I, Nibras Bawa, a professional, recently stripped my photos from social networking sites, registered my own domain names, reported abuse to DMCA, also sought legal assistance. Drastic measures, all, for an otherwise cheerful and outgoing person.
If you're a canny Internet user, you'll know the value of being vigilant and anonymous on the web. So you make an effort to keep your slate clean. Wherever you use your real name, you are polite and charming and don't make mention of your drunken escapades; in other situations, such as on Face book, My space and in your blog, you use a pseudonym and ensure that nothing you write can link you to you or your name.
But all your care and hard work could be going to waste if someone else is, for whatever reason, impersonating you on the web. It's so easily done: anyone can sign up for a free profile, and before you know it, they can be posting incriminating material – true or otherwise – while pretending to be you.
The problem is that others will have no way of knowing that an impersonator isn't you, and it can be very hard to get the information taken down. Trying to get a profile taken down can take several weeks. Many sites have a system for the removal of copyrighted material, but not for material, which is falsely claimed to have been posted by a particular individual.
During my ego-search, I found things posted by me, things that I actually posted, and more importantly things attributed to me, blog posts intended to undermine my credibility. Unless you looked very closely at the multiple fake blogs and freely available yahoo and hotmail IDs, you would not realize that it was an imposter.
Distinguishing fact from fiction and true actions from an imposter's can be virtually impossible. The requirements for removing an imposter vary from simple web forms to nightmarish runarounds. But I have been unnerved by a sudden and, steady onslaught of unsolicited e-mail messages and even blatant threats from strange men.
It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Unfortunately, the Internet provides no method for distinguishing an impersonation from the real thing.
It's fun playing hide-and-seek with my four-year-old nephew. He will shout from behind the curtains, "I'm over here!" Unfortunately, most online imposters will not tell you where they are hiding, or even when they are going to start. You have to find them and you must constantly be looking.
I wouldn't even try to guess at the motivation behind this. I am being harassed - cyber stalked, by modern definition. Cyber stalking is the hidden horror of the Internet. Nobody talks about it. We think we have to live with it. The universe of cyber stalkers runs the gamut, from jokesters and pranksters to people who have clear criminal intent. With any new technology that comes along, you have the shadow of criminality that follows, plus other unsavory byproducts of the Internet age.
The inability to authenticate an owner opens the door to impersonations such as phishing; anyone can create a web page that looks like Citibank and anyone can register a domain name similar to "citibank.com". No validation required. Phishing sites are usually taken down within hours, and sometimes within minutes. If the hosting site is non-responsive, then network routers can restrict access to these sites until the phishing site is removed. Unfortunately, anyone can impersonate anyone else.
With so much emphasis on Web 2.0 and user-created content, would-be impersonators have never had so many tools and opportunities to pretend to be someone else. In about half the cases of Internet stalking, victim and perpetrator are strangers. For the rest, it can be deeply, disturbingly personal.
Most bloggers are friendly and want to provide accurate information. A simple, polite email explaining the situation is usually enough to have an impersonator's comments corrected or removed.
The Internet apparently is buzzing with vitriol and we, in public life in general, and sometimes, me in particular, are being targeted with venom that is startling. I understand that some are angry, nerves are frazzled and emotions heightened. Even so, many of the charges are not just offensive, malicious and entirely untrue; they are a convenient transference of responsibility. But to park concocted and slanderous charges at my door is simply unacceptable, grossly unfair and saddening.
But in public life, I know that, praise and criticism are twins that travel together. And I welcome both and try and listen to both carefully.
For those who charged me with things I absolutely assert I have not committed, here is my response.
Please note that I never maintained www.nibrasbawa.blogspot.com, a free service hosted by Blogger.
If, as is now being suggested, the assessment is that I disclosed personal details of another blogger on the said blog, here is what I say:
I have only the greatest respect and admiration for others, their blogs, their anonymity and privacy. But I am taken aback to read through some blogs, branding me as a "stalker". Allegations that I exposed others are untrue in the extreme.
I believe that criticism is what helps us evolve and reinvent ourselves. But when malice and rumor are regarded as feedback, there can be no constructive dialogue. Blog preferences are highly subjective and always deeply personal choices, and the most fitting rejection of someone who doesn't appeal to your aesthetics of intelligence, is simply to flick the keys and read someone else. The reader, to that extent, is king. But, when, comments begin targeting character, morality and integrity of individuals and the commentary becomes more about the individual, then frankly, the anger is just destructive and little else. More than anything else, it is tragic that we are expressing ourselves in this fashion. Surely, we have bigger lessons to learn and larger points to mull over, than to expend energy over which a fake blogger tops the charts or falls to the bottom. The reader has his own way, of settling such matters. And the last word belongs to him.
Appalling blogging. Stupidity of the lowest kind. As I read some blogs, I am dumbfounded to see them break every rule of ethical blogging. In one instance a blogger (David Blacker, author of A Cause Untrue) issues blatant threats, published my photo (this was taken down by DMCA after I reported abuse and copyright violations), and even publishes imaginary IP addresses (and funnily claims they are mine), the very activity he was presumably fighting against? Let’s not go into his fake self-written comments and claims linking me to some organizations, blogs and individuals I never had any links with. And to those who may know me is a real joke. He was talking about me as a person. How can he when he doesn’t know me, never met me. Unlike him, I did not venture any opinions about my “impressions” of him as a person. I speak about the blog as a representation. I’m not answerable to his inability to differentiate between the real world and real people and representations of them. DO NOT falsely accuse me of having attacked someone’s character in order to extricate yourself from the silly claims you make. Verify them. Truth shall prevail. Some kind of intellect you people have, some kind of democracy you practice, where anyone can be branded a bigot, a liar, with dubious motives of envy, etc. Why don’t you answer this very simple question: why blog about me when you have not verified facts? If you had verified, I’m sure your sanity would have prevailed. By the way, I think you called me “an onion seller”. Let me be very honest with you, I am not though I have my upstair onions intact. Unlike you I am a professional. No, I’m not a neurosurgeon. If I were, I would fit you out with a brain. It seems to me that you have a twisted imagination, pal. Trying to find hidden codes, when there aren’t any, is just a waste of time. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Live with it!
I wouldn't have guessed you were a regular comedian, but you provided me with the evening's entertainment. As I said, you are not the first to make vague and empty threats, and you won't be the last. It's routine for those who don't have a life of their own to make some sort of attempt to balance out their frustrations and you are not exceptional in this regard.
Then comes a wannabe pseudo intellectual kid named Indrajith Samarajiva (aka Indi Samarajiva) who plays his comedian role quite well. I need to go to Oxford to understand some of his English; a man like me is helpless even in an open blogsphere. Surprising ignorance from him. He wants everyone in the world to contact him. And he wants to cure my illness. Before his holiness takes me into his sick room, I will have to kindly ask you: “surgeon, heal thyself first”.
While acknowledging the not so meritorious social work of Indi Samarajiva and the passion being exhibited by him in contrast to the general apathy of most of his peers, I feel it is my duty to bring to note certain issues that must be brought to light. Firstly, I am astounded and dismayed by Indi Samarajiva’s blog post. It requires a level of supreme audacity or ignorance to proclaim that openly.
Tell me, what are the high standards that you abide by? Your highfalutin, vainglorious self-definition of high standards? Or existing high standards of blogging you flagrantly violate? Or the high standards that allow you to indulge in sick defamatory blogging? Or the high standards that make it fine to quote fake blogs as an authoritative source, and then defend it to boot?
The blog in question, though treated as irrelevant by all those who know me, is nevertheless slanderous, inaccurate and displays sheer ignorance. Clearly, your actions mark you out as a person ill fit to be recognized in a cultured society. I can only imagine you have much time to waste on your hands. I don’t and have little patience for disgruntled trolls.
The right to be in the world means that each of us can exercise speech or silence (or both) as a means of expression/non-expression.
Some people like David Blacker and Indi Samarajiva who call themselves “social workers” are simply venting hatred towards me and others in general. Social service is not about slanderous blogging; it is a myth.
Here’s a piece of advice to both: pick a target of your own size !
In conclusion, all I have to say is,
Life is like chocolate. Sometimes you gotta deal with nuts. :P
