I haven't heard of anyone keeping an archive, no. Generally, the "conventional wisdom" is to just ignore it (and, in my experience, ignoring it will make all but the most determined individuals go away, although of course it doesn't do anything about the endless stream of crap that replaces it). Geek Feminism had twoposts about the problem, both linking to s. e. smith's "on blogging, threats, and silence", which are wonderful posts all three of them and really describe the kind of crap I've seen and experienced.
I, personally -- being not what anyone would call a shy and retiring flower -- have reported most threats that go beyond the usual level of nonspecific background noise (not repeated here to avoid triggering people, but I do have a fairly high tolerance level) to both the cops and the ISP/mail server/hosting provider/etc, unless I just don't have the energy to work to educate the cops that week. (Because of course no matter how often you report, the cops need an entire lesson from ground zero on what online harassment is; my wife works for the police department one county over, in their forensic DNA lab, and confirms that most police computer forensics departments consist of one officer who learned how to use disk recovery software in his or her spare time. The nuances are lost to them.) I've also reported to the FBI multiple times, when I can confirm it's interstate or international, and been the person who helped report on others' behalf a lot (since I used to run the LJ abuse team, where I saw a lot of this crap). The cybercrime division of my regional FBI office in my old jurisdiction (I've since moved) knew me by name, and we corresponded regularly.
I have a folder in my filing cabinet with a lot of police reports and a collection of case numbers that have all been closed due to "well, what the fuck do you want us to do about it, then?" The most result I've ever gotten has been getting a few external sites created solely to poison my Google results shut down (not all, but most) and the Wikipedia attack article created about me deleted and oversighted. The amount of effort to get a John/Jane Doe subpoena to compel an ISP or other provider to release information on who's behind an account is honestly just not worth it, especially since legislation lags far, far behind reality and jurisdictions just don't have the resources to pursue what they consider minor problems (and, honestly, if someone halfway across the globe is threatening me, I'm really okay with that being a priority underneath more real-world-plausible problems; my comfort level is set far past what a lot of other women's is, simply because I've seen so much of this crap). I'm also lucky in that I have lawyer friends with pro-bono time who are willing to help me out, although actually prosecuting is a bitch because you have to get someone licensed in that jurisdiction, travel, yadda. On the whole, it's really just more trouble than it's worth.
The 'best' threat I ever saw, by the way, was <rot13 to avoid triggering>n pbzzrag jvgu n .wct bs na (bcra) obk bs ohyyrgf, n .wct bs n unaqtha gung zngpurq gubfr ohyyrgf, naq gur Tbbtyr Fgerrg Ivrj erfhygf sbe gung crefba'f nqqerff. </rot13>. That one wasn't directed at me, but it was at another woman of my acquaintance.
Power management, mobile and firmware developer on Linux. Security developer at Aurora. Ex-biologist. mjg59 on Twitter. Content here should not be interpreted as the opinion of my employer. Also on Mastodon.
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Date: 2011-10-31 04:41 am (UTC)I, personally -- being not what anyone would call a shy and retiring flower -- have reported most threats that go beyond the usual level of nonspecific background noise (not repeated here to avoid triggering people, but I do have a fairly high tolerance level) to both the cops and the ISP/mail server/hosting provider/etc, unless I just don't have the energy to work to educate the cops that week. (Because of course no matter how often you report, the cops need an entire lesson from ground zero on what online harassment is; my wife works for the police department one county over, in their forensic DNA lab, and confirms that most police computer forensics departments consist of one officer who learned how to use disk recovery software in his or her spare time. The nuances are lost to them.) I've also reported to the FBI multiple times, when I can confirm it's interstate or international, and been the person who helped report on others' behalf a lot (since I used to run the LJ abuse team, where I saw a lot of this crap). The cybercrime division of my regional FBI office in my old jurisdiction (I've since moved) knew me by name, and we corresponded regularly.
I have a folder in my filing cabinet with a lot of police reports and a collection of case numbers that have all been closed due to "well, what the fuck do you want us to do about it, then?" The most result I've ever gotten has been getting a few external sites created solely to poison my Google results shut down (not all, but most) and the Wikipedia attack article created about me deleted and oversighted. The amount of effort to get a John/Jane Doe subpoena to compel an ISP or other provider to release information on who's behind an account is honestly just not worth it, especially since legislation lags far, far behind reality and jurisdictions just don't have the resources to pursue what they consider minor problems (and, honestly, if someone halfway across the globe is threatening me, I'm really okay with that being a priority underneath more real-world-plausible problems; my comfort level is set far past what a lot of other women's is, simply because I've seen so much of this crap). I'm also lucky in that I have lawyer friends with pro-bono time who are willing to help me out, although actually prosecuting is a bitch because you have to get someone licensed in that jurisdiction, travel, yadda. On the whole, it's really just more trouble than it's worth.
The 'best' threat I ever saw, by the way, was <rot13 to avoid triggering>n pbzzrag jvgu n .wct bs na (bcra) obk bs ohyyrgf, n .wct bs n unaqtha gung zngpurq gubfr ohyyrgf, naq gur Tbbtyr Fgerrg Ivrj erfhygf sbe gung crefba'f nqqerff. </rot13>. That one wasn't directed at me, but it was at another woman of my acquaintance.