Vigilantism on the internet.
-Why is vigilantism? -Vigilante justice occurs in situations where response to criminal activity is either/both insufficient and/or nonexistent in relation to the crime. This often happens when governments are seen as unable or unwilling to enforce the law- and is thus a response to a social demand.
-Different methods of internet vigilantism
-Scam baiting: scam baiter pretend to be interested in a scam with the intent of manipulating the scammer. Scam baiters often publish correspondences between them and scammers, or other evidence of the success of their baiting, as online trophies.
-Response largely to Nigerian 419 scam.
-Limited effectiveness
-Sometimes lures the same victim as scammers do.
-Public shaming- includes “dog poop girl”, Sidekick guy, and the Moron from Mcfearsome's story.
-concern that this causes “mob” justice and “Witch-hunt” type of ethos.
-violation of privacy (personal information is often distributed and propagated publicly); people behaving as vigilantes need not tell the truth either...
-Counter-terrorism: Shannen Rossmiller, an American judge from Montana, poses as an anti-American Muslim fundamentalist online in an attempt to lure in other Muslim radicals
-Anti-Pedophile activism: attempt to expose and convict adults soliciting minors. Often will work with law enforcement and even news crews.
-Identity theft activism: pose as ID thieves and gather stolen personal information which they then pass on to associated banks, credit monitoring companies, or law enforcement. Also may be active in the removal of phishing websites, fake banks, and fraudulent online storefronts. Techniques include flash-mobbing and bandwidth hogging.


Public shaming is the focus of my research, and I believe it to be by far the most-interesting from an anthropological perspective.

-Firstly, public shame carries different implications in different cultures. "Dog-poop girl" may be the best example of this. Ruth Benedict has pointed out that different cultures may be classified by the degree to which shame or guilt is used to regulate behavior and action (I found this in wikipedia entry for shame but I was wondering if somebody could point me to a book or paper in which Benedict stated this because it would improve the legitimacy of this argument).

-Dog-poop girl eventually quit her university as a result of the same that she faced after her photograph and personal information were published on the internet.

-In cultures where shame functions as one of the primary methods through which behavior is regulated, e-shaming carries enormous implications. This is especially true when one considers that information related to the person and the incident may have an indefinite lifespan on the internet. In such a situation, family honor may very well come into play. In this case, not only is the individual shamed, but their family and perhaps greater kingroup are as well.

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