"We should think about these online attacks against largely women-but also racial, religious, and other minority groups-as a civil rights problem," says Citron, an expert in privacy and cyberspace law. Potential solutions, she adds, lie in amending the federal Violence Against Women Act to allow for civil remedies against online harassers, and in allowing courts to force Internet service providers to trace online harassers to their real-world sources.
Citron has been busy this fall speaking about the need to address the organized, targeted use of lies, threats of violence, and denial-of-service attacks that knock Web sites offline. Victims are frequently forced to at least mute their online speech or even alter their lives to protect their safety.
Though women who blog and have online discussions have been subjected to inflammatory responses that lead to problems including loss of career opportunities and threats of violence, Citron says too few mainstream voices believe that these attacks -- frequently perpetrated by anonymous "cyber mobs" -- are a genuine and widespread menace. But she believes graphic, violent, and slanderous online postings aimed at women are "like a cross burning on your lawn."
"We need to see this as a systemic problem," she says. Citron hopes to build momentum for nationwide reform. The robust, freewheeling exchanges that are characteristic of online communities are chilled when women and minorities are subjected to harassment, she says: "It's a less exciting Web if we don't have women and minorities and gays. It's less diverse."
Citron believes the court system can protect free speech while reducing Internet users' fear of harassment. But, she adds, "This is a long-term project."
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