The Complaint Game

 

A quiet threat exists to your on-line presence, the complaint game.  You probably understand that you rely on your ISP to connect, but do you know that you also rely on them to protect you from harassers?  Is your ISP up to that task?  The complaint game is a term I coined to a new method of harassment and pursuit in on-line confrontations.

 

The complaint game is played like this:  A user who doesn’t like something you said on-line begins goading you, attempting to make you angry.  While they are doing this they are sending complaints to your ISP about you.  The target from the beginning is to get your access terminated.  Complaints range from the completely fraudulent (user pastes your headers on other text, hope your ISP checks this), to the cunning and calculating, to the outright threats.  Complaints come from many different accounts, all owned by the person playing the game.  Many people complaining are viewed as a stronger force.

 

The user who has targeted you understands the terms of service of their ISP to the letter, and they get as close to the edge of them as they can, never crossing the line.  The user, if really well versed at this game, has probably also studied the terms of service of your ISP.  Have you?  Now their goal is to get you to cross them.  They’ll do this by aggravating you to a level where you post something that they think they can interpret to violate those terms.  This is the first part of this game.

 

The second part of the game is played out between that user and your ISP.  It often plays out in secret.  Remember that this user wants your access terminated at any cost.  If they succeed, it could be an issue if you live in a limited access area.  Most people playing this game are as forceful with the ISP as they are in your on-line confrontation.  The most common tact is the use of legal threats.  In an increasingly litigious world these can be powerful threats.

 

The battle against on-line anonymity and protection behind an ISP has had a sad effect in the complaint game.  While people struggle to ban on-line anonymity they are attempting to do it by placing more responsibility upon the ISPs.  This weakens the ISP’s position in the complaint game.  Responsibility means legal responsibility.

 

As more rulings chip away at an ISP’s common carrier status, ISP’s get more skittish.  They become more susceptible to being bullied into terminating an account on lesser offenses.  It’s often preferred to terminate one $30/mo account than risk a potential high cost lawsuit.  What this means to you, is that if you express any opinion that risks bothering anyone, you might be cut off from the Internet.

 

The user playing the game knows this.  They use it.  It’s the biggest weapon they have.  Remember that a harasser is focused on one thing, causing you grief.  While you are angry because you view him as harassing you, he’s playing the system.  The bills and laws you may have actually supported, he is using against you.  Getting your access cut off is a nice trophy in a harasser’s case.

 

Be aware that this game is played.  Make sure your ISP has a backbone.  Make sure you understand your ISP’s terms of service, study them.  Shield yourself through free accounts and shield your ISP when participating in an on-line debate or discussion.  But most importantly understand that while you are debating, or thinking you are fighting a harasser, they might be playing the complaint game.

 

/steve

11/01/2000