The Death Threats Against Blogger Kathy Sierra
Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users blog told her readers in a March 26, 2007, post:
As I type this, I am supposed to be in San Diego, delivering a workshop at the ETech conference [link added] . But I'm not. I'm at home, with the doors locked, terrified. For the last four weeks, I've been getting death threat comments on this blog. But that's not what pushed me over the edge.
Sierra said, "What finally did it was some disturbing threats of violence and sex posted on two other blogs... blogs authored and/or owned by a group that includes prominent bloggers."
I join the numerous bloggers who've condemned those threatening Sierra. As far as I'm concerned, threats to do bodily harm shouldn't be considered free speech and should be taken seriously. On the other hand, the cyberworld is no different than the offline world. Criminals, extortionists, rapist and intimidators inhabit both. If we don't tolerate them offline we shouldn't tolerate them online. Criticism is fine, even vicious criticism can be tolerated, to a point, but not threats and intimidation.
By the way, I hope Sierra doesn't stop blogging. And Scoble, I hope you rescind your decision to stop blogging until Monday in protest. You are probably the most widely known blogger in the world. Let your voice continue to be heard on this.
To read Sierra's entire post, please see "Death threats against bloggers are NOT "protected speech" (why I cancelled my ETech presentations)
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