses the Internet, as a citizen of the world, address personally, spiritually, publicly and even legally, the ripe dangers that invariably accompany being a woman and having an opinion about sports or, frankly, anything else.
What happened to me is the devastating social norm experienced by millions of girls and women on the Internet. Online harassers use the slightest excuse (or no excuse at all) to dismember our personhood. My tweet was simply the convenient delivery system for a rage toward women that lurks perpetually."
The report will include the flagged tweet or content, its URL, the time it was posted, and the account of the person who posted the tweet. The report also includes a link to the company¡¯s guidelines on how law enforcement can request private user account information from the company. The link was included in anticipation of the move law enforcement may make after the affected Twitter user submits the report to the police. Again, it is not Twitter who reports the abuse to law enforcement, but the user.Seems like an affirmatively useful tool, and a step in the right direction, to me. I certainly wouldn't argue that Twitter is now doing "enough" about online harassment, but there's nothing wrong with progress.
The tool was made with practicality in mind. Usually, when a victim of abuse reports the harassment to authorities, the police would recommend to keep records of the harassment in order to strengthen their case.... [W]ith the amount of harassment usually involved in these cases, it will always be an arduous task for victims for simply protecting their rights. With this in mind, compiling evidence is made easier.
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posted by greenhornet at 1:53 PM on March 20, 2015 [10 favorites]