Mobile vigilantes snap sex pests in action
Harassed women in New York are using a website to shame men behaving badly
David Smith, technology correspondent
Sunday April 30, 2006
The Observer
The day that a man was caught masturbating on the subway was the day that the women of New York said enough was enough. Thao Nguyen, a disgusted fellow passenger, took a picture of the man with her camera phone and posted it on the internet.
A cyber-storm gathered, the photo made it to the front page of the New York Daily News and the man, 43-year-old Daniel Hoyt - a repeat offender - was convicted of public lewdness. Supporters compared Nguyen, 23, with civil rights activist Rosa Parks who famously refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus.
Inspired by Nguyen's use of technology, Lauren Spees and six friends launched a website, hollabacknyc.com, which invites people who have been sexually harassed in public to take a picture of the offender and post it online, thus shaming the guilty party.
