Online Vigilantes are on the rise inside many SNS (Social Networking Sites). In the last couple of days reports of a CCTV filmed woman in the UK depositing a family cat inside a wheelie bin has gone viral, and now a similar report of a young girl purportedly throwing puppies into a lake has arisen.
This type of vigilantism is nothing new, for ages (historically) society has condoned a kind of mob rule. If enough members of the group rally together, to decide something is wrong or right, it will become law. Since the 1950's, advertising has relied on focus groups to decide how to market a product, and this reliance on focus group has become increasingly out of control, as proven in the recent farce of an election in Australia.
This panopticism is increasingly demonstrated online. Social Networks are self regulating, and more and more individuals in any network are acting as the watched, when they themselves are busy watching others.
In the case of the binned cat, vigilantism has led to a myriad of viral off shoots. Once the individual was outed, the mob seemed satisfied with the punishment of public humiliation.
The more recent case in the Balkans, has highlighted a new set of ethical problems. The video was posted (supposedly) by the girls sibling, with an explanation that the puppies were stray and needed to be put down else they would die. This act is probably relatively common place. Certainly not humane, but culturally sound. The online backlash highlights the contiunuing existence of cultural and geographical borders within the global web.
Food for thought
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