Expert’s view

Michelle Drouin, an Indiana University psychology professor who studies technology, said the anonymity and connectivity of the internet had created a “sadist’s put in jeopardy.

“It was a reign of terror,” said William, 32.

It is often difficult to know who is carrying out the harassment because most Fairfax Underground users are anonymous, but the Moreno family filed suit in Fairfax County against a Richmond-area user named Michael Josef Basl, known on the forum as “eesh”, and a second user whose identity is unknown. In a separate case this month, Basl was convicted of posting explicit photos of a woman to the site. He is appealing the case.

In an interview, Basl denied playground” that made it easy for people to harass others.

“People that want to distress other people can now do it in the comfort of their own home,” Drouin said. posting the threats that led police to the Morenos’ home, and he called the lawsuit “frivolous”.

“I’m not responsible for the vast majority of the stuff in the lawsuit,” Basl said. “They make me out like I’m a sinister person. I’m not.”

However, a fellow Fairfax Underground user testified in court this year that Basl told her he was behind some of the attacks on the Morenos, including the “swatting” incident — or falsely summoning a police tactical team. Basl testified that her account was untrue.

William Moreno logged on to his

“It has less repercussions than harassment offline, and the internet allows for this emotional distance between the harasser and the victim.”

— Washington Post — Bloomberg email in March 2012 to find a strange message. At the time, he was a student at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Hello Mr Misery, this is eesh,” it read, according to the lawsuit. “You do understand your drama on Fairfax Underground will get you expelled from VCU, right? Talk to you later William Moreno.”

The salvo was the opening of a two-year campaign against Moreno and his family. William said the message struck him like a bolt because he had never revealed his email address, that he was “Mr Misery” on Fairfax