The Internet Is Driving Me Crazy
(kuro5hin.org)
»Earlier this evening I was browsing 4chan ever in search of the next mindfuck to keep me stimulated. Unfortunately, I found it. For those unfamiliar with the various peccadilloes of the 4chan community, one of the myriad subjects of interest are cute camwhores for the resident otaku to drool over [insert link to cracky-chan pic]. The most recent victim of this disturbing voyeurism is one Jordanna Leah. Indulging my curiosity, I delved into this random girl's life. Within minutes I discovered that she was recently fired from her job at Best Buy and suddenly an image, without context meaningless, managed to punch through my crusty exterior and moved me to pity.
Who was this person and why should I give two shits about her employment? Delving further, I found large archives of images from her apartment, her job, her trips out to Chicago, and suddenly this person became very real to me. I discovered a few .mpegs and download them, only to hear her voice, watch her dance like a dork, and flop around on a couch in boredom. I now know this girl better than some of my real life acquaintences and all in under twenty minutes. AT&T wasn't kidding when they told us to reach out and touch someone.
To further compound the problem, imagine if Ms. Leah checks her server logs and notices several referral links coming from http://www.kuro5hin.org, or maybe googles herself to find a link to this article. [...]«
Ich finde die wirkliche Perversion von Kontakten im Internet ist gerade, daß man sich (in kurzer Zeit) zu kennen
scheint. Weil man Bilder sieht. Weil man stundenlang chattet. Weil man viele Dinge über den anderen erfährt, ohne daß er/sie beteiligt ist.
Es ist eine Sache der Erfahrung Informationen zu wichten oder mit ihnen gut umzugehen.
Ich bin selbst meist unangenehm überrascht, wieviel man über Leute herausfinden kann, selbst wenn sie kein Netizen im klassischen Sinne sind. DAS ist zugleich die häßliche, andererseits aber auch die schöne Dimension des Internets.
Es ist eine heilsame Erfahrung für jeden, nach seinem eigenen Namen zu googeln und zu schauen was man als Fremder herausbekommen könnte.