Turd Ferguson
Donating Member
EXPOSING bad behaviour seems like the moral thing to do, but as amateur law enforcers embrace the internet, what should we make of the dobbing trend?
Facebook, YouTube and Reddit offer endless footage of poor driving, names and addresses of terrible landlords, videos of obnoxious neighbours and photos of public transport passengers.
With websites dedicated to naming and shaming anti-social Australians popping up daily, some are worried about the devastating effect a post can have on someone’s life.
PROPERTY PAIN
Property manager Leanna Hunter* was named and shamed in a Google review after telling a former tenant he had left a property damaged and dirty, even though his full bond was returned. “When people don’t like something, it’s easy to go to social media,” she told news.com.au. “It’s a volatile situation.
“The majority of landlords are typical mums and dads paying their mortgage. I’ve got to question why you’d single out an agency or a person. We’re a small family business and there can be repercussions. Naming and shaming in our society needs to stop.”
But Jessica Ruiz, a senior property manager from Victoria, said social media helped her when she ran into problems as a tenant. “There was a nail coming through the carpet and I have a one-year-old daughter,” she told news.com.au. “The dishwasher wasn’t secured — that would crush a child. I contacted the property manager, and when I didn’t hear back, I warned them I was going to issue a 14-day notice.”
Jessica posted her story on an industry forum. She believes such action is justified “if it’s valid and not an attack, and you’ve done the right thing”, although she acknowledges that some of her colleagues disapproved. “You have to be careful on social media.”
It took five months for her to hear from Consumer Affairs, and she says online forums and official websites can help tenants and landlords educate themselves instead of just waiting.
Penny Scott, a lawyer who runs the website Landlord Watch, says her site is “the renter’s answer to TripAdvisor”, and a vital resource for tenants with nowhere to turn.
“We review properties, landlords, real estate agencies and tribunals,” she told news.com.au.
“People come to me at the end of their tether. I ask for evidence — photos, video footage — I’m aware of defamation. If a landlord or agent says the accusation isn’t fair, I publish their reply.”
ROAD RAGE
Dash Cam Owners Australia encourages road users to snap each other.
Australians are also leading the charge on the streets, uploading photos and videos of fellow road users. One YouTube clip from Queensland with almost 100,000 views shows a car pull out with no warning. The driver behind the camera screams and swears, before the offending vehicle chases him down and brakes in front of him, to be rear-ended twice in return. It’s typical of the anti-social activity captured on dashcams, and not just from the person “caught out”.
Other videos show cyclists and motorists engaging in vicious slanging matches, attracting thousands of comments discussing who was in the right.
YouTube channel “Dash Cam Owners Australia” has had almost six million views of its footage of “Muppets”, “scumbags” and “bogans” disobeying road laws, which reveals faces and licence plates. The clips are hugely popular, and many say calling out dangerous driving is a public service.
Reckless driving caught on dashcam
Nadav Golombick, who runs the Australian section of Roadshamer.com, agrees. “We name and shame bad drivers by showing their vehicle licence plates and adding them to a database that can be searched by anyone visiting the site,” he said. “Uploading videos could make other drivers aware they are being watched and will make them more careful.
“All most drivers want is to get to where they are going safely. Driving on the road should not be more stressful than it has to be.”
PASSENGER SHAMING
Instagram and Twitter are now filled with accounts sharing candid photos of people abusing the rules of public transport. From plane passengers sticking their feet in the air to train users clipping their nails, pictures of bad travellers are hugely popular.
At times, these posts have exposed the worst of humanity. From racist rants on Sydney buses to a woman swearing at a pregnant passenger on a Perth train, it’s hard to feel sorry for certain people.
But do all the condemned deserve to have their faces published online? Judgmental photos of body parts, sleeping positions and even reading material are particularly worrying. The subject’s rights are hazy when it comes to copyright — and what happens when the rule-breakers are under 18?
A Public Transport Authority spokeswoman in the Perth case said staff could not be the arbiter of public morals. That’s of little concern for the masses enthusiastically embracing this new era of public humiliation.
One Facebook page, which has more than 300,000 likes, is unapologetic. “Are these a**holes serious? Photos taken by anonymous flight attendants & passengers from all over the world. Don’t end up here.”
The dobbers get to keep their identity secret. When a Philadelphia woman posted a photo of a train passenger who had been “bragging about his affairs” to Facebook, it was shared more than 200,000 times. Whether she was telling the truth could not be verified, but the angry mob had its say anyway.
Facebook pages encourages neighbours to dob in other families.
This is when the shaming gets truly personal. When households can film into each other’s living rooms, all hopes of privacy vanish.
As violence, anger and emotional problems are aired online, and later often in the media, the boundaries between reality and entertainment start to blur.
One website has taken up the job of identifying sex offenders and paedophiles and where they live. Others have called for people to expose tax evaders and other criminals. Another asked homeowners to rate the noisiness (and usually comment on the lifestyle) of families next door.
All too frequently, the “crimes” are petty, with some Facebook pages mocking ridiculous lawn ornaments, annoying renovation projects and disliked dogs.
In Vancouver, neighbours have been “drought-shaming” people with pristine gardens for violating water restrictions. In California, there’s even an app to “empower” the locals to report water use.
In the days before social media, email and smartphones, snapping a photo and sharing it with the wider community would have been much harder. Now, there are no limits.
HOW FAR IS TOO FAR?
Police say footage of people breaking laws should be given to them rather than posted on social media for analysis. But many amateur filmmakers are suspicious of the authorities, or prefer the vigilante justice of online reprobation to a court.
Politicians don’t seem able to stem the tide. Last October, police issued a call to people with dashboard and helmet cameras to dob in dangerous drivers. A Queensland officer told the ABC police rarely received footage of dangerous driving, and when they did, those who submitted it were often reluctant to back it up in court.
Then in May, footage of what appeared to be a teenage girl running out in front of a car in Hobart started doing the rounds on social media, to the concern of police in Tasmania.
Dobbing culture has its risks and its rewards. Civilian policing raises serious ethical concerns, and smacks of a 1984-style surveillance society, in which we spy on each other’s misdemeanours.
With smartphones in our pockets, we have the tools to monitor others 24/7, but not the skills to use them with care. Trust and responsibility are slowly eroding from society.
But when the internet looks like your best hope for change, it’s easy to understand why people are taking matters to the court of social media.
TL;DR - people taking to social media to complain, right or wrong?
