Danielle Citron’s Hate Crimes in Cyberspace is a breakthrough book… Citron does a thorough and admirable service of clearly delineating the avenues for legal relief that already exist, thus belying the widely held belief that this behavior is totally unregulated and therefore beyond the law’s reach. Cyberspace is not a completely unregulated wild west, and perpetrators of hate crimes as well as their victims need to know that. Citron calls for greater enforcement of all of these laws that already target hate crimes in cyberspace… The book thus serves as a blueprint for what Citron insightfully calls a new civil rights movement. It gives legal representatives and victims a roadmap for charting out legal actions that can be taken to halt the abuse being currently suffered, and to compensate for past harms. It gives state and federal legislators a menu of options for strengthening the law in this area, so that cyberspace can be a safe as well as robust domain for the expression of views on all subjects. It responds to First Amendment worries about the possibility that her proposed reforms might chill valuable speech, and it suggests paths for interested private parties who want to affect the trajectory here outside the law. It’s a tour de force and I believe it will succeed. It will change the law, change the conversation, and change attitudes toward and regarding this extraordinarily abusive and harmful behavior. It will strengthen women’s civil rights, and thus strengthen women’s equality and at core, it will be a significant step toward ensuring women’s safety in the public space of employment and education, as well as in cyberspace and the home. This is a book to celebrate, to study, to argue over, and, mostly, to use… This book makes a powerful case that we must do something about this conduct, and that we must use law to do it. There simply must be a more robust legal response to harmful, hateful, and misogynistic behavior, in cyberspace, no less than in workplaces and the home. That is a huge contribution, to women’s equality, to the quality of our social and civic life, and to the justice of our law.
In this important book, Danielle Citron proposes a civil rights agenda for the digital age—new legal tools that will protect equal opportunity and human dignity in digital spaces. She explains how we can protect individuals from online harassment and abuse without undermining freedom of expression. This is pioneering legal scholarship.
There sometimes seems to be a river of hate on the internet, flowing steadily through different social media; people are often hurt, and there is no obvious end to it. In this book, Danielle Citron, an American law professor, proposes, with quiet authority, how we, as digital citizens, lawmakers, internet intermediaries and educators, can make a change.
The Guardian - Katharine Quarmby
The free flow of information and expression facilitated by the Internet can bring out the best in people—and also the worst. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace is a call to action and thought-provoking roadmap to realizing the Internet’s full potential as a place of discourse and engagement for all.
A very important book…that addresses the dark and dangerous side of the Internet. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace by Danielle Keats Citron delves into myriad stories that swing from unfortunate to horrific, highlighting the negative experiences people have suffered as a result of behavior made possible by the anonymity the Internet provides, and/or made exponentially more severe due to the medium’s vast and instant reach… It’s enough to make you want to go offline for a very, very long time.
To be sure, police and prosecutors regularly fail to enforce existing laws when it comes to online abuse, either because they don’t take the abuse seriously or because they lack the technological skills to find the perpetrators. But while better training and more resources are certainly necessary, Citron argues persuasively that the law itself needs to evolve as well.
The Nation - Michelle Goldberg
This book sets forth a compelling argument that the internet should not be allowed to maintain its ‘Wild West’ anarchic status, because its ability to facilitate cyber-bullying outweighs the virtues of maintaining that status… Hate Crimes in Cyberspace ’s main strength lies in its sustained and detailed exploration of the bizarrely convoluted, sustained and extremely hurtful nature of online abuse of individuals… Its pioneering research could and should be used to support the case for introducing a criminal offence of gender-based hate speech in various countries.
Times Higher Education - Helen Fenwick
With the amount of research, detail, and sharp, straightforward suggestions in this book, you can almost hear Citron daring her readers to attempt any kind of counterargument, because one simply doesn’t exist… Hate Crimes fully delivers on its promise to elucidate the possible legal responses to online harassment and revenge porn, and policymakers—Citron’s intended audience—will be well served by its clarity… The author derives a lot of firing power from comparing the modern-day fight against online harassment to the 1970s-era fights for the criminalization of sexual harassment in the workplace, and, to a lesser extent, to the fight for the acknowledgement of (and due punishment for) domestic violence. Her comparisons with other feminist fights for equality are both apt and poignant, and the economic injustice of online harassment is certainly deserving of swift and meaningful solutions.
The Baffler - Jordan Larson
Citron…focuses on how online hate speech ruins lives, most often women’s lives. She cites surveys that show that 60 to 70 percent of cyberstalking victims are women, and she details cases in which women have been targeted, defamed, and threatened with rape and murder… The very same things that make the Internet such a uniquely powerful medium for freedom of speech make it a uniquely powerful medium for hate crimes… The difficult question—as always in First Amendment and most constitutional litigation—is where to draw the line. In grappling with that and offering provisional answers, Citron [does] a great service.
Chronicle of Higher Education - Erwin Chemerinsky
[Citron’s] book comprehensively catalogs the many forms of online harassment—from revenge porn to anonymous cyber mobs—arguing that we need more robust laws to criminalize it and that law enforcement needs to take the cases more seriously… Her book attempts to persuade readers of the real damage wrought by digital attacks with examples of some of the worst harassment that’s happened online… Citron hopes her book convinces readers that harassment online should be taken seriously, and that a robust legal and enforcement framework is created to make the Internet a less chilling place for women.
[An] excellent new book…which dives into the negative consequences of connectivity and suggests legal and ethical remedies that may help people who are the targets of abuse and harassment… I think the book deserves to get a wide audience, particularly as legislatures and tech companies struggle to grapple with the consequences of connectivity. While [Citron] writes from the informed perspective of a legal scholar and researcher, the prose is clear and her approach should be accessible to lay audiences… Citron connects the experiences of women and minorities in the 20th century and the civil rights laws that were enacted to prevent or penalize discrimination against people on the basis of race or gender, with the challenges that confront people in the 21st century.
TechRepublic.com - Alex Howard
Citron brings clarity and rigor to a difficult area of law and policy—dealing with cyber harassment and stalking—that is in desperate need of both. Her book is a must-read for anyone interested in balancing free speech and privacy, and finding protection from the damage that online trolls can do. Citron masterfully guides us toward much needed solutions.
It is the first systematic account of the problem, and how to counter it. Citron proposes practical and lawful ways in which to punish online harassment and also demonstrates the emotional, professional and financial damage incurred by victims.
Newsweek - Katherine Quarmby
★ 09/15/2014
★ 2014-07-13
