Internet Issues: Civil Rights and Harassment
- Hayley Allred
- Oct 6, 2017
- 3 min read
The Price of Shame - Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky talks about what happened in 1998 with her falling in love with her boss. At the time, cyber bullying hadn’t officially been coined a name but as her secrets, audio tapes, and feelings all leaked out onto the internet, Lewinsky was officially a victim of cyber bullying. They harassed her to the point of her thinking suicidal thoughts. Her speech is about how to help the publicly harassed on the internet and try to put an end to it. Anyone has the power to bully over the internet, it’s not just one person or group who creates the harassment. Everyone contributes and everyone is a witness to the crime. The victims are the individuals being harassed over the internet. Lewinsky states that we have a “culture of humiliation”, which I agree with completely. Everyone would rather see something embarrassing and shocking rather than ordinary. It is sad that humiliation is one of the factors that feeds public entertainment. Not only is it entertainment, but the clicks that people take to view this embarrassing subject are no more than dollar signs. It is an advertising tactic. Short term solutions to this problem are that people and businesses need to realize that people are individuals with feelings and that we need to take action as a community by showing empathy towards these victims of public harassment on the internet. Long term solutions are to not only have laws but also have people monitor the internet to regulate cyber bullying and help put an end to it.
Key terms to relate to this video:
Deindividuation- loss of self-awareness in groups.
Online disinhibition- loosening of social restrictions and inhibitions that are normally present in face to face interactions that takes place in interactions on the internet.
The Internet of Civil Rights: The New Digital Divide - Brigitte Daniel
Brigitte Daniel and her family own and operate Wilco Electronics Systems, Inc. The business has evolved over the last 40 years and has helped to provide technologies to those communities who have been overlooked for decades. Daniel talks about how so many people have so many opinions and different voices on the internet. New policies shape the internet every day in the way that it is used and how many people are using it. Above all, Daniel believes that we need to provide digital access to all individuals to create a more complete and fair society. The digital divide is the divide of the world’s population who has access to internet and who does not. Daniel says it is not only the side that does not have access to internet technologies that needs digital access but it is also the people who have access and either refuse to learn how to use the internet or just can’t. These group of people are referred to as the “underserved”. She says the solution to this problem speaking in short term is to make aware to the public about this “underserved” group and create internet civil rights for all. The long-term solution is the end goal which is to create an environment where everyone can have access to the internet.
Simple and to the Point Connection:
Both speakers want equality for all. They both talk about making the world a better place by helping the people who use the internet or want to. They draw a lot of focus on how we feel as humans and what we deserve. Lewinsky says we deserve to be treated fairly and so does Daniel. Both speakers want an action to be taken to better the digital environment as a whole for its users.
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