Texas Anti-Harassment Legislation Threatens Lawful Online Interaction
UncategorizedTexas Anti-Harassment Legislation Threatens Lawful Online Interaction A new bill introduced in the Texas legislature seeks to criminalize cyber-bullying of children in educational settings. The bill, called “David’s Law” (named after a 16-year-old victim of cyber-bullying who killed himself…
Lego Life App Combats Trolls and Bullies
UncategorizedA new app launched by Lego contains many features that minimize the ability of users to be harassed and bullied. Called Lego Life, the app for iOS and Android (available in App Store and Google Play) allows kids under 13 to create profiles, watch videos, participate in challenges, upload photos of…
Microsoft Online Moderators Allege Viewing Explicit Images Gave Them PTSD
UncategorizedTwo Microsoft online moderators have filed suit against the company, saying they were forced to watch child porn and other offensive and disturbing images and videos to the extent that they began to exhibit symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). When they asked for help, they say in a McClatchy…
Papers in Your Desk Have More Protection than Those in Your Inbox
UncategorizedPapers in Your Desk Have More Protection than Those in Your Inbox In 1989, my master’s thesis, in part, argued that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 should protect emails and other communications stored on a server in perpetuity, not just those stored for less than 180 days. I…
GitHub’s “Contributor Covenant” Makes Waves; Curbs Online Abuse
UncategorizedGitHub’s “Contributor Covenant” Makes Waves; Curbs Online Abuse Over a year ago, I wrote about GitHub’s issues with bullying and discrimination, which came to a head when a female developer quit the collaborative coding hub – a victim of gender-based harassment by white male managers and…
Riot Games’ Tribunal System Reduces Abuse on Its Platform
UncategorizedRiot Games’ Tribunal System Reduces Abuse on Its Platform Riot Games, producer of the PC-based multiplayer League of Legends (LoL), has been selected as Inc. magazine’s Company of the Year. One of the reasons they are the most popular PC game in North America and Europe is due to their success…
Online Moderation is the Elf on the Shelf
UncategorizedOnline Moderation is the Elf on the Shelf For many families with small children, the Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition. Based on the 1994 book and toy by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, during the Christmas season, the Elf is sent by Santa to watch over children during the…
Steve Brock discusses Online Safety on the Community Signal Podcast
UncategorizedRecently I was the featured guest on Patrick O’Keefe’s “Community Signal” weekly podcast, where we discussed my career as a community manager for over 25 years (17 of them with many of the same clients and members of the Mzinga moderation team), how to use law enforcement agencies to keep clients…
Reddit CEO is Late to the Party: Realizes Trolling Isn’t Cool
UncategorizedReddit CEO is Late to the Party: Realizes Trolling Isn’t Cool Last month, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, frustrated with the bullying and personal attacks taking place in the The_Donald subreddit group, decided to use a tactic that had been successful in the past: trolling the trolls. Initially believing…
Boston Police to Begin Monitoring Social Media Content for Terrorist Threats
UncategorizedBoston Police to Begin Monitoring Social Media Content for Terrorist Threats The Boston Police Department (BPD) announced recently that it will be purchasing software that will allow it to scan content in blogs, forums, websites, and comment areas such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The software…
