Following Wednesday’s tragic shooting at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington DC a strange thing happened; the online life of the assailant began to disappear.  As detailed in this well reported story in the WaPo, the online writings left behind by James W. von Brunn, the accused murderer of m useum security guard Stephen T. Johns, were deleted from websites in a steady stream the afternoon following the incident.

Immediate Googling of von Brunn’s online footprint turned up rants about Jewish conspiracies posted on various message boards, a Wikipedia bio page that proclaimed “Judaism is the enemy of mankind” and a piece written for a forum on freerepublic.com entitled “Obama is Missing” that contained the usual right wing nonsense conspiracy theories about the President’s birth certificate.  But within a short span of time all of the above disappeared from the web, edited off by webmasters at the various sites.  Only the freerepublic.com piece resurfaced, with the publication stating that a moderator had taken the piece - which was reposted from another site - down to review if it contained any racist or anti-semitic content, a violation of the website’s user agreement.  When it was discovered it did not, the piece was reposted. 

Under even normal circumstances, web censorship can be tricky.  The ethos of the Internet since its popularization in the 1990’s has been a freewheeling, anything-goes freedom of expression.  However being a moderator of some high traffic websites myself, I know this doesn’t always work.  Hot button, offensive posts that contain blatant racism, anti-semitism or homophobia are deleted off sites I moderate as well as many others around the web.  The thinking being that it is impossible to have intelligent discussion when we’re stuck debating over the ignorance of the past. When a national media event takes place however, web censorship becomes a whole new animal.  Doubtlessly, many of the web boards that took down von Brunn’s posts were afraid of the media glare and outrage over the attack at the museum being shown their way, which could end up having bad ramifications for the sites and their owners - much like the recent “craigslist killer” did for the gamechanging classified ad website.  On the other hand, a website like the Free Republic’s which left the content up could have  - and I am simply speculating - done so in part to receive more publicity out of the event. One of the underlying drives behind the enomous popularity of the Internet is “Me too!”.  People can have their content, whether it be writing, photos, video, music, artwork and on and on exposed to millions of people if they play their cards right, the same way only professionals or the rich or famous could in the past.  The tools for distribution are now there for all who seek them and the price is right.  But this power to reach the globe can prove very tricky to the unitiated when the glare of fame or notoriety shines their way.  Some, like those who took down von Brunn’s content, choose not to play at all, while others leave it up for the world to see.

LINKS:

WaPo: Notoriety’s Missing Links - Online Files Scrubbed After Museum Shooting

Newser: Von Brunn’s Digital Trail Disappears

HuffPo: Hate Websites Remove Online Traces Of Von Brunn