Sockpuppet
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A sockpuppet, also known as a sock, is an account on a website, wiki, or forum run by someone who already has an account.
Sockpuppets are often against the Terms of Service of a website. Breaking a site's Terms of Service isn't illegal in and of itself in the USA, as the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled.[1] However, if the sockpuppet residing in the US (or country with similar laws) deliberately tries to evade a site IP block, and the site's ToS doesn't explicitly allow such thing, the sockpuppet is probably criminally violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
[2]
Purpose[edit]
Originally used as a term to describe second identities, it is now used for any account created exclusively to cause spam mischief or mayhem at a site without the original user being identified (IP recognition and blocking notwithstanding).
The name has also led to sites that generate such users being referred to as a "sock drawer." Clever, that.
The reasons for sock puppetry can include:
- Rigging voting results (Modern Library, anyone?[3]); also often seen whenever a wiki attempts to make a decision by "consensus".
- Rigging discussions by creating a sockpuppet who "agrees" with your argument.
- Rigging discussions by creating a sockpuppet who makes deliberately extreme or moronic (usually strawman) arguments against your own view.
- Attempts to avoid rules, blocks, or scrutiny.
- Boredom
- LANCB — but returning under an assumed sock
- Wandalism, especially on RationalWiki
- Advertising and promotion, where you want to boost a product without your identity being known, similar to astroturfing; reviewing your own book under a pseudonym is a popular pastime for authors.[4]
- Trolling and harassing internet users without any repercussions.
- Allowing admins to test filters without revoking rights to their own accounts.
Examples[edit]
The US military apparently created sock puppet accounts and proxy adresses so they can influence online social networking in pro-American directions.[5]
Origins[edit]
The term comes from the classic children's toy, which is a sentient organism bearing a suspicious resemblance to a sock over somebody's hand. Any suggestion that it is being controlled by the person who owns the hand (or sock) is mischievous trouble-making. Sock puppets are popular with educationalists such as Shari Lewis and Mick Foley.[6]
The Jargon File defined it in the modern sense in 1999:
(USENET: from the act of placing a sock over your hand and talking to it and pretending it's talking back.) In Usenet parlance, a pseudo through which the puppeteer posts follow-ups to their own original message to give the appearance that a number of people support the views held in the original message.[7]
The first use of the term in the mainstream media is recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary from March 2000 in US News and World Report: "Jennifer Brand, a 24-year-old student who backed President Clinton in 1996, called Gore ‘a sock puppet’ and Bush ‘a wimp’."[8][9]
A sock puppet is also sometimes called a "meat puppet", which is considerably ickier (most people would rather put their hand inside a sock than a lump of meat).[8]
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Casey Chan. It's Not a Crime to Break a Terms of Service Agreement (So It's Okay to Never Read Them), Gizmodo. Retrieved February 4th, 2021.
- ↑ David Kravetz. IP Cloaking Violates Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Judge Rules Wired. Retrieved February 4th, 2021.
- ↑ Randroids and Scientologists, fight the tyranny of the literary scholars!
- ↑ Amazon Glitch Unmasks War Of Reviewers, New York Times, 14 Feb 2004
- ↑ Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media, The Guardian
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Sock puppet.
- ↑ Jargon File, v. 4.1.0, 12 MAR 1999
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 See the Wikipedia article on Sock puppet account.
- ↑ "sock, n.1". OED Online. December 2020. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.nls.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/183797?redirectedFrom=sockpuppet (accessed February 09, 2021).