Personal Cyber Warfare And Other Conflicts

Before the Internet became a reality, most conflicts used to require physical proximity, to be considered seriously. Now that the Internet is part of our daily lives, many people who use the Internet, for various networking activities, have no idea of the possible challenges of Internet activities. With the Internet, conflicts can involve somebody in another city, state, or country, who is a complete stranger to the potential victim.

Many people, offended or threatened by an abusive comment or post in a Blogger / Google service, immediately report their concern to Blogger or Google, hoping that Google will obediently remove the offensive or threatening content. Not everybody realises that the varying nature of any given abuse, even when published in Google hosted space, won't always be the responsibility of Blogger / Google to provide action. Some conflict will require contact with somebody in your local area.

Some Internet based conflicts may take time and effort to resolve. The court system, which is currently based locally and nationally, may have to change as the Internet brings strangers, of different cultures and lands, together - and creates conflict.

Personal Cyber Warfare - Defamation Is Not Impersonation

In in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see a fair number of complaints asking why Blogger won't remove a blog that contains trash talk (aka "libel" / "slander"), which is targeting them, personally.

Impersonation may involve identity theft, and is a TOS violation. Blogger / Google will resolve impersonation issues, by removing a blog or website that contains impersonation, when properly reported. Defamation, however, is not so simple.

What one person sees as libel or slander, another person (maybe in a different country, and bound by a different set of customs and laws) may see as free speech. Libel and slander are civil or criminal issues, which must be decided by the courts system. Other legal conflict will involve various governmental agencies - differing from country to country.

The Internet, in it's ability to casually bring together people from different geographical, legal, and political systems, is going to cause international conflict, from time to time. As each new Internet feature, such as the recently released Google+, debuts, we're going to see new forms of personality clashes. It will be interesting to see how all of the conflict shakes down.