Summary
Reply guys. Maybe you’ve got one, maybe you are one. If you’re a public person online, and especially if you’re a woman, you tend to attract a few fans or detractors who respond to every single thing you post. Sometimes those interactions can be obnoxious. Sometimes, they can be so much worse.
Today’s Cyber is about a reply guy from hell, a person who—for almost two decades—has used the internet to wage sustained harassment campaigns against multiple women. It’s a bizarre and disturbing story that involves Twitter DMs, revenge porn, and Animal Crossing.
On this episode of Cyber, Motherboard Senior Staff Writer Anna Merlan walks us through the story of the man who has been harassing women online for almost 20 years.
Stories discussed on this episode:
These Women Say One Man Terrorized Them Online for Years. Then, They Decided to Band Together
We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show.
Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's do it. |
| 0:08.2 | Tann. It's got the code. It's going to launch. |
| 0:12.7 | It's a unit system. I know this. |
| 0:17.1 | It's all the files of the whole park. It tells her everything. |
| 0:21.2 | Sir, he's uploading the virus. |
| 0:23.8 | Eagle One, the package is being delivered. |
| 0:28.9 | Hello out there on the internet. I am Matthew Galt, and this is Cyber. |
| 0:33.4 | Reply, guys. Maybe you've got one. Maybe you are one. |
| 0:37.1 | If you're a public person online, and especially if you're a woman, you tend to attract a few fans or detractors who respond to every single thing you post. Sometimes those interactions can be obnoxious. Sometimes they can be so much worse than obnoxious. Today's cyber is about a reply guy from hell, a person |
| 0:56.1 | who, for almost two decades, has used the internet to wage sustained harassment campaigns |
| 1:01.4 | against multiple women. It's a bizarre and, I will say, at the top, disturbing story that |
| 1:07.6 | involves Twitter DMs, revenge porn, and Animal Crossing. With me today is the |
| 1:13.6 | journalist who broke the story, Motherboard Senior Staff writer Anna Merlin. Thank you so much for |
| 1:18.5 | coming onto the show. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, so I think a good way to get into this |
| 1:24.4 | is for you to, it's such a big, complicated, weird, awful story. |
| 1:30.8 | Yeah. |
| 1:31.3 | But I think a good place to start is with Sarah and James. |
| 1:35.5 | Yes, I agree with you. |
| 1:37.1 | What happened to you? |
| 1:37.9 | So, yeah, so a few years ago, a woman named Sarah, that is her real first name, we're withholding her last name to protect |
| 1:45.5 | her privacy, got a DM on Twitter from a guy calling himself James Bell asking if she had an |
| 1:53.3 | Amazon wish list. If you're not familiar with this, a lot of women online, especially women |
... |
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