Animal Activist Fined For Publishing Details Online Of Woman He Thought Ran Over A Dog

Before social media, if a large group of people wanted someone to be punished for a misdeed, they’d chase the person in the streets with pitchforks and torches spewing every vile word they know.

But then they’d come to a dead end and stop and look at each other all confused because they realise they don’t actually want to kill that person.

So, they turn around and walk home dejectedly, wishing that was some other way they could shame the wrongdoer.

Then, many years later, the clouds parted and with a shining white light, social media dropped from the heavens, making it incredibly easy to be a dick.

Animal Activist Wrongly Identified Woman As Driver Of A Hit-&-Run Accident Involving A Dog & Published Her Info Online

When Mark Lin Youcheng, director of animal welfare group Society for Animal Matters, came across a Facebook post in 2016 about a shelter dog that had been run over by a driver at Pasir Ris Farmway, he was pissed.

And because he knew how forgiving and empathetic people on the internet are, he decided to publish unverified information that was given to him about the driver online.

He posted the personal details of the 41-year-old woman on Facebook, including her NRIC number, name, address, vehicle number, and model.

He followed it up with another post, urging netizens to “give her hell”.

Now, I understand the desire to shame someone who did something that offends you, but surely you have to verify such information before offering a human to be ripped apart by the monstrous masses on the internet.

Received harassment calls

You see, the problem was that he had published information about the wrong woman.

The woman, who was the owner of the car, was not the driver at the time of the incident. But because Lin published her details online and invited the public to “give her hell”, they started harassing her.

The woman said she received harassment calls and messages from strangers who assumed she was the driver.

She also told The New Paper that the untruthful posts had affected her livelihood and adversely affected her colleagues as well.

She made a police report soon after over Lin’s post.

Fined $1,400

Lin was fined $1,400 yesterday after pleading guilty to one harassment charge. A similar charge was also taken into consideration.

The Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelvin Chong urged the court to impose a $2,000 fine, but Lin’s lawyer Joel Ng asked for a lighter fine, adding that the woman had already been paid $12,500 by Lin and another person to settle a civil defamation suit against them out of court.

According to court documents, a 52-year-old woman was the driver of the vehicle at the time.

She is believed to have borrowed the car.

But isn’t this doxxing?

It is, but it happened in 2016, before doxxing laws were introduced.

Lawyers say that if it had occurred today, the case would come under new doxxing laws which came into force on 1 Jan.

Under these new laws, those who publish identifiable information about a person with the intention to cause harassment or facilitate violence can be fined up to $5,000, and depending on the offence, jailed for up to six months or a year.

So, if you’re angry with a person for something you saw them do online, do what most of us do when our bosses fine us a day’s salary for coming 45 seconds late; suck it up, bottle your feelings, and drown your anger in 5 glasses of bubble tea.