The troll attack, PayPal's response, and possible corporate shaming

[muck_a_luck]

I do not know if you have been following the recent troll attack on DreamWidth.

According to the DreamWidth folks, a group fraudulently pretending to be parents concerned about child pornography have been contacting any one they can about the content of the site in hope of getting posts removed.

These posts are protected under DreamWidth's TOS.

The trolls are contacting parents, friends and employers of users. They are also contacting corporations like PayPal, who is terminating it's relationship with DreamWidth, and DreamWidth's hosts, which are NOT terminating their relationship.

Posts describing the situation here:

http://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/16338.html
http://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/16590.html


I dropped a line over at NPR news, for whatever a story suggestion like that is worth. But anybody with access to news outlets, or just willing to send random e-mails to random news organizations, like me, ought to consider it. I don't know if PayPal could be influenced by corporate shaming...

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Could be worth checking in with the DW folks first to see how they feel about news stuff -- I imagine they need to handle it carefully so it doesn't become another opportunity for the trolls to yell CHILD PORN WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE IMAGINARY CHILDREN at people.

ETA: People like zvi have been pointing out anything that stirs up more publicity is feeding the trolls and giving them more notoriety and attention, which is the last thing we need right now.

[shalom]

You know, given that this organization has shown a pattern of destructive behavior, it's too bad someone can't get an attorney general to investigate them for RICO violations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act#Pro-life_activists).