[15450] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Google: Too Sleazy for the Street?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (J. Wyatt Ehrenfels)
Thu Jun 24 20:02:14 2004
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 08:08:58 -0700
From: "J. Wyatt Ehrenfels" <jwyattehrenfels@YAHOO.COM>
In-reply-to: <40D980A5.6050805@lehigh.edu>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-to: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
Message-id: <20040624150858.4947.qmail@web52810.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hello Jennifer,
Google does more than simply archive posts to
some of these unmoderated "news groups." They provide
prominent access under their own branding, which
misleads innocent and upstanding citizens into
thinking these groups are legitimate, which is to say,
that they have recourse in the event of criminal
harassment.
Google thus furnishes these cyberstalkers with an
endless supply of fuel and food (victims and
attention). I do hold Google partially responsible for
the size and organization of some of these stalking
rings.
I am currently working with a watchdog group with
ties to federal law enforcement who agree that the
practice of using 'beat cops' in chatrooms to identify
pedophiles should be expanded to stem the tide of
cyberstalking in UseNet. (I am speculating that the
impetus for this group's involvement is the fact one
of the psychologists moderating the moderated
companion of sci.psychology.psychotherapy was recently
convicted of child molestation). We are engaged in
preliminary talks designed to plan an organized effort
to compile evidence and outline a proposal for
reporting and enforcement.
Google has repeatedly apologized or expressed
regret in one form or another, but its lawyers contend
that Google is not legally responsible. Perhaps. But
there is more to a company's value and image than just
its compliance with laws. There's morality. There's
civic-mindedness. There's a conscious effort not to
risk the safety of its users for the sake of expanding
its base of content and operations beyond a point that
it could support with customer service (i.e. monitor,
modify, or moderate).
While Google cannot DIRECTLY alter the behavior
of cyberstalkers, there is much that it CAN do not to
provide the stalkers with material and motivational
resources.
I do not understand the relevance of my lack of
PsychInfo citations. Is that intended to discredit me?
I released a reform-minded book under a pen name, and
the decision to use a pen name was vindicated by the
behavior of some belligerents (not to mention a deal
with one school for which my anonymity serves in their
best interests). You will not find Wyatt Ehrenfels in
PsychInfo.
best,
Wyatt
--- Jennifer Heise <jahb@LEHIGH.EDU> wrote:
> J. Wyatt Ehrenfels wrote:
> > Google: Too Sleazy for the Street?
> >
> > Google provides access to UseNet under their own
> > branding ("Google Groups") so innocent people
> wander
> > into these unmoderated "news groups," where they
> > become targets of all manner of stalking by
> > belligerents with criminal and psychiatric
> histories
> > (or nothing else to do with their time). Google
> > refuses to take responsibility for modifying,
> > moderating, or monitoring even its own
> presentation of
> > these posts.
>
> Just in case anyone missed it, Mr. Ehrenfels for
> some reason is
> searching Google Groups for his website, and holds
> Google responsible
> for the content of Usenet. For those of who have
> been around long enough
> to recognize a troll when we see one...
>
> (Mr. Ehrenfels has no citations in PsycInfo, Gale's
> Expanded Academic
> Index, Proquest's ABI Inform or Research Library.)
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> / Jennifer Heise, Helpdesk/Librarian, Email:
> jahb@lehigh.edu
> \ \ Lehigh Library & Technology Services, Phone:
> (610) 758-3072
> / Fairchild-Martindale Library, 8A Packer Ave,
> Bethlehem PA 18015
>
> "Comment is free, but facts are on expenses." -- Tom
> Stoppard
>
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