A vigilante: An individual or group who undertakes law enforcement without legal authority.
Over a week ago, I posted about the death of Amanda Todd. I was aghast at how cruel and malicious the cyber bullying and online harassment was which purportedly drove her to her apparent suicide, after earlier failed attempts.
One man in particular was instrumental in extreme harassment. He was a stranger who met her in a webchat when she was only 12 years old and managed to convince her to flash him. He then tried to blackmail her to do more and when she didn't, he sent her nude pictures all over the Internet. After her family moved to get away from it, he tracked her down again, set up a facebook page, using her topless picture as the profile picture which triggered another round of bullying and shame in her community.
So what would you do if you found out who this man was? What if you were the girl's father? Would you take matters into your own hands or leave it to the law who may or may not find enough evidence to take proper action?
This is what ran through my mind as I read through this article. Anonymous, a hacker group, has apparently traced the trail back to a 32 year old man from British Columbia, and posted his details resulting in e-mails and Facebook death threats to him.
Of course, if this were the wrong man, it would just be compounding the problem of cyber bullying and online harassment because an innocent man would be put through tremendous shame and pressure. Wrongfully. It may even result in someone taking matters into their own hands and doing something about it, whether by physical harm or even murdering him. Such is the outrage caused by this poor girl's story.
But let's say this is the right guy.
Would it then make it all right for him to be subject to the negative widespread stigma he is currently facing online? Or is cyber bullying wrong whatever the situation? Or...does he deserve far, far worse?
If I were the father of the girl, I honestly don't know what I'd do. I probably wouldn't care if he were exposed to online harassment or not. I'd follow up closely with the authorities to gather evidence, even reaching out to Anonymous to provide all the incriminating data I could find.
I'd try to find a way to get this guy locked away for as long as possible.
And if that didn't work, I don't know what else I could do.
Whatever a father's rage is capable of, I suppose.
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