Elizabeth Bernstein, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

The Dark Side of "Webtribution"

December 1, 2009 at 12:58 am PT

Imagine this scenario: Every person you know–each family member, friend, co-worker and casual acquaintance–receives an anonymous email from a stranger making terrible accusations about you.

How would you feel?

Renee Holder knows: “Devastated.”

Several years ago, Ms. Holder discovered that dozens of her MySpace friends had received an anonymous email calling her a tramp and a home-wrecker.

For weeks, she tried to counter the allegations, which she says came from her new boyfriend’s former girlfriend. She methodically contacted each person she believed received the email and explained that she hadn’t started dating her boyfriend until months after he had broken up with his ex.

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Tagged with: anonymous, digital, Elizabeth Bernstein, email, frontpage, Internet, Myspace, social networking, The Wall Street Journal

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