Jimmy Wales and Andrea Weckerle on Cyberbullying

OurBlook interview with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and Andrea Weckerle, founder of CiviliNation

JW, AW: Actually, we do not think that new federal laws are needed. In our Dec. 29, 2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece we wrote, “online hostility is cross-jurisdictional. We might need laws that directly address this challenge. There is currently no uniformity of definition among states in the definition of cyberbullying and cyberharassment. Perhaps federal input is needed.”

In other words, given the nature of online behavior, we pointed out that in some form or another laws should ideally recognize the cross-jurisdictional nature of online communications as they pertain to cyberbullying or cyberharassment. States are concerned about what happens within their borders, but when the understanding of what constitutes cyberbullying or cyberharassment greatly varies between jurisdictions, complications regarding how to appropriately respond to egregious behavior can and do occur. Operating from a common base regarding what cyberbullying and cyberharassment are would minimize such complications.

What might these laws say, and what would be the drawbacks and/or difficulties in composing them?

JW, AW: We are not saying that federal legislation is needed. What we would like to see, however, is a means whereby cyberbullying and cyberharassment are dealt with in as uniform a manner as possible.

What has prompted you to launch this proposal? Have you or anyone you know been the victim of cyberbullying?

JW, AW: As active and passionate members of the Internet community, we are very concerned about the ugly and aggressive flare-ups that occur online.

Online hostility isn’t new and unfortunately has existed since the early days of message boards and forums, but with the increase of online participants and the growth of social networking sites, instances of online hostility have grown not just in frequency but also in severity. This is not acceptable, and we as a global community need to draw a strict line in the sand and say enough is enough. CiviliNation (www.civilination.org) is bringing together people from all sorts of different backgrounds and walks of life in the common goal of fostering an online culture where every person can freely participate in a democratic, open, rational and truth-based exchange of ideas and information, without fear or threat of being the target of unwarranted abuse, harassment or lies.

We know many people who have been on the receiving end of online hostility, and we’ve experienced it ourselves as well. Passionate debate and disagreement between people on issues is not the problem as such, but the way in which these differences in opinion or positions are expressed very often is.

What kind of a factor is anonymity in cyberbullying? How can it be dealt with?

JW, AW: Anonymity is of course a factor, because anonymity often creates a cloak behind which online harassers can easily hide and thereby not be required to take public responsibility for their actions. However, even when it comes to online hostility that crosses the lines, harassers are not as anonymous as they think.

Even in cases where anonymity raises complex issues, websites can voluntarily impose ethical guidelines via their terms of service that carefully delineate the parameters within which public anonymity can and cannot exist on their site and also make it clear that abuse of others will not be tolerated.

Do you make a distinction between online material and printed material, or should any new laws be tailored just for online?

JW, AW: In terms of the breadth and speed with which purely online material is disseminated, every rational person recognizes that of course there is a big difference between purely printed material and online material.

The advantages of being able to communicate instantaneously with a global community are tremendous, for example in order to bring together people in political protest or for humanitarian purposes. However, when vitriolic or hateful information is placed online, the negative effects this can have on an intended target is immense and long-lasting, unless effective take-down provisions are in effect.

Whether and in what ways laws should be tailored to reflect online media is a question that legal scholars are heavily discussing, and we will be watching their ongoing debates with great interest.

Many people feel that any regulation of the Internet should be done informally by users, not formally by government. Your thoughts?

JW, AW: It’s not an all-or-nothing situation. There are clearly situations where government involvement is beneficial, and others where social norms as created by and followed by members of the online community are desirous.

(Mr. Wales is the founder of Wikipedia and sits on the board of CiviliNation. Ms. Weckerle is the founder and president of CiviliNation)