Dog Poop Girl
A woman and her dog are riding the Seoul
subways. The dog poops in the floor. The woman refuses to clean it up, despite
being told to by other passangers. Someone takes a picture of her,…
The Internet is changing our notions of personal privacy, and how the public enforces social norms.
The dog-shit-girl case involves a norm that most people would seemingly agree to — clean up after your dog. Who could argue with that one? But what about when norm enforcement becomes too extreme? Most norm enforcement involves angry scowls or just telling a person off. But having a permanent record of one?s norm violations is upping the sanction to a whole new level. The blogosphere can be a very powerful norm-enforcing tool, allowing bloggers to act as a cyber-posse, tracking down norm violators and branding them with digital scarlet letters.
permalink: