Investigation into McCann internet trolls launched by police

From another forum, with thanks also to the poster.

It's very sad and tragic. She had no need to kill herself, she had two sons at the very least.

But it does appear that there is something very wrong with many of those who spend their time harassing the McCann's and anyone connected to the case. Brenda Leyland had two sons who no doubt loved her, friends, was part of her church, had a nice house and money. In short she should have had a full and happy life. But something was wrong and she secretly spent hours each day tweeting and retweeting lies and hatred about a couple in the hope it would make them miserable and convince people their child had been killed by them. Something had gone very wrong for Brenda Leyland to make her do this, yet no one seemed to know. Whether she had done other things like send poison pen letters we will probably never know, but I would be surprised if any village mystery like that had not made it into the press between Thursday and now. But this is what the anti campaign has thrived on, the manipulation of people with problems. They lie to them, make them feel they belong, they encourage them as they help hurt the McCanns. Its akin to grooming in a way. These people may have problems but most have them know better or at least they should no better. They know the McCann's are not criminals, they know that attacking them is wring, but there is such a core of bitterness eating away at them they just can't help it.

And as for blame, only Brenda herself is to blame with the antis that encouraged her and lied to her a close second. Brenda did not need to kill herself, she was unlikely to be prosecuted ( although know she has killed herself I wonder if she was facing questioning), and she could have apologised and it would have blown over. Moving house would have been better than suicide ( presuming it was suicide, not a heart attack or something) at the end of the day.

It is not the McCann's fault, they did not ask her to troll them, nor is it the fault of whoever reported the hate campaign to the police. That was morally and legally responsible, and all it involved was bringing the police's attention to messages which had already been published publicly.

Nor is it sky's or martin brunts fault. Brenda published her comments and linked her username to her real name several times, and she was filmed in a public place with her name and location withheld. He only questioned her about tweets which she made and he made no other accusations. Nor did sky report on her worst behaviour such as that towards a witness in the case ( who I might add had all of her details posted online alongside an accusation from sweepyface that she "peddled her ar!e).

It is very sad that Brenda has chosen to kill herself, but martin brunt did nothing wrong in reporting on the story. And it is most certainly not the fault of the McCann's who have only ever asked that they not be harassed and the search for their abducted child not hindered.

Bennett on death of Brenda Leyland:

Re: Martin Brunt Confronts Twitter "Troll"
Post Tony Bennett Today at 11:40 pm

I had a big lump in my throat and a tear in my eye when I flicked through Brenda Leyland's tweets and found this one:

#McCann Tony Bennett and Amaral 2 of the bravest men, outspoken for the truth to be shouted out

It was about a year ago.

Thank you very much for that Brenda, I'm so sorry I never saw that tweet and never was able to thank you.

Capitalising on sad happenings, I see. Also on the subject of 'flicking through tweets' I see he omitted to mention the one accusing Gordon Brown of raping a nine-year-old, for instance. Now, I can't stand Brown, or his politics, but you can't do things like that and pretend to be ever so nice or a 'Christian'. But then, some don't see that their behavior would never be accepted by the God they purport to follow. Going to church regularly and then spending hours on a PC threatening and stalking people they have never met do not, in my view, make for a true believer. Sykes

Rosalinda Hutton described her as a fragile, quiet lady in a pretty village, who clearly posed no threat to the McCanns whatsoever.

Fragile? If she was, she hid it well behind her horrible posts - and living so close to them while spouting like that, she DID pose a threat to the McCanns. Incidentally, I hope the McCanns have police protection, these nutjobs are quite capable of a revenge attack.   What 'lady' posts the kind of sick sh*t as shown below?

http://greptweet.com/u/sweepyface/sweepyface.txt

Have been engaged today for far too long with Fucktards , always makes me feel have to bathe in Jeyes fluid after

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Good point, why is M depicted a little Lolita and not the twins ?

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511601530504753152|Mon Sep 15 19:44:44 +0000 2014|@chilledkev #mccann Defensive aggression as shown by K , G and Shills is always indicator of guilt and fear of exposure
511597710668201984|Mon Sep 15 19:29:33 +0000 2014|#mccann Anyone fancy a drink down at the " Haters Hovel " all paid out of our benefit money of course ?
511597092310380544|Mon Sep 15 19:27:06 +0000 2014|@BigPhiIIyStyle #mccann Say what you like, always predictable, Hovels, on benefits, scroungers thats ALL us disbelievers defined
511594415589429248|Mon Sep 15 19:16:28 +0000 2014|@BigPhiIIyStyle #mccann Love it, pisses them off when no one gives a stuff, de-fanged Shills, 2 for the price of 1, selling off all stock

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509765961793417216|Wed Sep 10 18:10:50 +0000 2014|@Enigma_2015 @C_inthegarden Yes, GB and 2 others raped her, no wonder we are all up against a stone wall here
509764222000308225|Wed Sep 10 18:03:56 +0000 2014|@Enigma_2015 Just also read on Google that Blair was also fined £500 for importuning, Brown, 1970 raped 9 yr old girl

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486903543304290304|Wed Jul 09 16:03:45 +0000 2014|@tonybooth20 #mccann Rumour from source says G has been having an affair for ages, they will stay together for expedience
486903157621260288|Wed Jul 09 16:02:13 +0000 2014|#mccann Twice now recently K has acted the part of sad and defeated Mum, left off make up and had long face, yeah

From another forum, with thanks also to the poster.

Did any of those haters and trolls demand Martin Brunt's resignation when the truth came out (Leveson) about the lies that he reported on the McCann case (one example, full Madeleine DNA match in car)? No redaction requested, no apology demanded? They loved that he harassed the McCann's to the point that some of these trolls wished that the stress would push Kate over the edge. The same people who imo 'used' BL for their trolling agenda. They have no moral compass, they will use whoever they can to target their victims. The prey on the weak and 'sucker' the vulnerable into joining their cause. Provide a platform for them to spout their abuse and when things go wrong, they want to distance themselves from the situation by laying the blame at others door. These people will not stand up and acknowledge that they had a role to play in the destruction of her life, they too busy trying to destroy the McCann's.

And worse! Their fellow haters and trolls can't see how 'at risk' they are to the same treatment. No good in warning them, they just wont listen. Unfortunately this type of behaviour will continue and more people are going to get hurt in the process.

Answer to post 104 above from another forum with thanks also to Tigerloaf.

Tigerloaf: They simply can't see how twisted and perverted it is for them now to be turning Brenda Leyland into a martyr for trolls. And yes that is the word that some are now using to describe her, "martyr".

They are still using this woman (whose posts no decent person can call anything but disgusting) to attack the McCanns.

By attempting to make a martyr of this sad woman they are showing that they truly don't care, that they believe that their entitlement to troll, to post filthy abuse and to libel others on the Internet is somehow sacrosanct. What she did was immoral and possibly illegal. There is no getting round that fact. But these morons are trying to ignore that reality and claim her death as a flag for their nasty little cause.

She chose to become an Internet troll, she chose to abuse the McCanns based on the false information peddled by the likes of Goncalo Amaral, Joana Morais, Tony Bennett, Rosalinda Hutton. Lizzy Taylor, Zora McCartney and many others who by their actions spurred her on in her abusiveness. Now they are blaming everyone else in order to excuse their own sick behaviour.

The simple fact is that the McCanns are innocent of any crime. They do not deserve this woman or any other woman posting vile abuse about them. Those who post that abuse clearly don't care what effect it has on the McCanns or the two little siblings of Madeleine. It seems to have come as a shock to Brenda Leyland to know what that abuse feels like. She could not cope with the shock of her vile behaviour being discovered. She faced two days of revelation of her actual confirmed behaviour. She was initially full of bravado telling Brunt that she was entitled to post the kind of lies and abuse she was posting. Then it seems the reality hit home. Possibly she was not strong enough to face up to the truth of her new situation? Possibly she had other problems as well. But do the people who have trolled, harassed and abused the McCanns for over seven long years regarding their behaviour ever stop to think that they are causing exactly the same pressure on those two parents that this woman received? Do they hell! Do the abusers of the McCanns ever think that they are putting untold mental pressure on two very young children, Madeleine's siblings? Do they hell? Indeed they post brazenly that they want to see the McCanns suffering, that they want them to burn in hell, that they want the pressure to be put on the two young children in the family so that they will then in turn pressurise their parents.

That is the reality of the trolls, the abusers, the Facebook page members, the tweeters on #McCann. They are all perfectly happy to put seven years of pressure on the McCann family but when the reality hits home to one of their number and she is revealed to be such an abusive person and begins to feel the tiniest amount of the pressure the McCanns have felt, then that person becomes a martyr to the cause of abuse and trolling.

I feel genuinely sad for Brenda Leyland. She was the unfortunate troll who was first to be exposed so openly on TV. I feel sorry for her because she felt that she had no support mechanism and could not face people after what they had learned about her secret life as a troll. I feel genuinely sorry for her family who have been left with the legacy of a mother known only for her trolling. She probably had many other qualities but they have been overshadowed. When her grandchildren decades from now look for their family on the Internet they will always face this aspect of her life. That is a sad fact.

The blame does not lie with the people she was abusing though.

The blame does not lie with the people who did what any concerned person should do. It is the duty of anyone who believes crime is being committed to report what they believe is illegal activity to the police.

The blame does not even lie with the media who have a role to question people about their behaviour when it appears to be immoral and potentially illegal.

The blame lies with that part of society who feel they have a right to be abusive, libellous and downright vicious; an entitlement to say whatever they like on the Internet and "to hell with the consequences". Those who encourage that behaviour, who organise that behaviour, who support that behaviour, who condone that behaviour, who repeat that behaviour and who participate in that behaviour are the people to blame. The right of free speech comes with responsibilities. Brunt correctly challenged this woman to face her responsibilities. In the end it seems she simply could not do that.

A very sad affair indeed and wholly the fault of those who are embroiled in hate on the Internet, those who are now claiming this woman as a 'martyr' for their nasty cause.

Woe betide them when the same exposure is given to them. How will they cope when the truth about them hits the TV screens or more probably the court room? It will be their own families who suffer then. But as you say they really don't care. Bennett has proved that over and over.

from another forum, with thanks.

It might be a very good idea for the haters that are using this woman's death for their own ends to think on, and stop it. The police and coroner are more than competent to deal with it - the armchair detectives currently exploiting this tragedy aren't.

They do not even seem to realise that the deceased' computer/tablet/smartphone or whatever will be part of the police investigation, and the contents of that will enter the public domain, which will mean even more heartbreak for her family. The haters are deluding themselves if they think her family are not going to be shocked rigid when they see just what she was spending her time doing; the general public are NOT going to be sympathetic.

In the unlikely event that the haters have a shred of decency left, this would be a very good time to keep quiet and keep out of other people's business; none of this would have happened if they hadn't taken such delight in attacking and smearing innocent people, and exploiting someone's death for their own ends shows anything but respect for her family.

Jeremy Vine on Trolls - Radio 2.

 Mal Fletcher
Posted on: Monday 6 October 2014

TROLLING MAKES US ALL TRUMAN. The sad death of Brenda Leyland, the woman who allegedly Twitter trolled Kate and Gerry McCann over the disappearance of their daughter, demonstrates again how our sense of anonymity is failing to adjust to the realities of social media.

Ms Leyland, whose death is not being treated as suspicious, was one of dozens who reportedly stood accused of posting inflammatory online messages about the McCann family.

A few days ago she was asked by a television reporter why she had done so. (There may and perhaps should now be questions asked about TV's habit of doorstepping people on camera, when they have been accused but not charged.)

Ms Leyland replied: 'I'm entitled to do that', before adding that she hoped she hadn't broken the law.

Twitter, like most other forms of social media, is not a like-for-like alternative to a private telephone call, or even a megaphone that can be used from behind a veil of secrecy.

Social media are by design social. They are forms of broadcast media, where the traditional model of the few-broadcasting-to-the-many has been turned on its head.

Social media allow every user to become a broadcaster of sorts – able to share stories, opinions and ideas with as many listeners, readers or viewers as will ‘tune in’.

The ease with which messages can be sent, however, is out of all proportion with their potential impact, both on the sender and on others who may be the subject of their missives.

Doubtless, the parents of Madeleine McCann have suffered terribly, not only as a consequence of the apparent kidnapping itself but as a result of the way some people seem intent on blaming them for their situation.

Whatever their emotional reaction to the case, most people won’t claim to know all of the details surrounding Madeleine McCann’s  disappearance. Blanket media coverage cannot guarantee us a detailed perspective.

As Malcolm Muggeridge once noted, ‘The camera always lies.’ Without any effort to deceive, just the mere fact that someone points a lens in one direction will mean that other things will be missed.

Recognising this, the majority of social media exponents will feel unqualified to comment on the case, aside from expressing empathy for the McCann family. Or perhaps sharing their thoughts on the way the case has been handled by officials.

The hopefully minor number who do venture an opinion on who-did-what-and-when will be wary of crossing the line from opinion into personal abuse or slanderous illegality. They will understand that they are making public declarations which can be read by anyone – if not now, then in the future.

Tweets and similar messages appear to be disposable and temporary, because they take only a few seconds to construct and send.

They form, however, a potentially permanent record. What goes digital normally stays digital, either because we forget to expunge what we’ve entered, or because it is almost impossible even for experts to totally remove material from computers. Somehow, a digital echo always seems to remain.

Facebook claims more than 1.3 billion registered accounts. On Twitter, an estimated 58 million messages, or tweets, are published every day.

The U.S. Library of Congress reportedly collects all published tweets, with the aim of passing the records to future generations of historians. In an age when letter writing and the like are reduced to almost zero, social media will provide a rich source of research data on the state of the world in our time.

Without recognising this, or in spite of it, some people feel free to share provocative, angry and, in many cases, slanderous remarks about people they’ve never met and whose stories they know only in a very fragmentary way.

The laws surrounding slander, personal abuse and stalking have been slow to catch up with the new realities of social media. Even now, police do not have the resources – or probably the training – to follow up all but the most vicious of personal attacks online.

The tragedy of all this is that some so-called ‘trolls’ will never have set out to become agents of vilification. They will have grown into the role incrementally, as they have gradually come to believe themselves invulnerable or hidden from public view.

They may have come to believe that only their ideas were in the public space and that even if their identities became known, their online opinions would be divorced in the public mind from their true, offline characters.

This is a dangerous assumption in the age of ‘onlife’ – the blending together of the online and offline worlds through near ubiquitous use of digital gadgets.

So much of our lives now involve digital technologies at some level; so many of our conversations are mediated by keyboard, screen and headset, that we blur the lines between artifice and reality.

Indeed, we sometimes mistakenly believe that the internet is in fact about artifice; that what we do in the cybersphere is somehow less real than how we behave in ‘real’ life. Where once ‘artificial’ and ‘reality’ were words we wouldn’t naturally fit together, artificial reality is now an accepted part of our daily discourse.

Augmented reality is also now beginning to make its presence felt. Devices like the ingenious Google Glass offer to inform almost every step we take in the street and, if we like, to record those steps for future posterity via life-logging.

In so many ways, our internet engagement has become a large chunk of our real lives.

Arguably, more than a few of us are in the process of becoming something like a central character in our own Truman Show – except, of course, that in our case we are turning the invisible cameras on ourselves.

Luddism is not the solution here. The internet has brought so many benefits and most of us wouldn’t dream of trying to turn back the digital clock.

Yet we must constantly remind ourselves that our technologies must be made to serve us and never allowed to define us.

That realisation sadly came too late for Ms Leyland. For those who knew her, hopefully, her entire life will not be defined by the manner of her death or by the furore that preceded it.

Hopefully, too, those of us who did not know her will look within our own selves, pausing to consider the ancient maxim: ‘Life and death are in the power of the tongue.’

© Copyright 2020plus.net with Mal Fletcher  

http://2020plus.net/QuickThink-16-Mal-Fletcher-Trolling-Makes-Us-All-Truman.aspx?utm_content=buffer051cf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

xxxxxxhttp://www.channel4.com/news/mccann-internet-troll-hunting-site-deleted-after-death
(remove xxxxx to access the link).

McCann internet 'troll-hunting' site deleted after death

After the death of a woman who targeted the McCann family with online abuse, Channel 4 News finds a website that has assembled 27 dossiers on people it claims post "McCann hate".

Brenda Leyland, 63, from Burton Overy, Leicestershire, was said to be a "troll" who had targeted the McCanns with abusive messages on Twitter, and was found dead in a hotel on Saturday.

This was after a Sky News reporter confronted her outside her home last week. It is thought that Sky News may have used a dossier gathered by supporters of the McCanns to help them identify and find Leyland.

Channel 4 News has established that supporters of the McCann family have assembled at least 27 dossiers on both anonymous "trolls" and on those who are perceived to be "anti-McCann".

There is no indication at all of the McCanns being involved in or endorsing this activity themselves.

Gerry McCann last week told the BBC: "Clearly something needs to be done about the abuse on the internet. I'm glad to say that there have been a number of people where police have taken action."

The Metropolitan Police is investigating the 80-page dossier that catalogues the "hate campaign" against the McCann family, which includes threats against their children.

Troll-hunter site

The dossiers found by Channel 4 News have been created over a period of a number of years about online internet trolls who have targeted the McCanns.

They are hosted on a Wikipedia-style site called "Mccann Hate Exposed". It was removed from the web sometime in the past week.

Channel 4 News has seen archived copies of some page on the site that catalogue online abuse against the McCann family made by Twitter users.

The site seeks to track usernames and identities across the web, noting what usernames each person is using on sites including YouTube and web forums, and it includes details about their life in the real world.

The information in the dossiers names and unmasks some of the people who criticise or attack the McCanns.

The owners of the site have yet to respond to attempts made to contact them.

'Sweepyface'

A dossier about Leyland's account "Sweepyface" was hosted on the Wiki site, but i i's unclear if this is the same dossier that was handed to the police or the same information that was used by Sky News.

When Leyland was confronted by the Sky News reporter, it was put to her that she had posted messages attacking the family. She replied: "I'm entitled to do that."

The tweets levelled serious criticisms of the McCanns' behaviour following the disappearance of their daughter, as well as abuse directed at the couple.

One tweet allegedly posted by @Sweepyface, believed to be Leyland's Twitter account name, said the McCanns had "never had it so good".

Sky News issued a statement that says: "We were saddened to hear of the death of Brenda Leyland. It would be inappropriate to speculate or comment further at this time."

A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said: "Ms Leyland's death is not being treated as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the Coroner.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry will not be saying anything. It is entirely a matter for the police."

FoI Request - Information about Scotland Yard's handling of the 'Internet Troll Dossier' given to them on 9 September

New post  Tony Bennett Today at 1:14 pm
By the way, has anyone noted that 9 September - or '9/11' was

1. The date of the Twin Towers attacks?  Nah, it wasn't, it was 11 September, get yer bl**ding facts straight!!

2. The subject of Summers & Swan's previous book?

3. The date this year on which Summers & Swan's book 'Looking for Madeleine' was published? and

4. The date this year on which 'jayelles' (as is widely thought) handed her dossier to Scotland Yard?  False unproved statement

______________________________________________________________

Here is my FoIAct request, submitted earlier today:

6 October 2014

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

Regarding action by the police with regard to a dossier of 'tweets' and alleged internet abuse about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, handed to Scotland Yard on 9 September 2014, which has led to the reported suicide of one of those named in the dossier

I write with reference to this statement by 'a Scotland Yard spokesman':

QUOTE:  A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm we received a letter and documentation on September 9 which was passed to officers from Operation Grange. They are assessing its contents and consulting with the CPS and the McCann family."

Please list all occasions on which officers from Scotland Yard 'consulted with the McCann family' during the period 1 September to 5 October inclusive about this dossier, stating in each case whether this was in person, by letter, by telephone, by e-mail, by video conference, or otherwise.  

Similarly, please list all occasions on which officers from Scotland Yard had any contact with staff or management at SKYNews during the period 1 September to 5 October inclusive about this dossier, stating in each case whether this was in person, by letter, by telephone, by e-mail, by video conference, or otherwise.

Yours faithfully

Anthony Bennett

Anthony Bennett ‏@zampos 4h3 hours ago
@benleyland I just found out that your Mum said a nice thing about me on Twitter, I never knew about it so couldn't thank her #Condolences

That disgusting creep is going to try to latch onto the Leylands now. I suppose he's going to do a number on them, like he did with Lee Balkwell's family and tried to do with the McCanns.

For heaven's sake Bennett you stupid old duffer!!! This is NOT about you!

He makes chucky look like a shy, shrinking violet in the attention-seeking stakes.

Are they obliged to give him information? At what point could it be declared vexatious? Anyone know?

DailyMail
Monday, Oct 6th 2014

Somebody's Mum: Facebook campaign to get Sky reporter who exposed Maddie McCann troll sacked - after she is found dead in hotel room

By Martin Robinson for MailOnline and Sam Webb for MailOnline

Published: 09:49 GMT, 6 October 2014 | Updated: 18:19 GMT, 6 October 2014

A social media campaign has been launched calling for the sacking of Sky News reporter Martin Brunt, who tracked down and interviewed a woman who allegedly trolled the McCann family - and then killed herself a few days later.

Brenda Leyland, 63, died at a Marriott hotel on Saturday around 15 miles from her immaculately kept village home in Leicestershire. Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious.

A statement on the 'Sack Martin Brunt' Facebook page, set up yesterday, said: 'Martin Brunt should be sacked. RIP Brenda Leyland.' So far 1,265 people have liked the page.


Interview: This is the moment Martin Brunt asked Mrs Leyland about her tweets about the McCanns and she said she was 'entitled' to an opinion


Anger: Many on the Facebook page feel the interview was intrusive of Mrs Leyland's privacy

As well as messages of sympathy and support, there have also been a number of posts criticising the McCann family, whose daughter Maddie went missing on holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Earlier today her son gave an emotional tribute after she was found dead.

Ben, 20, a musician who is said to be studying law in Los Angeles, posted the following brief tribute: 'I love you mum and I will miss you forever'.


Martin Brunt denies he 'stalked' or 'chased' Mrs Leyland

He added: 'I am love and I am light, thanks to you'.  

Divorcee Mrs Leyland had been identified as one of a number of online 'trolls' posting a series of abusive comments about Kate and Gerry McCann, by Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt last Thursday.

She told the reporter who confronted her that she had been 'entitled' to make the comments using her Twitter identity @Sweepyface.  

His mother's death came just days after she was exposed as being one of the people behind an online campaign against the couple.

She was tracked down to her house and confronted about her online activities.

Last night, neighbours of Mrs Leyland, who had continued using her married name, told of their shock at her death.

One said: 'Brenda kept herself very much to herself, but people were surprised when she was accused of trolling the McCanns. You don't expect something that like around here. It's a very quiet place.

'But the village will be shocked by this news. I'm sure no-one would have expected her to do something like this. People didn't condone what she is said to have done, but it is obviously very sad when anybody is found dead.'


Sky News spoke to Mrs Leyland about her Twitter activity and she disappeared a day after it was broadcast

Tribute: Ben Leyland, the son of alleged Twitter troll Brenda Leyland, has today paid tribute to his mother after she was found dead in a hotel room

Burton Overy was mentioned in the Domesday Book and is just 15 miles from the McCanns' home in Rothley, Leicestershire.

Mrs Leyland, who was educated at a convent school and studied at Goldsmiths, University of London, is among a group of hate-filled critics of Kate and Gerry McCann who have posted hundreds of vile messages about the couple online.

The trolls wrongly believe the McCanns were involved in their daughter's disappearance.

Among the many comments attributed to Mrs Leyland on Twitter was one that said: 'Q 'how long must the Mccanns suffer' answer 'for the rest of their miserable lives'.'

On Friday, the day after her interview was broadcast, she disappeared from her home in Leicestershire, neighbours said.

Sky News said today in a statement: 'We were saddened to hear of the death of Brenda Leyland. It would be inappropriate to speculate or comment further at this time.'

There was no answer at Mrs Leyland's white-fronted cottage home in Burton Overy today and the curtains were drawn.

Dean Randall, landlord of the nearby Bell Inn, said: 'She wasn't a regular at the pub but popped in for the occasional meal.

'She was a perfectly pleasant person who socialised with friends she had in the village. She appeared to be very well-liked'.

Commenting on her online activities, Mr Randall added: 'What she tweeted was absolutely wrong.

'There should definitely be laws against that sort of thing. She has now paid a terrible price for what she did.

'Although she appeared to have a busy life, no-one in the pub ever mentioned her having a keen interest in computers and tweeting, but obviously she did.

'My locals are absolutely shocked by what has happened.

No-one is blaming the media, they have a job to do reporting the news, and she had admitted sending those tweets.'

Neighbours in the close-knit village of 280 residents were reluctant to discuss the tragedy, but one, who asked not to be named, said: 'Brenda took pride in her appearance and always liked to dress well.

'She was a very keen gardener and always looked after her home. She also took part in a local scarecrow festival.

'Everyone in the village knew that she had been on Sky TV and we knew she had suddenly left her home. There were concerns about what she might do but no-one thought she would go this far.'

Last week the father of Madeleine McCann called for an example to be made of 'vile' internet trolls who have been targeting the family.

Gerry McCann said he had 'grave concerns' about letting his nine-year-old twins use the internet after threats of violence and kidnapping.

The comments, in an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, came after it emerged that police are looking at a dossier of abuse posted on Twitter, Facebook and chat forums.

Mr McCann, whose daughter Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz in 2007, said he and wife Kate did not read such material because it was too 'upsetting'.

Mr McCann said. 'Clearly something needs to be done about the abuse on the internet. I'm glad to say that there have been a number of people where police have taken action.

'I think we probably need more people charged.'

On Saturday Mrs Leyland was found dead at the Leicester Marriott Hotel, pictured, around 15 miles from her home

Scotland Yard is currently investigating the posting online of hundreds of hate messages aimed at the McCanns, both aged 46, whose daughter disappeared during a family holiday to Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007

Asked about '@sweepyface', Mr McCann said: 'I haven't read her tweets ... I think that is an issue, that our behaviour is modified by this.

'We do not have any significant presence on social media or online. And I've got grave concerns about our children as they grow up and start to access the internet in an unsupervised capacity.

'There have been other instances where people are threatening to kidnap our children. People are threatening violence against Kate and myself.

'Of course it's not just us - it is many other people who happen to find themselves in rather tragic circumstances.

'I'm glad to see the law around this area is being reviewed. But I do think we need to make examples of people who are causing damage.'

The troll investigation featured in numerous newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Daily Star, The Daily Express as well as the Daily Mail after Sky News exposed her identity as one of the trolls who targeted the McCanns.

Gerry McCann discusses the damage caused to their family

A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said: 'Officers were called at 1.42pm on Saturday October 4 following a report of Brenda Leyland being found deceased at a hotel room in Smith Way, Grove Park.

'Ms Leyland’s death is not being treated as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the Coroner. Officers acting on behalf of the Coroner will look into the circumstances surrounding and prior to her unexpected death'.

McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'Kate and Gerry will not be saying anything. It is entirely a matter for the police.'

A spokesman for the Marriott hotel said he had nothing to add beyond the police statement.

Scotland Yard is currently investigating the posting online of hundreds of hate messages aimed at the McCanns.

Yesterday her son Ben, who is believed to be living in Los Angeles, posted a brief tribute to his mother on Facebook

Using the Twitter handle @sweepyface, Mrs Leyland posted dozens of messages attacking the McCann family

Detectives have decided to act after being given a dossier from McCann family supporters which catalogues the abusive remarks - including death threats - aimed at the couple on Twitter, Facebook and online forums.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman last week confirmed officers were assessing the contents of 'documentation' which has been passed to officers and were consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service and the McCanns.

Last night, a spokesman for Marriott Hotels International Ltd said: 'We are very sad to confirm the death of a guest at the Leicester Marriott Hotel and our thoughts go out to the family and friends of the deceased. As this is a police matter and an investigation is underway, we are unable to comment further and enquiries should be directed to the police.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2782066/I-love-mum-I-miss-forever-Grieving-son-s-tribute-internet-troll-dead-hotel-room-exposed-targeting-Maddie-McCann-s-parents.html#ixzz3FOY2O6Ei
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http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-case-of-brenda-leyland-and-the-mccanns-is-a-thoroughly-modern-tale-of-internet-lawlessness-9778262.html

GRACE DENT

Monday 6 October 2014
The case of Brenda Leyland and the McCanns is a thoroughly modern tale of internet lawlessness
You can’t accuse a TV reporter of ‘hounding’ someone who is guilty of trolling

The circumstances around the death of Brenda Leyland, whose body was found in a Leicester hotel room this weekend, are all at once sad, complex, divisive and thoroughly modern.
Ms. Leyland, I cannot help but feel, is yet another victim of what I’ve termed “the internet wild west era” in which we’re living. The rules of civility are yet to be established. We’re naught but electronic guinea pigs. One man’s “troll” is another man’s prophet of truth. One woman’s systematic campaign of abuse is another woman’s brave battle to be heard.

Ms Leyland was doorstepped last week by Martin Brunt from Sky News over her alleged obsessive and relentless Twtter campaign to expose what she felt was “the truth” about Madeleine McCann’s parents Gerry and Kate.

A Twitter account by the handle @sweepyface had tweeted over 4,300 times supporting its firm - albeit incorrect - view that the McCanns are implicated nefariously in their daughter’s disappearance. The account’s contempt and anger for the McCanns was multi-faceted, inexhaustible, and at times breathtakingly unpleasant.

Mr Brunt took pains in his report to say that @sweepyface was not the worst offender. This I believe, as over many years I’ve noticed the anti-McCann conspiracy theory lobby to be some of the most furious, combative and unsettling message-propellers one might come across.

The McCann conspiracy theory is the perfect tinderbox for internet trolls. It involves a child’s disappearance, a possible paedophile bogeyman, a £2m fund with accusations of misuse, plus handily placed daft foreigners open to accusations of fecklessness and corruption. But more than this the McCann case appeals to firmly entrenched class war tensions that these evil middle class folk are able to pull strings or use their money or power to cover something up. I cannot remember blame and spite directed at Jamie Bulger’s mother or Sarah Payne’s grandparents alleging that it was flaws in their attention which had led to utter woe. In these cases, empathy and compassion were abundant.

Yet there is something about doctors eating patatas bravas within metres of sleeping children which drove Twitter accounts like @sweepyface to a bleak place. The @sweepyface account begged for attention endlessly - from like-minded people, from detractors, from journalists and from TV people. Matthew Wright received many tweets, Matin Brunt also – and with this in mind Brunt approached Ms Leyland to allot her just this - attention.

But, as I say, we’re in the wild west. While @sweepyface was desperate for exposure, Ms Leyland did not welcome it at all. While @sweepyface may have been in her element flinging around accusations, gossip and provoking ill-will, the real life Ms. Leyland met Mr Brunt’s request for a comment with a firm No and an attempt to disappear into her car.

Mr. Brunt is now being accused by some sections of “hounding” Ms. Leyland to her death. This seems extreme. Reporters have been doorstepping people and requesting answers on British television for the past 50 years. Are we now saying that in this new internet age, any person who draws attention to themselves vehemently but anonymously online is out of bounds for reporters?

Are we saying that we must accept that internet users working anonymously to spread misery are most probably mentally delicate and fuelled on their own shortcomings, so let’s leave be? Should a person's privacy be respected even if their modus operandi is disrespecting privacy? The only certainty this incident has underlined is we have no strong idea how to tackle harmful internet unpleasantness, aside from “ignore”.

There should be more help, support, understanding and escape routes offered to people living angrily behind keyboards. Their numbers are growing. In our ever web-dependent, fresh-air lacking, screen-chained world, we’re all more powerful, more superhuman behind our laptops in bed at midnight than we ever could be in real life.

And being an internet idiot, even just momentarily, is in all our sights. When we’re safely miles away from our target, we feel righteous, war-like, invincible and remorseless over our ability to wound. Ms. Leyland’s meeting with Mr Brunt was a reminder that when human beings propel anger electronically, the last thing they want is to be greeted with is a human face.

Jayelles » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:02 pm

And JFTR, I may hold Babalou & co personally responsible for inciting the hate posts and threats which are being directed at me just now. They are barking up the wrong tree!

Likewise Bennett.

All are being saved and will be forwarded to the police. I would also urge others to send screencaptures of any threats against this forum or the McCanns to Scotland Yard as well because if they are investigating a hate campaign against the McCanns (and indeed anyone who supports them), then they might welcome further evidence which might support their investigation.

From Myths, with thanks.

     Carana wrote:Although I don't recall ever hearing about her until a few days ago, I am sad to hear that this woman has passed away, possibly due to taking her own life. My condolences to her family. She no doubt had laudable qualities as most people do, and will certainly be missed by those who loved and knew her well.

   For some reason, she became sucked into a dark world in which unsubstantiated rumours become fact in a vitriolic hate campaign against the family of a missing child and actively participated in it for a number of years.

   From what I can read, she doesn't appear to have been one of the ringleaders in the sense of proposing attacks against the family, however her sustained vitriolic comments form part of the whole.

   So what was the issue about being confronted by a newspaper reporter concerning her comments? It would have been an opportunity to explain the reasoning or facts behind her attacks if she'd found that she could defend them.

   If her participation in this campaign was some form of cathartic response to her own personal dramas, then I find it very sad that some of her online "friends" didn't suggest that she take a step back. Some of those who knew her in real life may not have even been aware of the nature of her online activities.

   Everyone can feel alone at some point and it may easy to be drawn into some kind of "comforting community", whatever that may be. Some may be constructive, others not. If in doubt, think of Brenda Leyland, and take a step back, even for just a moment.  

Jayelles replied:  I agree completely with your post. She was not a ringleader. She was not the most vitriolic poster.

I think part of her problem when confronted was that she could not defend the thousands of tweets she had either made herself or retweeted. Brunt tells us that she apologised rather than defend the indefensible. I am certain that most of the hounders and haters would fail miserably if asked to defend the more explicit comments they make beyond it having been something they picked up on the Internet. I doubt that the majority have read the files as they claim or even the books on the subject. Perhaps they have read a Bennett pamphlet with the proven lies or Pat Brown's screed with even more proven lies or perhaps they listened to the UFO maniac Richard D Hall's videos. But being able to actually cite references to support their posts would prove impossible for all but the tiniest proportion of them.

As for her "online friends" supporting her, that was never going to happen. They are not real friends. Their only connection is hatred which is not a basis for any kind of real friendship, even online.

There is no "constructive community" of anti-McCanns. Their entire raison d'etre is negative. Their only aim is to get bigger and bigger numbers of haters no matter what kind of person becomes involved, be they mentally disturbed, violent, nasty, intelligent, obscene. To them it matters not.

Complaints to Ofcom over Sky News report on McCann ‘troll’
Regulator receives 60 complaints about reporter confronting woman over abusive tweets about McCann family

Tara Conlan
theguardian.com, Monday 6 October 2014 17.51 BST

The regulator Ofcom has received 60 complaints about Sky News’ report about the woman alleged to have tweeted abusive messages about the McCann family.

Brenda Leyland was found dead in a hotel room days after she appeared on Sky News as part of an investigation into internet “trolling” of the McCanns.

She was not named by the Sky News report but was interviewed by reporter Martin Brunt as someone who “uses Twitter to attack the parents of Madeleine McCann”.

Brunt and his team took precautions such as not naming the village where Leyland lived and Brunt referred to her only by her Twitter name, @sweepyface. However, she was subsequently named in several newspaper reports.

Most of the complaints to Ofcom are understood to have been made in the last couple of days, rather than in the immediate aftermath of Brunt’s report on 2 October.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “It’s important to stress that we’ve not reached a view as to whether an investigation will take place.”

Meanwhile on a Facebook page called Sack Martin Brunt, a petition has been launched calling on prime minister David Cameron to “launch a public inquiry” into what it claims is “trial by television” had gained 325 signatures.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”.

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Did Bennett orchestrate that Ofcom complaint?

By Mirror.co.uk

Social media users are calling for a public enquiry into the death of Brenda Leyland, 63, who died after being exposed on Sky News for sending vile tweets to Kate and Gerry McCann

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-trolls-4220-hate-4393238#ixzz3FPtOxt8c
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook



The internet troll who took her own life had tweeted 4,220 times about the family of Madeleine McCann in the past year.
Churchgoer Brenda Leyland, 63, was found dead in a hotel after a TV news crew confronted her over her Twitter account.
The divorcee’s messages accused Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate, both 46, of neglect and a cover-up over the disappearance of their daughter in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
Brenda closed the account but the messages she posted as @Sweepyface had been saved in an online cache.
One friend said the mum of two was “lonely beyond belief”. And a neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “What she was doing to the McCann’s was horrible but she couldn’t cope with the consequences.
“She must have been a sick woman. Trolling was her hobby, sadly.”
Brenda, of Burton Overy, Leics, had two sons from her marriage. She was said to be estranged from her eldest boy Dan.
Younger son Ben, 20, a musician, was last night preparing to fly home from Los Angeles, where he is studying. He told reporters yesterday: “I’m not engaging. None of you have any clue about my mother or her legacy.”
The McCanns passed a file of online abuse to police last week. Brenda’s body was found at the Marriott Hotel in Enderby, Leics, on Saturday, hours after heart doctor Gerry said trolls who posted “vile nonsense” about his family should be prosecuted.
The day before, Brenda had been confronted by a Sky News reporter.
The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said of her death: “It’s a matter for the relevant authorities.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-trolls-4220-hate-4393238#ixzz3FPtATRPG

Excellent post by a Myths member, with thanks.

Does anyone think anything will change now in regards to cyber bullying both in the case of the McCann family and in general. Is this going to be a flash in the pan or will it become a turning point? Its ironic that we have seen young women kill themselves after cyber bullying after they have been assaulted, women having to install panic buttons after cyber bullying and relatives of victims like Madeleine McCann and Sarah Payne driven to despair by cyber bullying, yet none of these tragedies have changed anything.

Should twitter have acted to stop the abuse once it crossed the line from actual opinion to libel instead of letting it go to full blown abuse ( despite someone saying she hardly swore her tweets are actually very foul mouthed)? Should the police have acted earlier? Should people be banned from reporting abuse to the police? Should the media be banned from reporting on cyber bullies? Brunt is being accused of causing her death, but he was simply a reporter doing a piece on cyber bullying who found one cyber bully who had at one point tweeted under her own name and like many journalists before him doorstepped her to ask her about it. There was nothing underhand, and even though she had previously done so he did not reveal identifying details about her and he made it very clear she was not the worst. And in fact he only revealed her mildest tweets not the most shocking ones. So should he have been banned from reporting on her, should sky have had expert advice as to her mental state judged by her tweets. But then does that means you can do what you want to people so long as you have mental health issues? Should social media make advice pop ups if a poster gets too many people reporting it? Should the media stop treating ever story like a mini serious so that people start treating others as if they are real flesh and blood human beings not two dimensional characters. Look at Amanda Knox, treated as if she had no feelings what so ever and that it was OK to judge her for her expressions, looks, clothes. Even made to feel she was being selfish by not wanting to be imprisoned for something she didn't do simply because her friend suffered worse. Do we as a society need to make more time for each other. I am certain Brenda Leyland needed a good friend, she obviously had some real goodness in her as her sons loved her, but there must have been some issues there that she couldn't tell them about and it buried the goodness at least when she went online. If she hasn't been peddled lies about the McCanns would she have been saved, or was it going to happen anyway with brunt just being a catalyst.

Its a complicated problem with a really simple solution. Be nice to other people and always reach out to others. I wish Brenda had just reached out to someone.

Independent Voices:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-case-of-brenda-leyland-and-the-mccanns-is-a-thoroughly-modern-tale-of-internet-lawlessness-9778262.html

Grace Dent

Monday 6 October 2014
The case of Brenda Leyland and the McCanns is a thoroughly modern tale of internet lawlessness

You can’t accuse a TV reporter of ‘hounding’ someone who is guilty of trolling

The circumstances around the death of Brenda Leyland, whose body was found in a Leicester hotel room this weekend, are all at once sad, complex, divisive and thoroughly modern.

Ms. Leyland, I cannot help but feel, is yet another victim of what I’ve termed “the internet wild west era” in which we’re living. The rules of civility are yet to be established. We’re naught but electronic guinea pigs. One man’s “troll” is another man’s prophet of truth. One woman’s systematic campaign of abuse is another woman’s brave battle to be heard.

Ms Leyland was doorstepped last week by Martin Brunt from Sky News over her alleged obsessive and relentless Twtter campaign to expose what she felt was “the truth” about Madeleine McCann’s parents Gerry and Kate.

A Twitter account by the handle @sweepyface had tweeted over 4,300 times supporting its firm - albeit incorrect - view that the McCanns are implicated nefariously in their daughter’s disappearance. The account’s contempt and anger for the McCanns was multi-faceted, inexhaustible, and at times breathtakingly unpleasant.

Mr Brunt took pains in his report to say that @sweepyface was not the worst offender. This I believe, as over many years I’ve noticed the anti-McCann conspiracy theory lobby to be some of the most furious, combative and unsettling message-propellers one might come across.

The McCann conspiracy theory is the perfect tinderbox for internet trolls. It involves a child’s disappearance, a possible paedophile bogeyman, a £2m fund with accusations of misuse, plus handily placed daft foreigners open to accusations of fecklessness and corruption. But more than this the McCann case appeals to firmly entrenched class war tensions that these evil middle class folk are able to pull strings or use their money or power to cover something up. I cannot remember blame and spite directed at Jamie Bulger’s mother or Sarah Payne’s grandparents alleging that it was flaws in their attention which had led to utter woe. In these cases, empathy and compassion were abundant.

Yet there is something about doctors eating patatas bravas within metres of sleeping children which drove Twitter accounts like @sweepyface to a bleak place. The @sweepyface account begged for attention endlessly - from like-minded people, from detractors, from journalists and from TV people. Matthew Wright received many tweets, Matin Brunt also – and with this in mind Brunt approached Ms Leyland to allot her just this - attention.

But, as I say, we’re in the wild west. While @sweepyface was desperate for exposure, Ms Leyland did not welcome it at all. While @sweepyface may have been in her element flinging around accusations, gossip and provoking ill-will, the real life Ms. Leyland met Mr Brunt’s request for a comment with a firm No and an attempt to disappear into her car.

Mr. Brunt is now being accused by some sections of “hounding” Ms. Leyland to her death. This seems extreme. Reporters have been doorstepping people and requesting answers on British television for the past 50 years. Are we now saying that in this new internet age, any person who draws attention to themselves vehemently but anonymously online is out of bounds for reporters?

Are we saying that we must accept that internet users working anonymously to spread misery are most probably mentally delicate and fuelled on their own shortcomings, so let’s leave be? Should a person's privacy be respected even if their modus operandi is disrespecting privacy? The only certainty this incident has underlined is we have no strong idea how to tackle harmful internet unpleasantness, aside from “ignore”.

There should be more help, support, understanding and escape routes offered to people living angrily behind keyboards. Their numbers are growing. In our ever web-dependent, fresh-air lacking, screen-chained world, we’re all more powerful, more superhuman behind our laptops in bed at midnight than we ever could be in real life.

And being an internet idiot, even just momentarily, is in all our sights. When we’re safely miles away from our target, we feel righteous, war-like, invincible and remorseless over our ability to wound. Ms. Leyland’s meeting with Mr Brunt was a reminder that when human beings propel anger electronically, the last thing they want is to be greeted with is a human face.

The Daily Beast 10.06.14

Outed Madeleine McCann Troll Kills Herself. But Millions Live On Online.
A woman who harassed the parents of the missing girl had her identity exposed and days later, hounded by the press, took her own life. Who was in the wrong?

ROME, Italy — No one may ever know just why Brenda Leyland, a 63-year-old housewife from the idyllic English village of Burton Overy, Leicestershire, became obsessed with the case of Madeleine McCann, the little girl who disappeared from a holiday resort in Portugal in 2007, or why she believed McCann’s parents were involved. Last week, though, Leyland admitted to Martin Brunt of Sky News that she sent harassing messages to the parents of the missing child under the Twitter handle @sweepyface. “I’m entitled to do that,” she told Brunt as he warned her that she and scores of other so-called “Internet trolls” had been reported to police for harassment.

The video of her apparent admission went viral, and Leyland, who had been able to launch her messages against the McCanns from behind the shield of her anonymous handle, suddenly found herself tagged a “troll.” The press stalked her, publishing her name and several of her hateful tweets, including one in which @sweepyface wrote, “To Kate and Gerry, you will be hated by millions for the rest of your miserable, evil, conniving lives, have a nice day!”

On Thursday, Leyland fled her home after a photographer snapped her photo from behind her garden fence. On Saturday, Leyland was found dead, an apparent suicide in a hotel near her home. Now, in a slightly meta moment, Brunt and Sky News are being harassed by the online community who blame them for her death. In one tweet posted by a man who writes under the apt handle @incognito, Sky News is blamed directly. “Sky News no doubt contributed to the death #BrendaLeyland. Had it been police officers [who harassed Leyland] there would be an IPCC enquiry. Are Sky untouchable?” In several other tweets, the McCanns themselves are blamed for causing the death of the woman who allegedly harassed them.

Whether Leyland’s comments constitute true trolling or not, her death shines a spotlight on what is an international pastime for thousands of people who comment online about high profile cases like the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the murder of Meredith Kercher and the murder trial of Olympic “bladerunner” Oscar Pistorius. Even Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda was cyberbullied to such an extent by what are known as RIP Trolls after her father’s suicide she chose to go offline for good. “I’m sorry. I should’ve risen above. Deleting this from my devices for a good long time, maybe forever. Time will tell. Goodbye,” she tweeted for the last time after someone posted a photo-shopped image intended to be of her father’s corpse.

@sweepyface wrote, “To Kate and Gerry, you will be hated by millions for the rest of your miserable, evil, conniving lives, have a nice day!”

According to a February 2014 study entitled Trolls Just Want To Have Fun conducted by Canadian doctors Erin E. Buckels, Paul. D. Trapnell and Delroy L. Paulhus, Internet trolls operate as “agents of chaos” on the Internet, exploiting hot-button issues for perverse pleasure. “Online trolling is the practice of behaving in a deceptive, destructive, or disruptive manner in a social setting on the Internet with no apparent instrumental purpose,” according to the report. “This is why novice Internet users are routinely admonished, ‘do not feed the trolls.’”

Victims of Internet trolls are often unsuspecting commenters who naively enter an online conversation, journalists covering big cases, or the main protagonists of the cases themselves. The McCanns have received online death threats, despite having been cleared by police of any wrongdoing in their daughter’s disappearance. The McCanns say they are desperately worried about the safety of their nine-year old twins who are often subjects of online abuse. Their complaints were given to police last month in what is being called a “secret troll dossier” that apparently lists the abusive messages and the Twitter users who sent them. Sky’s Brunt referred to it when he door-stepped Leyland.

The murder trial of Pistorius in South Africa generated hundreds of vile comments and tweets that ranged from comments about his prosthetic legs to sick jokes about his dead girlfriend. Nick Squires, the Rome correspondent for The Daily Telegraph says any time he has written about the murder of British Erasmus student Meredith Kercher and the conviction of American student Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy, he is harassed by supporters of Knox’s innocence and also those who believe she is guilty. “I always felt I had covered the story objectively and that both sides were wrong,” he told The Daily Beast. “I see it as a badge of honor. As long as I got crazy abuse from both sides, I was happy.”

Tweets are the weapon of choice for most Internet trolls, but the Canadian doctors say that hurling insults on Facebook, Instagram and through news websites is also common. What separates the trolls from the exuberant or opinionated is anonymity. “The deceptive and ‘pointless’ disruptive aspects may distinguish trolling from other forms of online antisociality, such as cyber-bullying, where perpetrator identities are usually clear and the intent is more straightforward,” they say.

In cases such as a spate of recent suicides by adolescents who were bullied on Facebook, the perpetrators were well known. In the seedy world of Internet trolling, they are not because services like Twitter do not require users to register a verifiable real name, and because it is equally easy to set up an email account under a false name. Facebook recently deleted scores of accounts after instituting a rule that disallowed the use of fake names which could ultimately protect people from cyber abuse.

Many websites, including Twitter, have avenues to report abuse, but it is often difficult to stop trolls from just making up a new monicker to avoid a block and hurling more insults. A new website called Trolldor offers an analysis to identify trolling activity by measuring several variables in a Twitter user’s daily usage, including how many tweets are their own and how many followers they have. The makers say they developed the site to combat the defenselessness of Twitter users. “We feel that the behavior of some Twitter users is part of the problem,” they say.

After surveying more than 1,200 online community members who frequently comment and tweet, the study doctors came to the conclusion that internet trolls often exhibit traits known as the “Dark Tetrad” of personality disorders: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathic and sadistic tendencies. “They share many characteristics of the classic “joker villain: a modern variant of the Trickster archetype from ancient folkore.”

But until and unless the developers of online media require verifiable registration and disallow the anonymity that acts as a shield, Internet trolling will continue to be a popular cyber pastime. “The Internet is an anonymous environment where it is easy to seek out and explore one’s niche, however idiosyncratic,” the Trolls Just Want To Have Fun authors conclude. “The troll persona appears to be a malicious case of a virtual avatar, reflecting both actual personality and one’s ideal self.” And when that “ideal self” is psychopathic, there is little that can be done to stop them.

From Myths with thanks.

One thing that seems to be an issue is how brunt got her details. Haters are blaming sites like this and whoever made the dossier ( who they think are one in the same, but I have serious doubts about that) for giving out private details as if they must have hacked them. But in fact Brenda Leyland had used her real name to tweet oiriginally and connected them elsewhere. Brunt hinted at great investigative journalism being used to track her down, but the truth was she had previously publicly identified herself.
Channel four had an article about the McCann hate exposed wiki which implied it tracked people down which is what the haytets are now claiming. But I don't think thats true, it just reproduces hateful and threatening posts along with the user name. The only time it gives out details of identities are when the poster themselves points under their real name or has intentionally identified themselves such as Rosalinda Hutton or Anthony Bennett.

Whatever the wrongs of sky turning up like that, and I don't think it was wrong, why should reproducing these posts to show the hate in them be banned but not the posts themselves?

I will repeat, again, that neither of the forums being targeted as having sent the dossier to the police, nor the posters named are in any way involved with it being compiled and forwarded. And if you give out your real name then you have to accept that things might go haywire. Sykes