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In some capacity, is it better to let something like 8chan exist given law enforcement and the government can actively monitor it and try and prevent such event
by pmart123 7y ago
In some capacity, is it better to let something like 8chan exist given law enforcement and the government can actively monitor it and try and prevent such events from occurring? Would changing the laws around what constitutes domestic terrorism allow law enforcement to act more swiftly to premeditated descriptions of such acts on similar forums? Even in the NZ shootings, would it be better to let something like that be uploaded and broadcasted as anyone thinking about going a religious service sees the eminent threat of a terrorist attack in real-time? I don't have answers to these questions given the large trade offs, but I do believe it is another side of this debate to discuss.
- frereubu 7y agoI see what you're saying, and if these were small little online groups of, say, ten people, perhaps I'd agree. But one issue here is the audience size it gives people. Media guidelines (although they rarely follow them) say that you shouldn't publicise the names or images of people who commit these crimes, because that's a large part of what they want. The mainstream media are complicit in this too, and they should shoulder a good deal of the blame for that. Online forums are an easy target for the mainstream media because it means they don't have to examine their own part in the problem, but that doesn't mean the place where these events are initially publicised and encouraged shouldn't be tackled too.