{"id":104565,"date":"2016-08-28T11:26:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T19:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=104565"},"modified":"2016-08-28T11:26:13","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T19:26:13","slug":"chat-logs-expose-crash-override-network-as-online-bullies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=104565","title":{"rendered":"Chat Logs Expose Crash Override Network as Online Bullies"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Heat Street<\/a>: Harassment is rife on social media. Users are allegedly targeted for no reason other than their gender or the color of their skin and the only response by these platforms is to ban users<\/a> who violate their code of conduct. More often than not, users simply engage in online arguments with each other based on their political views.<\/p>\n

In the months after the GamerGate movement<\/a> arose, Zoe Quinn founded Crash Override Network, or CON. Her alleged infidelity was the catalyst<\/a> for the now infamous hashtag. The organization was set up to fight online abuse\u2014purporting to deal with the harassment of women and minorities in the game industry on social media. In case you\u2019re wondering, the name was inspired by the cult \u201890s movie Hackers.<\/p>\n

In response to criticism of its platform, Twitter established<\/a> a \u201cTrust and Safety Council\u201d to make the platform a less hostile place for users. The council is supposed to prevent abuse, harassment, and bullying. Among the select organizations to become a part of the council, Feminist Frequency was listed as an inaugural member. It\u2019s no secret that Feminist Frequency now sponsors Crash Override Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you ask any of CON\u2019s members (assuming they choose to speak), they\u2019ll tell you they joined the group to fight what they saw as the abuse of vulnerable individuals on social media. This is only partially factual. In truth, CON started as a Skype chat and morphed into a Slack channel where members gossiped about people they disliked on Twitter and targeted supporters of the Gamergate movement. I would know, because I was one of them.<\/p>\n

Chat logs originating from a Skype group chat prior to the creation of the secure channel were recently leaked by YouTube personality BroTeamPill in a livestream <\/a>and reveal much of what actually went on behind the scenes. I\u2019m inclined to write about what transpired if only to set the record straight and give context to CON as an organization.<\/p>\n

Among the topics itemized under \u201conline abuse\u201d on the official Crash Override Network site<\/a>, doxing\u2014or the circulation of private information\u2014is listed. Yet the leaked chat logs clearly show members expressing their disapproval<\/a> of how Randi Harper, who was also a member of CON, was doxing people on Facebook. A week later, members of the organization cheered her on and discussed plans<\/a> for how to destroy their targets\u2019 careers. A few moments later, two members talked about filing police reports<\/a> on an individual accused of doxing a member of the group.<\/p>\n

To save face and to protect the integrity of the flock, Harper informed the group<\/a> that another member intended to publicly denounce her \u201cso we don\u2019t all get painted with the same doxxer brush.\u201d It should be noted that Harper, the creator of the \u201cGGAutoblocker,\u201d maintains a personal Twitter blocklist for supposed harassers \u2014many of whom are simply on the list for simply disagreeing with her. The blocklist is endorsed and used by thousands of users\u2014including celebrities and journalists\u2014who are mislead into thinking that it helps them avoid abuse. Harper has been criticized<\/a> by self-described \u201csocial justice warriors\u201d for including many transgender persons on the list.<\/p>\n

Katherine Cross, the secretary of Feminist Frequency and columnist at games industry website Gamasutra, praised Harper\u2019s actions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don’t have much sympathy for GG here. The Facebook rooms were public. Although I might’ve opposed this still if I didn’t know Randi’s deeper motives here– sometimes the only way to confront the storm is to redirect it,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Beyond doxing and expecting the mob to publicly shame outed individuals, the group went a step further<\/a> and discussed contacting employers to get people fired. This included silencing a member of the armed forces<\/a> and Purple Heart recipient for his views supporting Gamergate by contacting his superior officer. The group also targeted Google employee Justine Tunney<\/a>, who was both a vocal supporter of Occupy Wall Street and GamerGate. There was no shortage of threats to sue anyone<\/a> who supported GamerGate into financial oblivion.<\/p>\n

The group as a whole often served as a hammer wielded by its participants and engaged in petty disputes with individuals on social media. It made a concerted effort to attack and defame game developer Brad Wardell<\/a> because of a personal beef Zoe Quinn had with him. There was much discussion surrounding prominent consumer advocate and YouTube personality John \u201cTotalBiscuit\u201d Bain<\/a>, with unkind remarks about his health and chemotherapy treatment. Both individuals had expressed support for GamerGate.<\/p>\n

Other YouTubers like the popular atheist commentators Sargon of Akkad and Thunderf00t and media critic MundaneMatt, also were subjects of discussion<\/a> because of CON member Rob Marmolejo\u2019s personal beef with them. Marmolejo was recently exposed as a sex pest after it was revealed that the organization may have enabled his sexual harassment of women online<\/a>. According to public statements by Israel Galvez, another CON member, over 20 women have come forward with allegations about Marmolejo.<\/p>\n

The group believed that it carried more clout than other Twitter users because of its \u201cSJW powers,\u201d and members requested that Randi Harper escalate reports they\u2019d made about GamerGate<\/a> supporters to hasten suspensions. It went well beyond simply getting people banned from Twitter\u2014the group made an active effort to hurt their opponents\u2019 wallets, and they usually did so by going after their Patreon accounts. Individuals like 8chan site owner Fredrick Brennan and lawyer\/blogger Mike Cernovich were on the receiving end of their actions<\/a>. Additionally, members of CON conspired to sabotage the charity stream of feminist charity The Fine Young Capitalists, which needed funds to develop an independent video game. The Toronto-based organization had past history with Zoe Quinn<\/a>. For its part, TFYC has since released their first game, Afterlife Empire, on Steam in 2015.<\/p>\n

Intent on painting GamerGate as a \u201chate movement,\u201d members of CON looked for every opportunity to pin the blame on GamerGate for anything that might make its supporters look bad. The group discussed highlighting transphobes within GamerGate to blame them for the suicides of transgender women<\/a>. Despite a lack of evidence that the suicides had anything to do with GamerGate, CON members rationalized that trolls who participated in \u201cOperation Trans Genocide\u201d from 4chan\u2019s \/pol\/ board were undoubtedly affiliated to the movement. A CON member wrote a Tumblr post on the matter<\/a>, blaming GamerGate for everything awful under the sun, and countless tweets made during that time attempted to tie both subjects together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Heat Street: Harassment is rife on social media. Users are allegedly targeted for no reason other than their gender or the color of their skin and the only response by these platforms is to ban users who violate their … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21791],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104566,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104565\/revisions\/104566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}