Some 4 in 10 Americans Harassed Online

Reuters had a thought provoking article by Angela Moon regarding the number of persons harassed online at (a fairly shocking) 41% with the bulk of those happening as the result of social media.

I felt that the base events qualifying as "harassment" to be somewhat wimpy with 'offensive name calling' and 'embarrassment' with those more serious forms such as 'physical threats', sexual harrassment, and stalking holding at about 20%.

Personally, I'm somewhat at a loss as to why someone would "go there" in any social media venue for the purposes stated in the online harrassment data in the presence of superior tracking mechanisms opposed to typically low tech hothead approaches to this type of behavior.

In the presence of perceived danger the authorities should be in the loop but most of what I've seen is some troll venting agitation over specific incidents of expressed opinion more or less.

In any case I note that there are few who will engage me in comments here and I attribute this to my ability to back myself against the wall and engage all who would approach.

These harassing incidents would be farther and fewer between in the presence of granular control at the recipients end ... such as that I have at my disposal.

Then there are the notions of engaging someone likely to embarass you back and the proverbial 'bringing a stick to a gun fight' which come to mind when I'm in the mood to let someone know where to get off in no uncertain terms.

Yes, my harassment is primarily hack attempts and exploits but at this fourth iteration of the blog and those servers which go with it I have amassed some fairly effective scripting and control files to throw into the mix.

Needless to say, if you're so inclined to come here and harass me by all means go for it as long as you understand the nature of consequences, countermeasures, and retaliation.