across the bar

Ever heard of a cyber-lynching?

by Steve - Posted 12 July 2005

Check out this story which ran in the washington post recently about a woman who refused to pick up her dog's doo doo on a subway in South Korea. One of her fellow travellers  took a picture on his camera phone and published it on a popular website. Other users soon sent out a call across the internet for more info on the culprit and pretty soon they had a dossier on her. The women became known as Dog Poop Girl and she was soon recognised around her native town.  The negative exposure ultimately resulted in her quitting her university.

Did the mob go too far? Did they infringe her right to privacy?

In SA law, the right to privacy includes the right not to have people who know you revealing your identity or disclosing your personal information to others who don't. Reporting the event and her conduct in that situation may have been okay, but publishing the other information probably crossed the line.

Whatever the verdict, what happened to Dog Poop Girl really stinks!