A Killing Web?

In cyberpunk science fiction there is often a scene in which the hero is attacked physically as well as mentally by a hacker. That is, in the story, our protagonist is cruising the web, or maybe trying to hack into a dangerous site, and the site’s defenders send him some sort of signal that is actually deadly to the protagonist. I have never exactly figured out how such attacks could possibly work, but apparently something like them is already happening.

Specifically, in “A tweet gave a journalist a seizure. His case brings new meaning to the idea of ‘online assault.’ by Reis Thebault, in the Washington Post, we learn that Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald was actually assaulted by a moving image. Eichenwald is a frequent critic of Donald Trump. He also has epilepsy. So, when he opened up an email one day, and was confronted with a rapidly flashing image, he had a serious seizure...something genuinely life-endangering.

The image had been crafted, allegedly, by John Rayne Rivello, a Right-Wing supporter of Trump, who knew of Eichwenwald’s epilepsy, and who sent him the image in a deliberate attempt to hurt him...or, even, cause his death. That’s pretty disturbing, but there’s worse. The attack on Eichenwald has been copied by others, also sending such images to those with epilepsy, sometimes for political reasons, sometimes just for simple sadism. 

 
I find all this terrifying, and for many, many reasons. First, I am sure that certain sad and unhealthy people will continue to do things like this, and maybe even find new and more deadly ways of doing so. Perhaps they’ll discover a means of sending Taser-like shocks over Wifi. Something.

But, second, I am troubled because I’ve always been a great fan of Free Speech, and I have always been an advocate of the Web as a means of ensuring that free speech. What was the line? “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” (John Gilmore.)

Now, though, we have a situation in which discourse on the Net has become dominated by political fanatics, religious zealots, anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers, endless corporate shrills, bots of all description, and, now, the genuinely violent.

How do I respond to that?

How, indeed, do I respond to the fact that I vaguely, and uneasily suspect that maybe, just maybe, there needs to be something like an Internet police?

Such a thought chills me...

Particularly because it says worse things about people than about the ‘Net that was supposed to set them free...






by Michael Jay Tucker
copyright©2020


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Michael Jay Tucker is a writer and editor based in the American Southwest. His most recent book is Padre, a meditation on life and death based on the passing of his parents. You may see the book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1792646909/