[Air-L] #gamergate trolling attack going on now against a feminist tech movement

[Gabriela Richard]

I agree it is important to make this distinction.

Also, I wanted to note that these attacks seem to mobilize
specifically on Twitter where they target folks for further inquiry
later on. My peers and I have been attacked and then subsequently our
research was "under review" on multiple levels. However, they seem to
start with Twitter presence first.

Best, Gabriela

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 9, 2015, at 12:16 PM, Zara Rahman <zara at cihr.eu> wrote:
>
> Hi Gilad,
>
> Thank you for your comments; to explain my initial email a little
> further, the #takebackthetech community is a specific one that has been
> mobilising online for at least a year, I think more. They focus
> specifically on online violence against women and have coordinated a
> number of campaigns under that hashtag (such as the 'feminist internet
> principles)- and they have good reason to suspect they're being targeted
> because of their upcoming twitter chat and their previous work.
>
> I understand that other feminist communities have been targeted
> (including a good number of my peers) - but I, and many other feminists
> in this space, think it's important to make the distinction between
> different feminist communities, and recognise that specific communities
> are being selected as 'new' targets. The large majority of people in the
> #takebackthetech community have never been targeted before - hence my
> email to the list. I believe we have a lot to learn about, for example,
> how they 'start' campaigns, how they select them, and how they hijack
> previously well-established hashtags. Not to mention the community
> response, which is ongoing.
>
> Thanks, I hope that explains a bit better!
>
> Best,
>
> Zara
>
>> On 09/10/2015 18:06, Gilad Lotan wrote:
>> #takebackthetech may be a new hashtag, but the community behind it,
>> along with other feminist communities, have been gamergate targets
>> over the past couple of months.
>>
>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 12:00 PM, Zara Rahman <zara at cihr.eu
>>> <mailto:zara at cihr.eu>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Gilad,
>>>
>>> I was writing about trolling the #takebackthetech community
>>> specifically, and this *is* new, according to key members of that
>>> community. They emailed earlier today to say it started today.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Zara
>>>
>>>> On 09/10/2015 17:57, Gilad Lotan wrote:
>>>> This is not new. The “gamergate” community has been continuously
>>>> trolling these issues online.
>>>> I just published an analysis this morning about the
>>>> #ShoutYourAbortion hashtag, where the gamergate community is
>>>> actively engaged against the different Feminist communities -
>>>>
>>>> http://qz.com/520309/how-to-tell-whether-a-twitter-user-is-pro-choice-or-pro-life-without-reading-any-of-their-tweets/
>>>>
>>>> Gilad
>>>>
>>>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 11:44 AM, Zara Rahman <zara at cihr.eu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I thought this might be of interest for those of you studying trolling:
>>>>> there is a (seemingly well-coordinated) Gamergate going on right now
>>>>> against those using the hashtag #takebackthetech and (to a lesser
>>>>> extent) #imagineafeministinternet.
>>>>>
>>>>> Both of these hashtags started with the feminist organisation APC, and
>>>>> they were/are planning an online twitter discussion tonight on the
>>>>> impact of onlnie violence against women - but Gamergate trolls seem to
>>>>> have picked up on it in advance.
>>>>>
>>>>> The community is organising at the moment on how to respond, but if
>>>>> you're interested in following/studying/archiving the attack - head to
>>>>> #takebackthetech
>>>>> <https://twitter.com/hashtag/TakeBackTheTech?src=hash>.
>>>>>
>>>>> For reference: https://www.takebackthetech.net/
>>>>> https://www.apc.org/en/about/programmes/womens-networking-support-programme-apc-wnsp
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks - if you end up working on this topic further, please let me
>>>>> know! And, perhaps this goes without saying but please don't @/tag
>>>>> me or
>>>>> others in your responses if you choose to respond on Twitter. The
>>>>> organisers of the twitter chat have already received abusive
>>>>> twitter and
>>>>> email messages.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best,
>>>>>
>>>>> Zara
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Zara Rahman
>>>>> Fellow at Centre for Internet and Human Rights
>>>>> http://zararah.net | Twitter: @zararah
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>
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