Bully For You

The Vancouver Observer asks: Is Facebook culpable in Amanda Todd's death?

The Internet is a magnificent tool, but the Web has an ugly side. In its side alleys and social networking corners, anonymity and lawlessness combine. People show what they are when they fear no repercussions and no connections between their online actions and the real world. My friend, C., comments that the Internet is like the island in Lord of the Flies. Anything can happen, there are no rules and no adults. (Even many of the adults aren't adults.) The only decencies to be found are ones that online users consciously seek to preserve, as here.

Sometimes, the lawless online mentality rampages full force into the real world. In those cases, the shameless vicious hatefulness of those born and bred in the cyberverse - who don't care if they remain anonymous or not - is astonishing.

This week, the Canadian media and parliament are discussing the suicide on 10 October 2012 of a British Columbia teenager, 15-year-old Amanda Todd, a victim of cyber- and real world bullying over the past several years. Her tragic problems began when she was apparently ran across an cyber-pedo stalker online, who destroyed her life, blackmailed her and poisoned every new start she made. The Vancouver Observer remarks: "Amanda's death, at least in part, was a result of our society's inability to bridge the divide between digital and 'real' lives."

Todd's own testimonial, posted 7 September 2012, is below the jump. The tool through which Todd was hounded from school after school and from town to town was the happy friendly marketing vehicle of Facebook. Ironically, the very pivot of her demise hosts a memorial site to her here. On that Facebook page and on Youtube, the bullies have continued to jeer at this poor girl, even after they drove her to her death.

I haven' t confirmed this, but according to Vice, autopsy photos of Amanda Todd were then leaked to the Internet:

Unfortunately the Amanda Todd story gets worse, as her exploitation did not end at death. After autopsy photos of Amanda, naked and deceased, leaked onto the internet, the hacktivist group Anonymous responded. Anonymous claimed that a teenager named Alex Ramos distributed the photos, and proceeded to bomb his Twitter account. In what was publicly available on Alex’s Twitter timeline yesterday night, he insisted that what he found was simply available over Google Images. The biography of his Twitter account has now been hacked to say “Raging faggot that loves posting nudes of a dead suicide victim.” ...  

In what can best be described as extremely bad taste, Hunter Moore has thrown a handful of horrible tweets into the Amanda Todd discussion. Hunter, the creator of IsAnyoneUp, a now defunct website that allowed guys to post photos of their naked ex-girlfriends with public links to their Facebook profiles, is an online architect that has helped people like Kody Maxson reach girls like Amanda Todd.

 

After tweeting shit like “I wonder if Amanda Todd will be on walking dead tonight” and “Life’s a Bleach - Amanda Todd” which is a reference to Amanda’s first bleach drinking suicide attempt (it’s not clear if this is how she committed suicide on the 10th), he was met with the usual torrent of hatred and disgust that the man has grown accustomed to. In response to the backlash, Hunter tweeted: “i lost 200 followers from my amanda todd joke. then gained 250 from making fun of a girl for wanting me to take her buttonhole virginity. <3 .="." strong="strong">” 

On 14-15 October 2012, the hacker group Anonymous responded and claimed to have tracked down the man who allegedly had blackmailed and stalked Todd, and published his name and address on the Internet. By 15 October, hackers had already bookmarked a Wikipedia page for the alleged stalker, Kody Maxson:
 

Anonymous' Identiy Configuration

Amanda Todd's Punisher

Extorted amanda todd for pictures. This is the pedophile that social engineered Amanda Todd into supplying him nude pictures.

Identity: Kody Maxson
Online Username: kody1206
Location:Sapper St, New westminster,BC
Birthdate 1980, age 30
Video:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYk19SD4FCs

We Are Anonymous.
We Are Legion.
We Do Not Forgive.
We Do Not Forget.
Kody Maxson.
Expect us!

 

Anonymous evidently used an underground 2010 Capper Awards Youtube video to identify Todd's stalker. Urban Dictionary:

"Capper: In fansubbing, a person who captures audio and video directly from a television broadcast and saves it to their computer to later be downloaded by a fansubbing group. Most cappers are located in Japan, since they have easier access to anime broadcasts there." 

The man Anonymous named, who goes by the username, Kody1206, was nominated in these awards as the 2010 Blackmailer of the Year: 

1. Anonymous' Identiy Configuration
2. Amanda Todd's Punisher
3. Extorted amanda todd for pictures. This is the pedophile that social engineered Amanda Todd into supplying him nude pictures.
4. Identity: Kody Maxson
5. Online Username: kody1206
6. Location:Sapper St, New westminster,BC
7. Birthdate 1980, age 30
8. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYk19SD4FCs

According to one Website, Kody Maxon is a former (?) Facebook employee. Using the information that Anonymous provided, the Website Vice tracked down more of Maxon's information. Jezebel:

If Maxson is the creep who Anonymous alleges him to be, he's in for a world of pain, as Facebook groups have already popped up with names like, 'Kody maxson WILL die,' and 'Kody Maxson Better Sleep With 1 Eye Open.'

Later on 15 October, the Gaming Central Channel on Youtube posted a video claiming that Kody Maxson had been arrested by the police. Gather:

Amanda Todd may soon get justice for the torment and sexual blackmail she endured the last couple of years. Although police are investigating the case and claim to have more than 400 tips with 20 to 25 investigators prioritizing those tips, their work is done.

According to the Twitterverse, Amanda's tormenter has been tracked down and identified. It is amazing how these savvy computer users managed to do something the police haven't. This report, which is very informative and thorough, reveals Anonymous managed to unearth the identity of the troll who made Amanda's life a living hell. At this point, this information has not been definitely confirmed, but Anonymous names the perpetrator as Kody Maxson of New Westminster, British Columbia.

This is a map of sorts to back up the theory that Kody Maxson is the guy who drove Amanda to suicide. According to this news report, it sounds as if people have actually gone to this man's house in an attempt to confront him. This is not the way this situation needs to be handled. A lynching is not acceptable. Let the authorities handle it. If Kody Maxson is indeed the man behind Amanda Todd's torment, it is likely he is doing the same thing to other females. He will get put away.

Topsy reports today that Vancouver police arrested a Dakota Maxson on sexual assault charges. But local news reports that hackers posted the wrong address online, and would-be lynchers are showing up at the wrong house.

Image Source: Topsy.

Video Source: Youtube; reproduced here.

Video Source: Youtube.

Sextortionist Blackmailer of the Year, starts 11:42: "This next award is for the rapists of the Internet." Kody1206 is nominated at 14:06. Video Source: Youtube.

 

Addendum: Toronto man fired after trolling Todd Facebook page, 16 October 2012.
Addendum: Mother of man (falsely) identified by cyber-vigilantes lashes out at online lynch mob, 16 October 2012. 

Addendum: Police distracted by false information circulating online around Todd case, 16 October 2012.

Addendum: RCMP deny rumours around Amanda Todd case, 16 October 2012:

 

VANCOUVER -- Rumours circulating around a man accused of being involved in Amanda Todd’s suicide have Mounties and police dedicating officers to dispel online gossip.

A New Westminster address and a man’s name were released, shortly after Todd’s death last Wednesday, by a group claiming to be Internet activist collective Anonymous.

Todd, 15, killed herself after enduring years of bullying and being stalked by an unnamed online predator who friends say used different online aliases.

Apart from responding to speculation about the identified man, Mounties said investigators were distracted “for hours” dealing with a more disturbing rumour of the “supposed release of Amanda Todd’s autopsy photos.”

In a statement Tuesday, RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen said the allegation against the man was “unfounded” and no autopsy photos were ever leaked.

Additionally, some have put up fake fundraising pages, presumably to "profit” from Todd’s death.

“We want to urge everyone who has been touched by Amanda’s story to respect Amanda’s memory by being a responsible citizen of the Internet,” Thiessen said.

The case has gathered so much online attention that on Tuesday, New Westminster police had a patrol car camped outside the address that was published by Anonymous.

“The people that live there have nothing to do with the Amanda Todd case at all,” said New West Sgt. Diana McDaniel, adding there are no police records of the named man living in the city.

“We’re helping the residents because unfortunately they have no idea or any involvement at all in this case. I don’t know how long we’ll be there, it’ll be dependent on the situation.”

A man with a similar name as the one published by Anonymous appeared in Surrey Provincial Court Tuesday on a charge each of sexual assault and sexual interference of a person under 16.

But there are several differences, such as a different age and name spelling. The man named by Anonymous is 32-years-old, while the man in court is 19. The former appears to use a shortened version of the latter’s name, though both share the same last name.

According to CTV, the 19-year-old knew Todd, but had already talked to police.

RCMP investigated that file before the courts in early September. Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie said the allegations are dated between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1 and are unrelated to Todd in any way.

Twitter account Anonymous New Jersey claimed responsibility for naming the man and tweeted on Tuesday, they were “off” on the man’s address and name.

“Everything I got is circumstantial,” the group tweeted later.

Anonymous’ original post identifying the man also suggested there were uncertain pieces of information, saying, “At the most this is the person who did this to Amanda Todd and at the least it’s another pedophile that enjoys taking advantage of children.”

B.C. Premier Christy Clark, speaking in Nanaimo Tuesday, said the public needs to stop reposting false information and look at everything online with a critical eye.

Addendum: Hacker News reports that there is another suspect in the case, 19 October 2012.