Today on the net: online community site Reddit bans users from investigating the Washington shooting; online campaigning to outlaw child marriage in Yemen; and a parkour session seen through the eyes of the runner.
Reddit shuts down forum seeking Washington shooter
Within hours of Monday’s shooting rampage at a US Navy complex in Washington, web users from online community Reddit began their own investigation, collecting clues and trying to identify the gunman or men involved. The page, or “subreddit”, was soon taken down by the site’s moderators because it violated site rules by encouraging the posting of personal information of potential suspects.
Reddit bosses want to avoid any misinformation or misidentifications finding their way online, something which is all too common when amateur detectives decide to take matters into their own hands. After the double bomb explosion during the Boston Marathon back in April, Redditors scrutinized pictures of the attack, searching for anyone who looked suspicious and who they thought could be responsible for the bombing, before posting the names of these people online.
And although they were no doubt well-intentioned, these budding detectives wrongly accused innocent people. One of the bombers, for example, was misidentified as student Sunil Tripathi. He had been missing for a month when the attack happened, and his body was eventually discovered a few days after Djokhar Tsarnaev was arrested. At the time, Reddit’s General Manager Erik Martin apologized for the ramifications of this witch-hunt, saying he hoped the online community had learned its lesson.
Activists call to ban child marriage in Ye... Go on reading on our web site.
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