Death Threats Against Bloggers

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 by Andy Beal

Death Threats Against Bloggers

For the past year or two, bloggers have put up with mainstream media articles that suggest we’re nothing but a crazed online lynch mob looking for trouble.

Well, the focus is about to shift somewhat, as it appears those that comment on blogs are starting to wield an unhealthy amount of power. I’m not talking about the average blog commentator – who provides value, even with criticism – I’m talking about the disturbing news that some high-profile bloggers are starting to receive death threats.

Kathy Sierra has actually had to cancel all of her speaking engagements as she is now too scared to leave her house, after being bombarded with death threats by a cyber-stalker. Kathy shares vividly what she has had to endure over the past few weeks, on her own blog.

Kathy is not the only blogger fearful of attacks, Robert Scoble (and his wife Maryam) also receive similar threats – Robert’s taking a week off from blogging, in support of Kathy – and even blog superstar Michael Arrington has been a victim.

I really don’t know what the answer is, but hopefully Kathy’s openness will spark a large enough of a debate, that a solution will be found. It’s one thing to have someone criticize you, or even throw some abuse you way, but it’s another – completely wrong – thing to face death threats.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Kathy.

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6 comments on “Death Threats Against Bloggers”

aaron Says:

March 27th, 2007 at 11:14 am

Anonymity is an issue. I’d love to see services like OpenID take off to the point where reputation and identity are both handled by credible entities only. Anonymous comments would still be allowed using an “ID key,” but there would be a way to trace back to the actual commenter in the case of abuse.
Simon Heseltine Says:

March 27th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

Anonymity transforms cowards into brave people. Of course the internet isn’t necessarily as anonymous as some people like to think.
Greg Scowen Says:

March 28th, 2007 at 7:14 am

It is a very sorry situation indeed.

In your opinion, how feasible, or far away, is the widespread establishment of services like OpenID Aaron?

Sounds like a great concept.
Jonix Says:

March 30th, 2007 at 1:31 am

It’s again the old thing: internet privacy. Should we act under a nickname or should we act under our real name/address/phone?
It’s very complicated in this modern days.
“Blogger’s Code of Conduct” Well Intentionedâ€¦ And Lame-zor ¦ Online Media Cultist Says:

April 9th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

[...] On March 31st, in reaction to the Kathy Sierra incident (a strange and somewhat involved story that basically led to Kathy getting harassed by a number of web hooligans), Tim O’Reilly put out a Call for a Blogger’s Code of Conduct. The code includes the notion that bloggers should take responsibility for their words and actions, recognize that the online world has repercussions in the “real” one, that bloggers need to be strong in ignoring abusive comments and “trolls,” and that all should take action against harassers (”if you know someone is behaving badly, tell them so”). [...]
Lisa Robertson Says:

July 5th, 2007 at 12:59 pm

This is a sad time, that people can not share their thoughts without this kind of threat. I truly hope we find a solution to this growing problem.

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