Facebook is not your friend.
Nothing on the internet is safe. Nothing on the internet is confidential or private. You are not safe nor is anything in your life or anyone you care for safe when you are exposed on the internet at either your hand or anyone else associating content to you.
Yet, there is an entire sub-culture out there of internet crime being committed every day that very few law enforcement officers are even aware of, let alone will act upon to serve and protect you.
It is a sub-culture that the folks shout out for help with every day.
One that is responsible for the worst types of crime and the consequences of those crimes. Harassment, stalking, menacing, intimidation and often the literal stripping away of all aspects of life as an individual knows it. The consequences are the destruction of financial security, peace and privacy, relationships that often lead to irretrievable actions such as suicide. Worse, the weapon of the internet is a perpetual firing weapon. 24/7 and never runs out of ammunition.
'SandBox Nanny' wonders what it will take the folks doing in order to get the attention of lawmakers and law enforcement.
Watching the path of SOPA was like watching the old black and white cartoons of cops and robbers chasing each other in circles. While we are good people who greatly appreciate anyone at least trying; it was disheartening to watch the debacle of SOPA run its course when the answer to the problem is so, so simple.
In the past three years of lending her forced on her notoriety first to 'smalltown7' and then creating the offshoot of 'SandBoxBlogs' and 'SandBox Nanny' in Spring 2010; one of the news aggregate topics she chases is internet crime. Most of the feedback she receives from the general public is related to the juggernaut of power that the media holds.
The internet is the most powerful media outlet in history.
Interestingly enough, it was the State of Iowa and an investigative reporter by the name of Kevin Hall off the Iowa Republican who brought us the
story of Zach Edwards and Link Strategies. (Be sure to click on all related links within that post link on Edwards)
A story that will be one of the most important baseline foundations of our time for lawmakers when it comes to putting parameters on what is "OK" to do on the internet and what is not.
That seemingly insignificant case, that was near immediate quashed from public view by high power and big money politics, is the first case of a powerful public figure winning his claim that viral link baiting and SEO optimization is criminal in nature when it is used with ill intent and in negative context.
To have the Iowa Sec of State win against one of the individuals who lurk in the bowels of the internet preying with intent on their subjects was groundbreaking. Just like the folks know 'who' does harmful things in their communities; anyone who does business on the internet knows where the worst forms of media exploitation come from in the world of SEO, mass marketing and perception management companies. Sometimes the world of internet business survival is based on spending the time and effort it takes to stay out of the clutches of those who practice marketing with ill-intent.
'SandBox Nanny' wonders what it will take to get lawmakers and cops to listen to all the folks who suffer every day from the real problem of public exposure at the hand of another.
Such a simple criminal element to notice and yet it slips by cops every moment of every day.
That element they need lies in the tools (weapons) that ill-intent individuals have available to use against others.
Lawmakers keep trying to control the internet itself when simply regulating the power itself and not the content is the answer. 'Negative Viral' is a programming technique and is a literal mechanism. Not a 'happens by chance' nebulous and undetectable concept that can be lumped into the category of "bullying". The level of skill an internet perp uses determines how much collateral damage they can achieve. A well-known pro like Zach Edwards and Link Strategies has unstoppable power due to their intellectual property enhancing the tool of viral linking. Talk about Medusa or Pandora!
Maybe it will take more consequences. More horrific consequences such as drug cartels murdering female reporters they find on viral mechanisms like Twitter, vulnerable young adults committing suicide, government officials and politicians literally destroying business owners and citizens lives with the power of the media.
From the tool of a free 'Blogger' blog, and the patience to earn followers and recognition the good old fashioned way with true public content and in the manner that the internet originally intended; we'll keep plugging away with our mission to get the voices of the folks heard.
It shouldn't take more consequences before our lawmakers and law enforcement simply halt the juggernaut of irretrievable consequences, toss off all the cloudy layers of spin and return back to good old fashioned gumshoe police work.
(whisper...whisper...whisper...for every Alvaro Agon...every Sheriff Vallario....every Scott DeGraff.....that find themselves plastered for all time and all over the web....there is 'somebody' picking up the ammunition of words and loading those words into the weapon of viral link baiting and marketing.....and then deliberately and with intent.....pulling the trigger repeatedly at will.....whisper...whisper...whisper....)
"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."
