Online Harassment and GamerGate (Current Events 4)

The group South by Southwest (SXSW) regularly holds a music and media festival in Austin, Texas. This year's festival was going to include panels on video games and also online harassment; however both panels were canceled because of threats towards some of the panelists. Both panels featured people who had been proponents of GamerGate as well as people who had been targeted by GamerGate. Those in favor of GamerGate are bothered by the effects that female gamers and critics are having on the video game industry, and they have often resorted to threats of violence to discourage women from speaking out. Critics like Brianna Wu and Caroline Sinders are disappointed that SXSW didn't offer increased security in response to the threats - by canceling the event, SXSW is sending the message that online threats and harassment can be effective. This goes to show that there are winners and losers with new technology, as we discussed in class. The anonymity of the Internet has made it easier for people to send threats and bully others without facing repercussions. In online forums, good moderation can discourage that sort of behavior, and in real-life events, proper security measures can be taken to show that threats will not deter an event. Since other smaller groups have responded with better security in response to death threats, SXSW should have done the same.