Hate Crimes in Cyberspace

Vividly written and carefully argued, the book is a fine account of law in this area We should, as Citron argues, reject the facile romanticization of the Internet as the last frontier of true freedom. We should acknowledge that the Internet both facilitates expression and silences, both allows speech and muzzles it The major contribution of Citrons book is its lucid summary of the vast network of laws, both state and federal, that are pertinent to cyberabuse. As she shows, we can do quite a lot for victims of cyberabuse without chilling expression Citron confronts the perpetual free-speech/First Amendment problems attendant to her family of proposals head-on, and the case she makes is persuasive Citron makes a number of useful proposals for legal reform while convincing readers of the seriousness of the problem. -- Martha C. Nussbaum * The Nation * With the amount of research, detail, and sharp, straightforward suggestions in this book, you can almost hear Citron daring her readers to attempt any kind of counterargument, because one simply doesnt exist Hate Crimes fully delivers on its promise to elucidate the possible legal responses to online harassment and revenge porn, and policymakersCitrons intended audiencewill be well served by its clarity The author derives a lot of firing power from comparing the modern-day fight against online harassment to the 1970s-era fights for the criminalization of sexual harassment in the workplace, and, to a lesser extent, to the fight for the acknowledgement of (and due punishment for) domestic violence. Her comparisons with other feminist fights for equality are both apt and poignant, and the economic injustice of online harassment is certainly deserving of swift and meaningful solutions. -- Jordan Larson * The Baffler * Citronfocuses on how online hate speech ruins lives, most often womens lives. She cites surveys that show that 60 to 70 percent of cyberstalking victims are women, and she details cases in which women have been targeted, defamed, and threatened with rape and murder The very same things that make the Internet such a uniquely powerful medium for freedom of speech make it a uniquely powerful medium for hate crimes The difficult questionas always in First Amendment and most constitutional litigationis where to draw the line. In grappling with that and offering provisional answers, Citron [does] a great service. -- Erwin Chemerinsky * Chronicle of Higher Education * This book sets forth a compelling argument that the internet should not be allowed to maintain its Wild West anarchic status, because its ability to facilitate cyber-bullying outweighs the virtues of maintaining that status Hate Crimes in Cyberspaces main strength lies in its sustained and detailed exploration of the bizarrely convoluted, sustained and extremely hurtful nature of online abuse of individuals Its pioneering research could and should be used to support the case for introducing a criminal offence of gender-based hate speech in various countries. -- Helen Fenwick * Times Higher Education * Danielle Citrons Hate Crimes in Cyberspace is a breakthrough book Citron does a thorough and admirable service of clearly delineating the avenues for legal relief that already exist, thus belying the widely held belief that this behavior is totally unregulated and therefore beyond the laws reach. Cyberspace is not a completely unregulated wild west, and perpetrators of hate crimes as well as their victims need to know that. Citron calls for greater enforcement of all of these laws that already target hate crimes in cyberspace The book thus serves as a blueprint for what Citron insightfully calls a new civil rights movement. It gives legal representatives and victims a roadmap for charting out legal actions that can be taken to halt the abuse being currently suffered, and to compensate for past harms. It gives state and federal legislators a

Danielle Keats Citron is Lois K. Macht Research Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.