"Outing" people for criminal acts on Facebook

[Ree]

These types of posts on Facebook really bother me, and I refuse to share them
I understand why they happen.
People are outraged by the situation and they don't want the person to get away with it.

They figure by sharing the picture, if the person is at large, there is a greater chance people will see the pic and recognize the person and they will be caught faster.
The thing is, even the police do not want people sharing these types of pictures, because they really do not help their investigation all that much.
If the police want the public's help with finding a suspect, they will release their own notice.

They certainly will not release pictures of people charged with crimes just as a public service to the community.

Aside from encouraging vigilante justice, there is a risk to people from these types of posts that are strung together by well meaning members of the public.

If the person is dangerous and at large, and they are recognized, if they are aware that they have been spotted, that could put the eyewitness at risk.

If the full details of the case are not known, and all evidence has not been presented at trial, these posts have just tainted a jury pool, or has rendered the person guilty until proven innocent.

If the person creating the post is involved in the situation, they are obviously going to post from their point of view, and as we all know, there are 3 sides to a story. The first side, the second side, and the truth.

Another aspect not considered by people who share these things is that sometimes, people get it wrong!
There have been numerous cases of mistaken identity with either the wrong picture or the wrong name posted, and it has ruined lives. People have been attacked and even killed over these mistaken identity "public safety" warnings because someone decided to take the law into their own hands.

Recently, some woman made a man's life hell because she over-reacted and accused him of being a "creep" and pedophile who had been trying to hit on her children, when in fact, the guy was just minding his business, trying to take a selfie with a Star Wars sign.

It hit home recently for me.

While the father of one of my granddaughters is what can only be described as a dickhead most of the time, he has been a pretty good father to both of my granddaughters.
(He has actually been a better father to the oldest than her own father, teaching her all the things a father should be doing, such as riding a bike, skating, rollerblading, basketball, baseball, etc., and he never misses a single event at her school or church, while her own father never even shows up.)

Unfortunately, he has a problem with alcohol and substance abuse, and he will not get help. It has caused him to make some very poor choices in life.

He recently became the subject of this type of facebook public safety warnings, and the person who started the post put my granddaughter's safety at risk as a result.

The person who started the post included the address of his mother's home where he was staying, and my granddaughter was visiting there.
There were threats being made on his life, and comments about forming a lynch mob and stringing him up. There was even a comment about dragging him from his home and bashing his head with a concrete block.

I don't condone what he did, but there is a side to the story not being told, yet people don't know this. They just keep sharing his image all over facebook without even thinking about what they are doing, and the threats keep coming. Every time it's shared, my granddaughter is at even greater risk every time she visits her other grandmother.
The thing is, he is not there now, but the guy who started the post has not bothered to let anyone know that fact, so the threats continue.

First of all, the full case hasn't even gone before a judge.

It was a domestic dispute with his girlfriend. (The one he cheated with while still with my daughter. Yeah, I said he was a dickhead)
This woman also has an alcohol problem, except that she becomes a mean drunk and starts hitting.
As his her pattern, that night, it was the same thing again. Usually, he just takes it, but that night, he hit back. He was charged with assault because, as we all know, men cannot be the victims of domestic abuse. *sarcasm*

(I posted pics of my granddaughter's birthday party from last fall on my Facebook, and while the pics are a little blurry, you can just make out the huge shiner he has in two pictures. That was the result of one of her drunken rages. That was not the only time he showed up with bruises or marks on his face from her.
People question a woman who stays in that type of situation, but they have sympathy and understanding, but they seem to feel a man should be better able to get out of the situation and so, have no sympathy or understanding. Reverse sexism?)

She is being made out in the post to be an angel and a martyr just this side of sainthood, while he is being painted as this horrific monster.

Unfortunately, he has a history of choosing these types of women in the past, and over 20 years ago, there were 2 other incidents where a similar thing happened, and so, he is considered to have "a history with 2 priors".
Never mind that in one case, she was trying to run him over with her car. (Hell, he lived in my house for a year and I wanted to run him over with a car. LOL) Again, if a woman continues to get into abusive relationships, people tsk tsk and shake their heads, but they manage to understand her victim mentality because of something that went terribly wrong in her past, but a man is considered just an idiot to keep picking those kinds of women and staying with them.

Anyway, as I said, I do not condone what he did as I feel violence is never the answer, and he certainly is not one of my favourite people, but I am angered that someone created the post and publicly posted on the internet, the address of innocent people who weren't even involved in the situation, and has put them in danger as a result.

And people keep sharing because I keep hearing from friends and family who are seeing it for the first time and messaging me to ask about it.

I have never shared these types of posts and I never will.
I wish more people would think before hitting share.

[Aragarthiel]

If you happen to see the picture again, you can report it and/or ask the guy to take it down for the reasons you specified. Especially because it has identifying information in it, with a minor possibly involved. I'm sure the guy who posted it would feel like a complete asshole if a little(?) girl was hurt because of what he posted.

[Canarr]

I agree with you on this, Ree. Outrage is cheap to come by on the internet, and spreads easily.

It's been a growing issue in Germany, too, although not so much connected to criminal activity, but to hate speech/racism - mostly aimed at refugees. Facebook especially is rather slow in acting on people posting racist comments on their pages, so Outraged Citizens(TM) have taken to doxxing those they feel should be punished for expressing racist views.

Of course, it's had the predictable consequences: in a few occasions, they've doxxed people who just happened to share the same name, who then (sometimes) lost their job. In other cases, while they did doxx the correct person, I'm still not sure that loss of their livelihood is a punishment that fits the crime.

[Mr Hero]

I refuse to share these types of posts as well. They don't prove jack shit about what the person is accused of. A few years ago, I saw one of a man sitting in public transportation alone. The caption was of how the poster overheard his phone conversation detailing that he was cheating on his wife, and asked for it to be shared so it could eventually get to his wife.

I refused to share that picture because I said, the picture of the guy proved jack shit.

[BlaqueKatt]

on a similar note the "missing person" ones have been used by stalkers and abusers to find their victims after the victim successfully got into hiding.

[Ree]

If you happen to see the picture again, you can report it and/or ask the guy to take it down for the reasons you specified

I did, as did several other people, and Facebook says it does not violate their community standards.
I even explained my concerns about the level of violence in the threats made in the comments and the risk that innocent people could be harmed because of the publishing of private information - his mother's address.
They don't care.

[Gravekeeper]

Man, that's straight up doxxing. Facebook should be clamouring to shut that down. If solely for any potential liability issues if nothing else.

I don't see these kinds of posts in my feed ( thank god ), but I have seen the scenario before and it seems like a 50/50 shot if they even have the right person to begin with. It seems like every other high profile case the Internet mistakenly ( or intentionally sometimes ) identifies the wrong person. Then the police pick up the right person a week later.

But the type of people that rage about these things are not the type of people that give much of a shit about actually looking into the matter or paying attention to it. Let alone watching it for updates. Its the same reason we still have morons around that think Iraq had WMDs. They listen to the accusation then never pay attention to the resolution.

Same reason news outlets can get away with throwing out some wild bait headline to work people up. They know they can just add a two sentence correction at the bottom later on. Which half the people will never read.

[Ree]

on a similar note the "missing person" ones have been used by stalkers and abusers to find their victims after the victim successfully got into hiding.

That is another excellent point!

I have heard of several situations where that was the case.

I also read of one woman who actually had to flee her country because her picture was posted with a story rather than the actual person, simply because someone did not do their fact checking and made assumptions based on a similar name and appearance.

http://petapixel.com/2012/11/14/how-...nian-protests/

[bainsidhe]

That's why I also don't "like" or "share" photos mocking unknown people for fashion choices, such as images from "People of Walmart". I admit I found the photos amusing at one time, but then more and more comments became nasty and I realized the subjects were just regular people, and were now being anonymously and publicly shamed on the internet.

The deal-breaker for me was a post about a local customer, who enjoys dressing in a rather fun and flamboyant way. People started posting how he had to be a pedophile that was trying to lure in children. So no more "People of Walmart" for me.

[BlaqueKatt]

kind of a side tangent, but still related, I've noticed that even if you post a correction to someone's post people don't bother reading it. I've seen several where I posted the correct information in the top three comments, and you check your notifications, and 15 people AFTER have posted without reading the original or any previous comments. (though that seems to just be a general internet trend)