Evil Online

Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi

1 The Many Faces of Evil Online 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Some Trends and Cases 7

2 Our Online Environment 33
2.1 Introduction 33
2.2 Epistemic Success, Connectivity, and Coordination 39
2.2.1 Epistemic Success 39
2.2.2 Connectivity 40
2.2.3 Coordination 41
2.3 Other Features of Online Worlds that Shape Our Lives 43
2.3.1 Selectivity 43
2.3.2 Homophily and Stigmergy 46
2.3.3 Jurisdiction 47
2.3.4 Anonymity 48
2.3.5 Virtuality 49
2.3.6 Voluntariness 49
2.3.7 Positionality 50
2.3.8 Interpretive Flexibility 51
2.3.9 Interactivity 52
2.3.10 Publicity 53
2.3.11 Domesticity 55
2.3.12 Isolation 56
2.3.13 Addictiveness 57

3 The Transformation of Social Life 59
3.1 Introduction 59
3.2 Our Public and Private Lives: Plural Worlds and Values 61
3.3 Public/Private Lives Online 69
3.4 Life on Your Own Terms 71
3.5 Online/Offline World Contrasts: Overstated and Alarmist 77
3.6 Alarmism about Sexual Predators and Children 79

4 The Moral Fog of Our Worlds 83
4.1 Introduction 83
4.2 The Moral Fog of Evil 86
4.3 The Shared Life and Our Vulnerability to Evil 97
4.3.1 Learning and Development Vulnerabilities 104
4.3.2 The Need for Intimacy 107
4.3.3 Keeping Up with Others 108
4.3.4 Working and Professional Life 110
4.3.5 Plural Identities 113
4.3.6 Incremental and Collective Evils 114
4.3.7 Widely Shared Vice and Weakness 116

5 The Fate of the Moral Life 119
5.1 Introduction 120
5.2 Moral Character: A Case of Mistaken Identity? 120
5.3 Good Character, Self‐interest, Others and Surrounds 124
5.4 Evil and Responsibility 131
5.5 Nothing New Under the Sun 140
5.6 The Liberal 142
5.7 Conclusion: Just Me and the Internet 145

Bibliography 150
Index 157