I began writing about privacy generally in 2006 and then focusing on online harassment in 2007, when we first saw (or at least they were first reporting about) attacks on women from all different walks of life online. Whether it was female law students being attacked on a message board called AutoAdmit that was really popular at the time for all information on college and grad schools, to Kathy Sierra — she was a software developer; she was writing about how to write code that makes you happy. Nothing deeply controversial.

And she was targeted on her blog and then on a few other blogs with sexually threatening, sexually demeaning lies and privacy invasion. And it basically chased her from participating in a big tech conference, giving a talk, [to] then hiding out in her house and really stopping blogging, which was a big part of her public outreach of the work that she was doing. She wrote a lot of books on programming, she was a writer, she was a tech developer, and she basically retreats for like a year. There were female law students from every law school — they were targeted on AutoAdmit.

By other law students?

It was clear that it was definitely some law students, because they were saying, “I saw X-name person at the gym. She was wearing this,” and accompanied by a photo. Or, “This is where she lives. This is where she worked last summer.” And then what would follow were rape fantasies, very specific and particular. Home addresses and defamation. Accusing women of sleeping with their deans to get into law school, of having herpes, like, “Don’t sleep with that bitch. She’s sexually diseased. She has AIDS.”

So at the time, I’m writing about privacy. And all of this is under the veil of anonymity. So, Kathy is targeted by people who are writing under pseudonyms that don’t give you any sense of who they are. Whether it’s Hitler, Jesus, you know what I mean. XOXO. Names that aren’t traceable in that public way to people’s real identities.

Right. It was all like WeedLord420.

Yeah, there you go. But I was thinking of the real names that people used like Cheese Eating Monkey. I’m serious. This is in the lawsuits that two of the female law students, represented by pro bono counsel, [who] sued 39 posters. Because basically what it had become was like a cybermob bent on ensuring that these two female law students couldn’t get jobs after law school.

People would put up posts saying, “Everyone contact the hiring folks at the top 50 law firms and tell them why they shouldn’t hire this bitch. She’s a liar who scammed her way into law school, and isn’t trustworthy, and has sexually transmitted diseases,” et cetera. And people called law firms and sent emails. It was economic and personal reputational sabotage. What happens is, there was this “top-14 hottest girls in law school” list that was generated from AutoAdmit. Women were being named at all these law schools as being the hottest women in law school. And then, of course, people picked up those names and followed through and created a cybermob attack on all these women.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2019/10/danielle-citron-on-the-danger-of-deepfakes-and-revenge-porn.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39109700)

FOUR PINNOCHIOS! There was no photo!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39109713)

rofl even NYMag knows xo is a TTT in decline

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39109716)

Whether it’s Hitler, Jesus, you know what I mean. XOXO. Names that aren’t traceable in that public way to people’s real identities.

Right. It was all like WeedLord420.

Yeah, there you go. But I was thinking of the real names that people used like Cheese Eating Monkey. I’m

BATMAN negged

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39109718)

the lawsuit was insane. lots of poasters were listed for innocuous reasons, like a horse walks into a bar. wtf did he do?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39109719)

Wtf? None of this shit happened

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39109724)

wtf is this the secret origin of evan39's moniker?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4381032&forum_id=2#39111359)