Washington Post reports on the controversy over the smartmobbing of Korea’s “dogshit girl,” and the moral/ethical issues it raises:

Howard Rheingold, who studies and writes about the impact of technology on the behavior of groups, said the debate should begin with an understanding that the rules of privacy have changed.

“The shadow side of the empowerment that comes with a billion and a half people being online is the surveillance aspect,” he said. “We used to worry about big brother — the state — but now of course it’s our neighbors, or people on the subway.”

With society awash in personal data that is bought and sold daily, those who would use it as a weapon have few barriers.

When hackers get mad at each other they sometimes strike back by making public online the personal information of their adversary, a practice known as “dropping docs.”

At the same time, it is easy to imagine the benefits of coordinated Internet posses to help track down those wanted for crimes, or to help solve mysteries.

It was the clarion call of one well-known blogger, for example, that led to answers about the dubious press credentials of Jeff Gannon, who attended White House news conferences and asked questions that favored President Bush and attacked Democrats.

But the mob went further, reporting and speculating on aspects of Gannon’s private life.

“Where the line is between doing what the media or the legal system won’t do is a pretty interesting question, and I don’t have the answer,” said Dan Gillmor, a former newspaper columnist who now is organizing citizen-journalism projects. “People have to think about consequences.”