"The internet has been blowing our minds with its power and convenience for decades," said John Oliver on Last Week Tonight, very pleased with himself after Rickrolling his viewers. But while the internet has only become more integral to everyday life since an amazing AOL ad he showed from 20 years ago, "unfortunately, it has also become a haven for harassment" — and not just the garden-variety trolling, he said, but "the kind of direct threats that can make people fear for their safety."
And by people he doesn't mean white men. Oliver took a look at the dark world of violent rape and death threats against women online, especially critics of male gaming culture and anything else having to do with men, and then the scourge of "revenge porn." There is no federal law against revenge porn, though the "Intimate Privacy Protection Act" introduced in Congress would help combat it, Oliver said. But companies need to step up and do more, too, as Google finally did on Friday. And police and the media need to do a better job of taking the threats seriously and blaming the right people: the trolls. To make his point, Oliver revisited that 1995 AOL ad, and the results are pretty NSFW. Watch below (with headphones, if necessary). Peter Weber
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