The internet: mightier than the sword?

3 March 2008

Bloggers and journalists are discussing internet harassment and privacy, after details of a relationship between Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Fox News pundit Rachel Marsden reached several high-profile sites.

A public statement, issued by Mr Wales after private instant messenger chats between the two surfaced on gossip site Valleywag.com, is thought to have provoked Ms Marsden to auction two items of Mr Wales' clothing on eBay. By Monday afternoon, bids for the t-shirt and sweater totalled more than $700 US dollars.

Writing on TechCrunch, Michael Arrington cited a report in the New York Times, suggesting that comments on two industry blogs had contributed to the recent suicide of an American advertising executive.

Referring to Valleywag's coverage of Wales and Marsden's relationship, Arrington wrote: "Valleywag is making a business out of digging into people's personal lives and publishing it for all to see."

"How long will it be before Valleywag drives someone in our community to suicide?" he asked.

However, responding in his Telegraph blog, Shane Richmond said that the New York Times' story oversimplified the complex reasons behind suicide. "It takes more than just a few nasty remarks to drive a person to suicide," he wrote.

"Reducing a hugely complicated mental problem to a statement about an issue of the day, in this case anonymity on the internet, is trite and unhelpful."

Category: e-commerce, Other, Social media