CNET – Jan 21 – "The overwhelming majority of our domestic violence cases involve some type of technological abuse," said Sadie Diaz, a senior staff attorney for the Courtroom Advocates Project. Stalking victims say that dating apps and services have done little to prevent this abuse. The FBI encourages people to report cybercrimes to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, but it doesn't have a category for cyberstalking. The closest is "Harassment/Threats of Violence." While the FBI received 16,974 complaints in 2018, the Justice Department prosecuted 16 cyberstalking cases that year. Matthew Herrick, of New York, wasn't aware there were multiple fake profiles of him on Grindr. Then one day, someone showed up at his apartment expecting sex. It was the first of many. His ex-boyfriend had created the profiles after the two broke up, and was courting strangers to come harass him in real life. Herrick asked ~50 times for Grindr to delete fake profiles. Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act, a law from 1996, provides immunity to tech platforms from actions of its users. When Herrick sued Grindr for failing to delete the fake accounts, a New York judge dismissed the case on Jan. 25, 2018. Nearly a year later, at an appeals hearing on Jan. 7, Grindr's lawyers echoed the same argument. While Grindr ignored Herrick's pleas for help, Scruff was more responsive. Fake profiles were removed within two days. Eric Silverberg, Scruff's CEO and co-founder, said the company has a focus on moderators and detecting fraud. Facebook, for example, continues to expand its protection against revenge porn, even if Section 230 would protect them.
by Alfred Ng
See full article at CNet
