In February 2013, Zoe Quinn, an independent game developer, releases Depression Quest, a browser game, and received positive feedback in the gaming industry. Unfortunately, backlash came from a group of individuals who believed that the new title received undeserved attention. By August 2014, Quinn became the target of increasing harassment that soon became something she could not ignore, especially with her ex-boyfriend posting a blog post suggesting that she was dating Nathan Grayson, a journalist for the gaming news site Kotaku, for a positive review on her new game release; the fact that this was false was useless and did little to quell the harassment. Soon, Quinn’s social media and cloud accounts were hacked and she was subjected to rape
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Doxxing may be carried out for various purposes ranging from law enforcement and vigilante justice, seen done by the hactivist group Anonymous, to coercion and harassment, like that which happened to victims of Gamergate. According to LAPD cybercrimes detective Andrew Kleinick, anything can be posted “as long as there is nothing nefarious about it.” The exception is when information obtained through doxing is used to threaten someone or steal someone’s identity, like when Christopher Chaney was sentenced to 10 years in prison for hacking the email accounts of Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis—or when personal information is posted to the public to encourage others to attack individuals …show more content…
Cyberharassment legislations have been put in place but there is still a need for new laws to be implemented; the focus of cyberstalking legislation was a result of “perceived inadequacy” by parents of cyberbullying victims and legislators of existing laws, as the distinction between cyberbullying and cyberstalking is entirely in technicality, and the laws should treat both cyberbullying and cyberstalking s the same issue. Some states in the US have begun to pass legislation in response to incidents within that state to address the shortcomings of federal law and to protect victims of said shortcomings. Although most of these laws address the harassment of children online, legislation is also being adjusted to include adult victims as well.
Doxxing may be carried out for various purposes ranging from law enforcement and vigilante justice, seen done by the hactivist group Anonymous, to coercion and harassment, like that which happened to victims of Gamergate. According to LAPD cybercrimes detective Andrew Kleinick, anything can be posted “as long as there is nothing nefarious about it.” The exception is when information obtained through doxing is used to threaten someone or steal someone’s identity, like when Christopher Chaney was sentenced to 10 years in prison for hacking the email accounts of Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis—or when personal information is posted to the public to encourage others to attack individuals …show more content…
Cyberharassment legislations have been put in place but there is still a need for new laws to be implemented; the focus of cyberstalking legislation was a result of “perceived inadequacy” by parents of cyberbullying victims and legislators of existing laws, as the distinction between cyberbullying and cyberstalking is entirely in technicality, and the laws should treat both cyberbullying and cyberstalking s the same issue. Some states in the US have begun to pass legislation in response to incidents within that state to address the shortcomings of federal law and to protect victims of said shortcomings. Although most of these laws address the harassment of children online, legislation is also being adjusted to include adult victims as well.