You know them, maybe you’re even one of them. They’re the scumbag lowlifes of the Internet. They are the trolls. Typically hiding behind a mask of supposed anonymity, those who practice Internet harassment are often seen as the neckbeard basement-dwellers of the world. But maybe they’re every bit as scummy in person.
The BBC went on a manhunt, of sorts, for a recent episode of Panorama. The full show is well worth a watch, but this one section certainly stood out above the rest. BBC’s Declan Lawn did some investigative work and got face to face with racist, bigoted hate monger Nimrod Severen. To the rest of the world, he’s known as Darren Burton.
What’s probably most interesting is that Burton brings about a hard point to argue, that “Facebook is an open forum”. Not that it gives any excuse to simply be rude for the point of being rude, but he also states that he doesn’t care about the consequences because the only conviction that’s been upheld sentenced someone for 18 weeks in jail, of which they only served 9.
If you’re in the UK, please do catch the entire episode. For those of us in the rest of the world…we’re a bit out of luck.
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