Sexual assault by Twitter guy, claims Google gal Noirin Shirley

Is this the best way to deal with such serious allegations?

 
By Richi Jennings. November 8, 2010.

A Google technical writer, Noirin Shirley, has accused a Twitter engineer of sexual assault, at the ApacheCon technical conference in Atlanta. The fingered Twerp, whose name we have redacted, is being tried in the court of Twitter and the blogosphere. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder if it's really a good idea to name and shame in your blog.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention Lego Star Wars...

Adrian Chen has the story:

After the day's events at the ApacheCon tech conference in Atlanta, Shirley had hosted a party in her hotel room. ... It moved to an Irish pub next door. ... Shirley got up to go to the bathroom, which is when the alleged assault occurred.
...
After the incident, Shirley went back to her hotel room ... emailed the conference planning committee to tell them she'd been assaulted, and went to sleep. ... Shirley also contacted the police. ... .

Alexia Tsotsis calls it "incendiary subject matter":

Shirley recounts ... a rather disturbing (if true) interaction.
...
The accusations have reverberated on Quora and Twitter with people @ replying both [redacted] and Shirley.

Noirin Shirley is serious:

He brought me in to the snug ... grabbed me ... and kissed me. I tried to push him off, and told him I wasn’t interested ... I don’t think I was less clear. He responded by [description of assault].
...
It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me ... But it is the first time I’ve spoken out about it ... I’m tired of the sense that some idiot can ruin my day.
...
My heartfelt thanks to the Atlanta police for their sensitivity and professionalism.

Shirley's estranged husband, Stephen Shirley, is both disgusted and amazed:

What happened is absolutely horrible, it disgusts me. ... Noirin is amazing for being brave enough to be so public about what happened.

But Michael Santo points out the dark side of going public:

It should be noted that it appears both parties are on trial. Many are criticizing Shirley for posting what she did, while quite naturally quite a few are criticizing [redacted].
...
This Twitterverse trial seems to be going the way of actual sexual assault trials: the accuser is often on trial as well, for "provocative clothing" or whatever else.

And Jed Smith is horrified:

This is public, media-involved character assassination of a degree that I have never seen before. We have one side of a story. ... There are so many things wrong with this that I don't know where to begin. Making this a media event ... is a catastrophic mistake, and foreboding for our times.
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The issue is not whether [redacted] did or not, or whether Noirin was in the wrong for what she was wearing, or ... any of that happy horse****. The real issue is that we have an ... allegation in a very public place.
...
This reflects poorly upon Noirin, period. It might also reflect poorly upon [redacted], but we cannot be sure until he is given a chance to respond.

Meanwhile, Dev Jones is more succinct:

I wouldn't want to live in a world where every women wore long skirts, didn't drink beer, and weren't over-friendly to me just because these are all 'risk-factors'.
...
I'm pretty sure most women wouldn't want to live in that world either.

 
And Finally...
Lego Star Wars: Bombad Bounty
[hat tip: Cory Doctorow]
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.