Man endures terrifying ordeal when cyberhate turns to real-life abuse

WILLIAM Moreno was the victim of online trolls, but when the attacks spilled over into real life, all hell broke loose.

Moreno Family Files Lawsuit Against Internet Troll

“HELLO Mr Misery, this is Eesh,” the chilling email began.

It had been sent to William Moreno, a Virginia Commonwealth University student and active user of Fairfax Underground, a US-based online forum where Moreno went by the name “Mr Misery”.

The sender, “Eesh”, another forum user, continued: “You do understand your drama on Fairfax Underground will get you expelled from VCU, right? Talk to you later William Moreno.”

Moreno, 32, was confused. He had never revealed his identity or email address on Fairfax Underground, a forum of 1.5 million users that discussed everything from news in Northern Virginia to pornography.

Someone, it seemed, was tracking him.

So began a two-year “reign of terror” against Moreno and his family, which saw online trolling quickly spiral into property vandalism, rape accusations, death threats, police investigations, and Moreno’s attempted suicide.

It’s another terrifying example of online-to-offline abuse targeting victims around world, and experts say it’s reaching scary new extremes in Australia.

According to an article in the Washington Post, Moreno, who has a mild form of autism and suffers from depression, discovered the website three years before he got the email in 2012.

He showed his “quirky humour” on the forum but angered some users with comments about child molestation and the September 11 attacks, which he said were “not serious”. In his email, Eesh threatened to take Moreno’s posts to university officials.

But things got worse. In December 2013, someone broke into the home Moreno shared with his parents, Richard and Sharon, and flooded the property’s basement.

According to court documents — the Morenos have since filed a lawsuit — Eesh posted a menacing message the same day, saying he was coming to see Moreno.

But the attacks continued to escalate. Moreno’s car was broken into, he received death threats, and mass-bombing threats were called in under his name.

“It was a reign of terror,” Moreno told the Washington Post.

Then Sharon was unable to get security clearance for her new job. She was told to look at Fairfax Underground, where someone claiming to be a 13-year-old girl was accusing William of raping her at a party.

About 2.30am one day in May last year, armed officers stormed the family home and tackled Moreno to the ground. They were responding to a post on Fairfax Underground under Moreno’s name that read: “I JUST SHOT MY PARENTS NOW I WILL KILL MY SISTER”.

By mid-2014, Moreno was so overcome by the harassment he was rushed to hospital after a suicide attempt.

A few months later, a picture of Eesh with a revolver was posted along with the message: “You can run but you can’t hide, Miz.”

Posts popped up on Fairfax Underground saying Moreno wanted to carry out attacks with pipe bombs and that he had raped a VCU student.

Another post appeared under Richard Moreno’s name, saying he had seen William molest his sister. All untrue, the Morenos say.

Soon, Google searches for William Moreno turned up references to paedophilia.

The Morenos say the sexual assault claims and violent threats were hoaxes intended to harass the family.

Australian activiist ... Canberra lawyer Mariam Veiszadeh. Picture: Mariam Veiszadeh / Facebook

In January they filed the lawsuit against “Eesh” — a 34-year-old military veteran and college student named Michael Josef Basl — as well as a second person whose identity is unknown.

Basl admitted sending the original warning email to Moreno but maintained he was “not responsible for the vast majority of stuff in the lawsuit”.

“They make me out like I’m a sinister person. I’m not,” he said in an interview.

But another Fairfax Underground user said in court Basl told her he was behind some of the attacks on Moreno, including the “swatting” incident. Swatting, a new trend in cyber-bullying, is when someone makes a false report designed to send a heavily armed response team to the victim’s home.

“He said, ‘I did it so Moreno could make a wrong move and get shot by police’,” the user, Monique Wells, told the judge. Basl denies this.

A week after the Morenos filed their lawsuit, Basl went to a magistrate and swore a second charge against Moreno, according to the Washington Post. At trial in April, Basl said Moreno made death threats against him in phone calls and forum messages.

But Wells claimed Basl admitted to sending the death threats himself.

Moreno was acquitted. He and his mother have sought counselling over the terrifying ordeal.

“He (William) keeps saying over and over again, ‘Our lives are ruined’,” Sharon Moreno told the Washington Post.

’IT’S LIKE NOTHING YOU’VE EVER READ’

Sadly, William Moreno and his family are far from the only victims of attacks that move from cyberspace into the real word.

And an increasing number of cyberhate victims on websites and social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are women.

Feminists, women who write about sex, sex workers, trans women, fat activists, atheists, anti-abortionists, pro-choice campaigners and women who appear on TV have been identified as some of the groups most likely to be targeted.

A number of women in the gaming industry, including games developer Brianna Wu, designer Zoe Quinn and critic and Feminist Frequency founder Anita Sarkeesian, have been forced to flee their homes after trolls threatened their lives in an ongoing culture war dubbed #Gamergate.

The women were threatened with rape, attacks on their families and in Sarkeesian’s case, a “massacre style attack” if she went ahead with a speech at a US university.

Ellen Pao, former junior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, exits state court in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. After two days of closing arguments, a month of finger-pointing testimony from both sides, the day of reckoning for the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has finally come in the sex-bias trial that has gripped Silicon Valley. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Model and TV personality Charlotte Dawson was also the victim of a hate campaign by online trolls, as has Australian lawyer and activist Mariam Veiszadeh.

Even Reddit chief executive Ellen Pao was edged out of her job after receiving death threats.

Motivated by high-profile attacks such as these, researchers at the University of NSW have started a world-first study into cyber-bullying against women.

The university is calling for women victims, including celebrities, to take part in the three-year project.

Study leader Dr Emma Jane, a senior research fellow at UNSW’s School of the Arts and Media, said rape threats and sexualised vitriol against women online had become widespread in the past four years.

But she is interested also in cases where the harassment leaps from the online world into offline life.

“What is less common but is becoming more frequent is what’s known as ‘doxxing’,” Dr Jane said.

“This involves publishing personal details — such as a woman’s home address — online, in attempts to intimidate targets and incite offline attacks.”

Jane said many high-profile women had been targeted in that way, with some being forced to cancel public appearances or retreat from public life completely.

But even if you weren’t well-known, a few too many retweets can change your life dramatically, she said.

“The language involved is often so violent and sexually explicit it can’t be quoted. It’s like nothing you’ve ever read,” Dr Jane said.

“That said, most of it is some variation on ‘you’re way too fat/ugly/gay/old to rape and murder, but we’re going to do it anyway to teach you a lesson’.”

SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 07: Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter, is interviewed at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 7, 2015 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Many of the world's wealthiest and most powerful business people from media, finance, and technology attend the annual week-long conference which is in its 33rd year. Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Some sites are working to address the problem of trolls. Earlier this year, just-resigned Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo admitted the social media service “sucked” at dealing with trolls but three months ago updated its policies to make it easier to report abuse and block haters.

YouTube has cracked down on trolling in its comments section, and other sites like Popular Science have removed comments completely.

And Reddit’s new CEO Steve Huffman issued a statement this week outlining the content that is now banned from the site, including “anything that incites harm or violence against an individual or group of people” and “anything that harasses, bullies, or abuses an individual or group of people”.

As for Fairfax Underground, where William Moreno’s horrifying ordeal began, what started as a space for open conversation has turned into hotbed of racism, sexism, personal attacks and even sex tape scandals.

Its founder Cary Wiedemann told the Washington Post he removed posts that were personal attacks or impersonations, but also admitted “when you run an online forum, you are no longer totally in control”.

“Fairfax Underground has taken on a life of its own,” he added.

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp