#kootra

my old friend

Office Alone | Creature Short [Bonfire Aftermath]

Crime is an inescapable aspect of our world. So, when we move our world online, crime will follow. In 2019, the police arrested Hibiki Sato on allegations of stalking and sexually assaulting a young j-pop star. The BBC reported that ‘[Hibiki] had identified a train station reflected in the singer's eyes in a selfie she posted online.’ From there, he ‘waited at the station until he saw his victim and followed her to her home.’ Social media is something that must be approached with caution. Their affordances and conveniences can act as bait, putting us at risk. Unfortunately, a large amount of people are unaware of the potential danger.

[The J-pop star on the left, Hibiki Sato on the right. Image found here.]

One terrifying example is our Address. SNS sites such as Facebook have an option to fill in our address and there are many who provide their real home address. Young teenagers especially are prone to not be entirely cognisant of the risks of this action. If the account is set to public, or if the data is leaked in a security breach of the sites servers, or if a friend of that profile is feeling vindictive, they could perform an action known as ‘Swatting’.

In one instance in 2017, ‘Barriss [the Swatter] falsely claimed he was at the address […], that he’d just shot his father in the head [and] was holding his mom and sister at gunpoint.’ This was not true. The only purpose of the call was to get the police to take drastic action. ‘Wichita police […] surrounded the address given by Gaskill. Seconds later, 28-year-old Andrew Finch exited his mom’s home and was killed by a single shot from a Wichita police officer.’ Swatting is a potentially deadly crime, and it can be done anonymously using only your address.

[Jordan Mathewson was Swatted live on Twitch as he streamed under the name ‘Kootra’ in 2014. Luckily, this incident resolved peacefully. A video of this event has over 700 000 views]

Newspaper The Independent reported in 2019 that ‘Sexual grooming crimes have soared by a third in a year as paedophiles turn to Instagram to target children as young as 11.’ While Instagram does require account creators to be at least 13 years old, the methods to enforce this rule is severely lacking. Young people who are unaware of the risks could lie about their birth year. Regardless, these children could be targeted by paedophiles looking to lure the children into compromising situations.

The ability to commit these crimes on SNS websites is partially the fault of the service provider. It can be likened to date-rape: If one person gets drugged, then the blame lies with the perpetrator, but If half the bar is unconscious, and the other half only isn’t because they’re a SWAT team who just showed up, then the blame is no longer solely on the perpetrator’s head. Social media sites give us a plethora of affordances, but as the provider of those affordances, they also need to take responsibility in ensuring the safety of the users while they explore those features. Or, at the barest minimum, work towards ensuring that users or their guardians are aware of the risks before they are forced, potentially fatally, to learn the hard way.

    References

                           Bulman, M., 2019. Sexual grooming crimes soar by a third as paedophiles turn to Instagram. [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sexual-grooming-instagram-social-media-children-paedophile-children-sex-a9099016.html. [Accessed 10/03/2021].

Kerbs, B., 2019. Man Who Hired Deadly Swatting Gets 15 Months. [online] Available at: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/09/man-who-hired-deadly-swatting-gets-15-months/. [Accessed 10/03/2021].