Tuesday, June 19, 2007

hate crimes and comments

People have a habit of telling me things. Sometimes it's things I don't want to know about.

In this particular case a post from 2004 about the Life of Brian being re-released brought forth a comment...

"I just kicked the shit out of a [derogatory term for a minority] after i followed him outside [Cork nightclub] on [day of the week] night"

Sorry about the censoring, but I have my reasons, which will become apparent below.

So what do you do when someone admits to committing a crime on your blog?
I took it down as soon as I saw it.

The next question is, what do you do next...

Well wither this assault is fictional or real. Worst case... its real.
If its real and I don't report it... am I liable?

Well, since it concerns a minority, there is a chance that an incident such as this would have crossed the desk of the Garda liaison for that minority... so I checked, and there was one.

I've dropped the details I have off (approximate time, place and minority concerned) and I'm leaving the investigations in the hands of the authorities.

Lets assume it is a real event, what is traceable?
Blogspot (or Google) have probably recorded the incoming IP address and time of the comment being recorded. This means that the commenter could be traced back to his (I think it's a safe assumption that an assault described above is more likely to be bragged about by a man than a woman) IP address assigned at the time of the post.

This IP address may belong to a household, public place or a company.
In most cases It should be possible to figure out who posted it...

However it all depends on if the assault took place.

What should I have done, and should I have done something different?

Will

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3 Comments:

Blogger grannymar said...

Not an easy one Will.

A Blog has no seal like a confessional. It is a public place and we know that when we post. Anyone in the world has access to it so why not those who deal with crime.

If you do nothing and a crime comes to light how would you feel?

8:49 p.m., June 19, 2007  
Blogger cork-host said...

I'd feel badly to put it mildly.

Of course, why use such a public space as a confessional (and why mine?) As much as I like the honest truthful view of things, there are certain public confessions which should be made in the privacy of the courtroom or the station.

12:58 a.m., June 20, 2007  
Blogger MarT said...

I'm sorry you went through this. Don't feel bad about other people's stupidity. You're a good guy.

2:40 a.m., June 21, 2007  

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