Online harassment, real harm: Fixing the web’s biggest bug

By DAVID KLEPPER
The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Online harassment has become so common that it can be hard to imagine the internet without it. From teen cyberbullying to authoritarian governments who use harassment to silence dissent, toxic conversations are a fact of life for everyone, with women, teens and religious and racial minorities the most likely to be targeted. But experts say future generations may not have to put up with as much harassment. They say fixing the internet’s biggest bug will require educational investments, government regulation and technical fixes, but that there’s reason to be optimistic as the internet grows up.