"For much of human history, exacting retribution on your enemies-as opposed to fantasizing about it-was too much of a hassle for most people to bother with. It involved duels, poison or, at the very least, clever rumors that took ingenuity to create and patience to spread. By the time you had devised a revenge plot, you typically had cooled off and come to your senses.
That's not the case anymore. Thanks to the Internet, vengeance-let's call it 'Webtribution'-is easier, and nastier, than ever."
I read the whole thing and wondered why there was no mention of the MySpace harrassment that led a teenage girl to suicide and criminal prosecution of the harrasser??? There is a reference in the penultimate paragraph to the Liskula Cohen case and the blogger whose anonymity was stripped by court order. Talk about burying the lede.
Wrong skank genus for the readership. Also, WSJ- types are a discerning bunch-- witness the preference of webtribution over slashed tires.
No, let's call it wwwengeance.