This important book is part memoir, and part instruction manual for the digital age. Zoe Quinn tells a story of harassment by an ex that went way off the deep end, ultimately sparking an insane reaction from internet scumbags in a controversy known as “Gamergate”. Many people who spoke up, whether for Quinn or for reason itself, became targets of a vicious online hate campaign with real-life effects. But you likely know all this by now, as a denizen of the internet.
What I like most about this book is that Quinn uses her experience to educate, and not to entertain. She makes clear the terrible consequences of harassment, but does not dwell on the details. Quinn provides steps to take if you are the target of such a campaign, as well as actionable solutions to move forward as a culture. She started a nonprofit, Crash Override, dedicated to helping victims of online harassment. She describes how we need to work to change the norms in government, law enforcement, and technology to ensure what happened to her does not happen to other people. This is not my usual reading material, but was very worthwhile. It has something to help everybody - including, I suspect, the many people willing to rate this one star without even looking at it.
Quinn also has a great Twitter account, well worth following. That’s where I heard about the book.
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