Wired reports on the insidious world of online harassment, focusing on the experience of a Washington state couple and how difficult it was for them to prosecute their harasser. Ultimately, the couple filed a lawsuit, seeking damages and relief related to defamation, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, electronic impersonation, and invasion of privacy, but not everyone has the means or understanding of the online world to take such an action. A 2016 poll reports that cyber harassment affects 47 percent of Americans who use the internet, with roughly 10 percent of Americans with an online presence having either been the victim of, or threatened by, revenge porn. Danielle Citron, law professor at the University of Maryland, says her research shows people too often don't understand how often they are sharing sensitive information and how that information might be used by data brokers and others in the future, adding "we overcollect and we underprotect."
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