• SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works
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    16 days ago

    The “we did it reddit!” phrase comes from redditors trying to track down suspects of the boston bombing. Redditors found a guy they strongly suspected, then found personal info on them and began harrassing him and family, including death threats.

    It was the wrong person.

    Imagine being that person accused! One day just living life, the next experiencing a horrible bombing, the next being tracked down by a misguided internet randos on a manhunt.

    This is why having some basic privacy is important before you need it

    • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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      16 days ago

      it wasnt the internet that exposed him to the media, it was the police and feds who sold him out to the media. There is no “we did it” here. “They” did it.

    • KubeRoot@discuss.tchncs.de
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      15 days ago

      I’m sorry, but just one detail from what I’m seeing on the linked article - “that person” committed suicide a month before any of that went down. I don’t think it invalidates the point, even though being alive and present to be interrogated might’ve changed things, but it comes off comical when talking about how horrible the experience must’ve been.