Rise of the Trolls

The internet,

what began as exclusive tool to connect militaries,

governments, and then universities,

has now, more than 60 years later,

transformed everything about how

modern societies operate and communicate.

Today, no one can escape the grasp of social media,

or evade the mind-boggling connectivity

that nearly all humans worldwide, now have access too.

But few have been prepared for what has also emerged,

with all this human connectedness.

A new, and ominous, strain of human behavior

has been unleashed.

Increasingly,

people are hiding behind a cloak of anonymity,

waiting to provoke, harass, and even threaten anyone

they choose.

They are called, Internet Trolls.

- A troll is someone, devoting larger parts of their life,

to attacking other people on the internet.

Basically, trying to make that other person's life

miserable in some way.

They sent things to my home.

It terrifies me to think what they could do,

if they wanted to, knowing exactly where I lived,

knowing where my children go to school.

- Trolls can be a minor annoyance,

or a life crippling terror.

But what happens, if society tries to silence them?

Who loses then?

Trolling is a free speech issues,

and if aren't free aren't free to hate someone,

then you're not free.

I'd been associated with all kinds of

organized trolling groups.

We're stretching the bounds of free speech.

You either use it, or you lose it.

Feelings will be hurt.

Politicians and the courts,

are now grappling,

with who really is a dangerous troll.

- I've been called troll by very powerful people

that should know better.

Homophone, misogynist, racist, all this stuff,

is just lazy people, not wanting to interact.

Artist Gregory Alan Elliott,

is at the center of a landmark trolling case,

that might land him behind bars, and forever change,

what any of us, anywhere, can or cannot say online.

- If Mr.Elliott is convicted of a criminal offense,

watch out, nobody will be safe, you'd better shut up,

because if you don't, you could be going to jail.

My name is Gina Crosley-Corcoran,

I write a blog called the Feminist Breeder,

and I deal with a really steady onslaught of very vicious,

and dedicated trolls.

Trolls can be really, really sneaky.

When you think about patterns of stalking,

stalkers don't just do it really quietly,

they leave their victims clues that they're being stalked,

in order to scare them.

So, today, I got a Working Person's Store Magazine,

addressed to the Feminist Breeder,

with my home addressed.

My trolls sent me this,

probably to imply that I'm too lazy to find a real job,

besides blogging, so.

Guys, hey. - Hi, mom.

Come here, pumpkin pie.

- Gina's blog earns her family a decent income.

She writes about being a stay at home,

but from a pro-choice, modern feminist perspective,

and a large active community of like-minded women,

has grown around her blog.

- I like to see that recognition response, when someone else

goes, (gasps), "Me, too."

And that's so validating.

That's why I do it.

- Feminists are frequently targeted by trolls.

Gina knew to expect attacks,

but she's been overwhelmed by the volume of abuse,

and stunned to discover who her trolls are.

- The trolls and the really dangerous people

that I attract, are themselves mothers,

and have small children at home.

They get something out of taking out their frustrations

on someone like me.

They see me as a figurehead, and,

they're really angry about the attention I'm getting

from people, and they want to discredit me,

in any way they possibly can.

These people spend all day, taking screenshots of

every word I type on the internet,

they all pick it apart, they talk about my children,

they talk about my clothes,

they spend an incredible amount of energy,

focusing exclusively on something that they claim

to completely hate.

And to me, that's the difference between someone

who just disagrees with you,

or someone who's really stalking every move you take.

And those are the trolls.

- Gina sees little difference between

her trolls and her stalker.

They want to see her react,

and they know how to push her buttons.

A stalker wants to upset that person,

they want to make them afraid,

and that's what these trolls do,

they leave comments in such a way that makes you

feel afraid of what they're gonna do, and say.

They'll leave comments about my address, or my kids,

and they do it, because they wanna get a reaction

outta me.

They wanna see me lash out, and it all feeds into this

sick and twisted entertainment value to them.

- So, what is it, that motivates trolls?

In London, England, psychologist Raj Persaud,

believes the internet has spawned an entire new,

yet unexplored set of human behaviors.

Psychologists, or psychiatrists,

have been someone taken back, by the huge amount

of negativity there appears to be on the internet.

And it maybe that the internet has unleased,

a kind of dark demon within millions of people out there,

in the general public.

We think that one of the things that's problematic

about the internet, is it normalizes

extreme behavior.

So, because you see a lot of people on the internet

behaving in an extreme fashion,

you think it's more normal, than it might actually be.

And the other thing is, is it seems to encourage

a heard-like piece of behavior.

If one person starts being negative,

and a group of people pile in behind them,

there's a kind of cascade effect,

which you don't see in ordinary life,

outside of the internet.

Psychologists truly believe,

that one thing has compounded the effects,

and numbers of trolls.

- Anonymity seems to be a very important factor

on the internet, in that it seems to

make people less inhibited about doing nasty things.

It means that

people feel free to get away with bad behavior,

because they think they're not gonna get called to account,

no one's gonna point the finger at them.

So, the anonymity, in fact, seems very important,

and may explain, why so much dark, and negative,

and extreme behavior occurs on the internet,

but doesn't seem to occur in real-life,

in face-to-face interactions.

But what inspires a troll?

What do they get out of it?

Operating out of an undisclosed location in North America,

one hardcore, and self-professed troll, agreed to tell us,

provided we maintain his anonymity.

I'm wild goose, and I'm a member

of the Bill Waggoner crew,

and I've done a podcast for the past several years,

documenting internet troll activity,

hacker activity, Gamer Gate, Anonymous, Occupy,

you name it, I've been a part of it.

There's a serious darkness in not only us,

but I think in everybody online.

I think a lot of people just don't tap into the

the power of anonymity and what it can do for them.

When you're anonymous,

you're free to do and say a lot things,

that you otherwise wouldn't do in real-life.

You would be powerless to do, in real-life.

Goose joined forces with like minded trolls he met online,

and they work as a team,

to offend and infuriate as many people as they can.

- If you were to Google "Bill Waggoner Crew",

chances are, you've come across a term called

R.I.P. Trolling.

When somebody dies, and their family puts up a memorial,

up in their honor,

we might set up a separate page,

or we might just go on that page,

and create a ruckus.

But the idea is to get as many followers as possible

on that page, and make it seem as legit as possible,

so that we can offend as many people as possible,

when we start posting more,

other kinds of shocking material.

- Hounding people when they are most vulnerable.

Like at the time of a loved one's funeral,

is a sure-fire hit for the troll.

- That's the easiest way for us to create a mass effect,

is really effective when you have

all these people who are already emotional,

we drop this bomb on them,

with the gore photos, maybe some kind of

sexually explicit photos.

It sends their emotions into over drive.

But what do the trolls get,