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{{short description|Website intended to offend and disgust its viewers}}

A '''shock site''' or '''gore site'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/13/3076557/snuff-murder-torture-internet-people-who-watch-it|title = Snuff: Murder and torture on the internet, and the people who watch it|date = 13 June 2012}}</ref> is a [[website]] that is intended to be offensive or disturbing to its viewers, though it can also contain elements of [[humor]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Attwood|first=Feona|date=November 2014|title=Immersion: 'extreme' texts, animated bodies and the media|journal=Media, Culture & Society|language=en|volume=36|issue=8|pages=1186–1195|doi=10.1177/0163443714544858|s2cid=144857991|issn=0163-4437}}</ref> or evoke (in some viewers) [[sexual arousal]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Farmand Jr.|first=Musa K.|date=November 2016|title=Who Watches this Stuff?: Videos Depicting Actual Murder and the Need for a Federal Criminal Murder-Video Statute|url=http://www.floridalawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/Farmand.pdf|journal=Florida Law Review|volume=68|pages=1915–1941}}</ref> They contain material of high [[shock value]], generally of a [[pornographic]], [[Scatology|scatological]], [[racist]], [[sexist]], [[Graphic violence|graphically violent]], [[insult]]ing, [[vulgarity|vulgar]], [[Profanity|profane]], or otherwise provocative nature. Some shock sites display a single picture, [[animation]], video clip or small gallery, and are circulated via [[email]] or disguised in posts to [[discussion site]]s as a [[Practical joke|prank]]. Steven Jones distinguishes these sites from those that collect galleries where users search for shocking content, such as [[Rotten.com]].<ref>Jones, Steven (2010). "Horrorporn/Pornhorror". In Attwood, Feona (ed.). ''Porn.com: Making Sense of Online Pornography''. [[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]]. p. 124. {{ISBN|9781433102073}}.</ref> Gallery sites can contain [[Decapitation|beheadings]], [[Capital punishment|execution]], [[electrocution]], [[suicide]], [[murder]], [[stoning]], torching, drowning, vehicular accidents, war victims, [[rape]], [[necrophilia]], [[genital mutilation]] and other [[Sex and the law|sexual crimes]].<ref name=":0" />

Some shock sites have also gained their own [[subculture]]s and have become [[internet meme]]s on their own. [[Goatse.cx]] featured a page devoted to [[Fan art|fan-submitted artwork]] and tributes to the site's <code>hello.jpg</code>, and a parody of the image was unwittingly shown by a [[BBC]] newscast as an alternative for [[:File:2012 Summer Olympics logo.svg|the then-recently unveiled logo]] for the [[2012 Summer Olympics]]. A 2007 shock video known as ''[[2 Girls 1 Cup]]'' also quickly became an Internet phenomenon, with videos of reactions, homages, and parodies widely posted on video sharing sites such as [[YouTube]].

== History ==
There have been several shock galleries that have launched and shut down. [[Rotten.com]] hosted murder videos and images of deceased people<ref name=":22" /> and brandished the motto "Pure Evil Since 1996".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Snuff : real death and screen media|others=Jackson, Neil, 1968-, Kimber, Shaun,, Walker, Johnny, 1987-, Watson, Thomas Joseph, 1987-|isbn=9781628921120|location=New York|oclc=886489355|date = 2016-01-28}}</ref> During their operation, the owners of Rotten.com launched [[Rotten.com|several new sites]], one of which was Shockumentary.com in 2006. Shockumentary.com was created to sell [[mondo film]]s like ''[[Traces of Death]]'' (1993).<ref name=":2" /> [[Ogrish.com]] (established in 2000) hosted "mutilated corpses, car accidents, burn victims, [[congenital malformation]]s and other grotesqueries".<ref name=":42">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/10/murder-mayhem-and-evolution-website-liveleak-273963.html|title=Murder, Mayhem and the Evolution of Website LiveLeak|first=Cole|last= Stryker |date=2014-09-30|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref> Ogrish.com's reputation rested on its publication of gore media from [[terrorists]] and war.<ref name=":42" /> In 2006, Ogrish.com was rebranded as [[LiveLeak|Liveleak.com]].<ref name=":42"/> [[Bestgore.com|BestGore]], established in 2008 by Mark Marek, was notorious for its extremely graphic content, such as photos and videos of murders, suicides and violent accidents with an estimated 15–20 million monthly visits during its operation.<ref name="Global News">{{cite web|url=http://globalnews.ca/news/723495/police-charge-edmonton-gore-site-owner-in-magnotta-video-investigation/|title=Edmonton gore site owner charged in Magnotta video investigation released on bail|date=18 July 2013|work=Global News|access-date=31 October 2014}}</ref> He pleaded guilty and was given a six-month [[Conditional sentence (Canada)|conditional sentence]] for his role in a case where he was accused of corrupting public morals in [[Alberta, Canada]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/marek-trial-opens-1.3416408|title=Mark Marek, who posted Magnotta murder video, pleads guilty to corrupting morals|last1=Reith|first1=Terry|date=25 January 2016|access-date=6 April 2016|publisher=CBC/Radio-Canada}}</ref> Some shock galleries, however, established more specific niches. The sites [[Necrobabes]], Cannibal Café, and Gourmet tailored themselves to would-be [[Human cannibalism|cannibals]] in the early 2000s.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/beyond-hannibal-80761.html|title=Beyond Hannibal|date=November 20, 2003|work=The Independent}}</ref> These sites gained attention in 2003 when [[Armin Meiwes]], an aspiring cannibal, used the sites to connect with Jürgen Brandes, a man who desired to be eaten.<ref name=":7" /> The two met, and Brandes' murder and cannibalism were recorded and posted on various sites.<ref name=":7" /> Additionally, [[Graham Coutts]] visited Necrobabes, Rapepassion, Violentpleasure, and Hangingbitches frequently before strangling teacher [[Murder of Jane Longhurst|Jane Longhurst]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1453477/I-have-got-an-awful-feeling-I-will-strangle-a-woman.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1453477/I-have-got-an-awful-feeling-I-will-strangle-a-woman.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=I have got an awful feeling I will strangle a woman|last=Sapsted|first=David|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2004-02-05|access-date=2019-10-14|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

There have also been several individual videos that received viral attention. [[Goatse.cx|Goatse]]<ref name="scotsman2">{{Cite news|url=http://news.scotsman.com/lazyguidetonetculture/Lazy-Guide-to-Net-Culture.2535852.jp|title=Lazy Guide to Net Culture: NSFW|last=Kirkpatrick|first=Stewart|date=2004-06-09|newspaper=[[The Scotsman]]|location=Edinburgh}}</ref><ref name="The Hands of God2">{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/godhands.asp|title=The Hands of God|date=15 June 2007|website=[[Snopes.com]]|access-date=2009-08-03}}</ref> was one of the earliest and best-known shock sites, featuring an image of a man stretching his [[anus]] with his hands.<ref name="scotsman2" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Goatse.cx; Distended?|last=Kumar|first=Pawan|date=2008-11-11|publisher=Yaziyo News}}</ref> The site featured a page devoted to fan-submitted artwork and tributes to the site.<ref name="scotsman2" /><ref name="The Hands of God2" /> The site was shut down in 2004; however, various [[Mirror website|mirror sites]] featuring the image still exist.<ref name="Russian mirror2">{{cite web|url=http://goatse.ru/|title=goatse.ru|access-date=18 February 2013}}</ref> In 2012, it was resurrected as an e-mail service.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2012/11/how-goatse-cx-went-from-shock-site-to-webmail-service/|title=How goatse.cx went from shock site to webmail service|last=Hutchinson|first=Lee|date=2012-11-19|work=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=2014-11-02}}</ref> In 2008, the [[Dnepropetrovsk maniacs]] posted the graphic murder video "3 Guys 1 Hammer".<ref name=":0" /> This was followed years later by Eric Clinton Kirk Newman's (known now as Luka Rocco Magnotta) video "1 Lunatic 1 Icepick" in 2012—a video of Newman [[murder of Jun Lin|murdering Chinese student Jun Lin]] that contained dismemberment, cannibalism, and necrophilia and was posted on Bestgore.com.<ref name=":0" /> Newman also shared a video one year prior of him using a vacuum and plastic bag to suffocate two [[kitten]]s to the song "[[Happy Xmas (War Is Over)|Happy Xmas (War is Over)]]" by [[John Lennon]] to several gore sites.<ref name=":0" /> Meatspin is a shock site containing a looping video (set playing to "[[You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)]] by [[Dead or Alive (band)|Dead or Alive]]") of two people engaging in anal sex while the penis of the receiving partner spins endlessly. Although frequently reported to be gay porn, it has been mentioned that the clip was derived from a trans porn film. A counter keeps track of how many "spins" the viewer has watched.<ref name="Moore">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gq.com/story/never-google-these-phrases|title=9 Seemingly Innocent Phrases You Should Never, Ever Google at Work|last=Moore|first=Jack|website=GQ|date=February 2016|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref><ref name="Hartley-Parkinson">{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/02/04/jimmys-o2-meatspin_n_6612652.html|title=Gay Porn On O2 Restaurant Booking Screen Leaves Diner Feeling Sick|last=Hartley-Parkinson|first=Richard|website=Huffington Post|date=4 February 2015|language=en-UK|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref> In 2013, a student at [[Florida State University]] hacked the wireless network of his campus and redirected all traffic to Meatspin.<ref name="Munzenrieder">{{Cite web|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/fsu-campus-wi-fi-users-redirected-to-meat-spin-shock-site-by-hacker-6528517|title=FSU Campus Wi-Fi Users Redirected to "Meat Spin" Shock Site by Hacker|last=Munzenrieder|first=Kyle|website=Miami New Times|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref><ref name="Zimmerman">{{Cite web|url=http://gawker.com/5990105/florida-state-student-faces-felony-charges-for-redirecting-schools-wifi-users-to-infamous-shock-site|title=Florida State Student Faces Felony Charges for Redirecting School's Wifi Users to Infamous Shock Site|last=Zimmerman|first=Neetzan|website=Gawker|language=en-US|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref> In 2015, consternation followed when a family restaurant played the website in front of young children.<ref name="Hartley-ParkinsonRichard Hartley-Parkinson">{{Cite web|url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/03/family-saw-hardcore-gay-porn-playing-on-restaurant-computer-5047875/|title=Family saw hardcore gay porn playing on restaurant computer|last=Hartley-ParkinsonRichard Hartley-Parkinson|first=Richard|website=Metro|date=3 February 2015|language=en-UK|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref><ref name="Hartley-Parkinson" /> In 2016, the website was played on a public digital billboard in [[Sweden]], resulting in international media attention.<ref name="Barrell">{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/malmo-porn-billboard-bus-stop-advert-meatspin_uk_57308ea8e4b0ade291a23609|title=Meatspin Porn Website Somehow Ends Up On Bus Stop In Malmö, Sweden|last=Barrell|first=Ryan|website=Huffington Post|date=9 May 2016|language=en-UK|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.techworm.net/2016/05/someone-hacked-billboard-malmo-sweden-show-hardcore-porn.html|title=Someone hacked a billboard in Malmo, Sweden to show hardcore porn|last=Prabhu|first=Vijay|website=Techworm|date=9 May 2016|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref><ref name="Samuelson">{{Cite web|url=http://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/reklamskylt-visade-grov-porr-pa-stationen/|title=Reklamskylt visade grov porr på stationen|last=Samuelson|first=Fredrik|website=Expressen|language=sv|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/billboard-hijacked-porn-sweden/1394111|title=Billboard hijacked with porn in Sweden|last=Oakes|first=Omar|website=Campaign|language=en-UK|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref> The site first went live on March 10, 2005. {{Asof|2017}} the domain is now meatspin.cc. John-Michael Bond of ''[[The Daily Dot]]'' stated that to an extent, "casual [[homophobia]]" of the 2000s helped popularize Meatspin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/meatspin-meme/|title=Revisiting Meatspin, the NSFW site that shocked a generation|author=Bond, John-Michael|date=2017-02-03|work=[[The Daily Dot]]|access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref>

== Legality ==
Currently, there is no federal or state legislation in the United States outlawing [[snuff film]]s that depict the murder of a human being—a common source of material for shock sites.<ref name=":0" /> In 2000, [[California]] introduced a bill to outlaw these films, but after the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) raised protest over First Amendment Concerns, the bill failed to pass. No other bill has passed since.<ref name=":0" /> In the case of ''[[Miller v. California]]'', the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] established a test to determine whether content falls under the category of unprotected obscenity.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Miller test]] requires that content "appeals to the prurient interest" to be obscene, meaning content must have a sexual component.<ref name=":0" />

That test was modified by United States v. Richards, which ruled that [[animal crush]] videos (videos that involve the killing of animals) can be obscene and therefore, are unprotected by the First Amendment even though they do not clearly appeal to sexual interests.<ref name=":0" /> The court ruled animal crush videos to be unprotected obscenity for two reasons. First, animal crush videos can appeal to a "specific sexual fetish," which fits the sexual conduct requirement of the Miller test. Second, United States v. Richards modified the Miller test by ruling that obscenity "can also cover unusual deviant acts" even if they are not directly sexual.<ref name=":0" /> Child pornography also falls under the category of unprotected obscenity by these tests.<ref name=":0" /> Due to the combination of murder and [[pornography]] depicted on shock sites that contain murder videos like gore2gasm.com, legal scholars have argued that murder videos also appeal to specific sexual interests and are thus unprotected under United States v. Richards.<ref name=":0" />

In terms of liability, unless snuff films are illegal, third party providers like shock sites that host murder videos and related snuff films are protected by the [[Communications Decency Act|Communications Decency Act of 1996]] (CDA).<ref name=":0" /> However, websites that require users to upload illegal content or actively encourage users to create and share illegal content can be held liable.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, courts have granted increasing [[Right to privacy|privacy rights]] to families over the publication and distribution of images of deceased relatives.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Calvert|first1=Clay|last2=Torres|first2=Mirelis|date=2011|title=Staring Death in the Face during Times of War: When Ethics, Law, and Self-Censorship in the News Media Hide the Morbidity of Authenticity|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ndlep25&id=89&div=&collection=|journal=Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy|volume=25|pages=87}}</ref> The owners of [[Rotten.com]] were successfully sued by families for hosting photos of dead people and videos of their deaths on the site.<ref name=":22">{{Citation|last=Reyes|first=Xavier Aldana|chapter=Violence and Mediation: The Ethics of Spectatorship in the Twenty-First Century Horror Film|date=2013|pages=145–160|editor-last=Matthews|editor-first=Graham|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|language=en|doi=10.1057/9781137296900_9|isbn=9781349451913|editor2-last=Goodman|editor2-first=Sam|title=Violence and the Limits of Representation}}</ref>

In the UK, legislators passed the [[Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008|Criminal Justice and Immigration Act of 2008]], which included a section outlawing [[extreme pornography]] (that which is intended to sexually arouse viewers that threatens a person's life, is likely to seriously harm a person's anus, breasts, or genitals, or involves a human corpse or an animal).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Attwood|first=Feona|date=2011|title=The Paradigm Shift: Pornography Research, Sexualization and Extreme Images|journal=Sociology Compass|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=13–22|doi=10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00356.x|issn=1751-9020}}</ref> This has resulted in shock sites, as well as US pornographers including [[Max Hardcore]] and [[Extreme Associates]], being convicted of [[obscenity]] in the UK.<ref name=":6" />

During the [[Christchurch mosque shootings]] in [[New Zealand]], the shooter broadcast the killings live on [[Facebook]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/new-zealand-shootings-isps-block-4chan-8chan-liveleak-over-stream-2019-3|title=4chan, 8chan, and LiveLeak blocked by Australian internet providers for hosting the livestream of New Zealand mosque shootings|last=Ma|first=Alexandra|website=Business Insider|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref> The video was shared on Facebook and uploaded to [[YouTube]] shortly after. Footage of the mass killings were hosted on [[4chan]], [[8chan]], [[LiveLeak]], [[Voat]], [[Zero Hedge]], and [[Kiwi Farms|KiwiFarms]].<ref name=":5" /> Rather than the Australian government trying to ban this specific instance of murder videos, internet service providers in Australia chose to place temporary blocks on any sites that hosted the footage until all the footage was believed to be removed.<ref name=":5" />

== Ethics ==
Several ethical concerns have been raised on the topic of shock sites and murder videos. One concern is that the popularity of shock sites will encourage an increase in violent murders, which can result in more extreme and violent videos that will likely generate more views on shock sites.<ref name=":0" /> Murder videos can inspire copycats to replicate the snuff films. After one of the Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs' videos leaked on the internet as "3 Guys 1 Hammer" in 2007, [[Eric Clinton Kirk Newman]] murdered Lin Jun, a Chinese student, and uploaded the video (including scenes of [[dismemberment]], cannibalism, and [[necrophilia]]) under the similar title of "1 Lunatic 1 Icepick" in 2012.<ref name=":0" />

Another concern is the right of a victim and the victim's family to privacy after death.<ref name=":0" /> This is the issue of whether Lin Jun's parents have a right to remove the video of their son's murder from the internet.<ref name=":0" /> Murder victims cannot consent to the footage of their deaths being used and uploaded, and several court cases have agreed that parents and loved ones should have a right to prevent the widespread viewership of a personal tragedy and stop the video from being published.<ref name=":3" />

Finally, while shock value is not sufficient to justify banning content legally (as was determined by [[Cohen v. California]]),<ref name=":3" /> there are still ethical concerns about the emotional damages caused by the jarring nature and content of shock sites. Viewing violent content such as murder videos on social media can cause or trigger [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|post-traumatic stress disorder]] (PTSD) and cause other [[Distress (medicine)|emotional distress]].<ref name=":0" />

== Media ==
As more people upload and view murder videos on shock sites, some believe that this practice is being mirrored in the [[Horror film|horror movie]] genre. The presence of [[Closed-circuit television|CCTV]] in ''[[Saw (2004 film)|Saw]]'' and the online torture auctions in ''[[Hostel: Part II|Hostel Part II]]'' raise questions on the nefarious use of monitoring systems and the widespread access to videos of [[Al-Qaeda]] [[Decapitation|beheadings]], executions in American prisons, and other real depictions of violence and murder on the internet.<ref name=":22" /> In examples like ''Saw'', the contemporary horror genre reflects real horror on the internet.<ref name=":22" />

Additionally, a parody of Goatse was shown by a [[BBC]] newscast as an alternative for the then recently unveiled logo for the [[2012 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="shock tactics22">Herrmann, Steve. "[https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/06/shock_tactics.html Shock tactics]." ''[[BBC]]''. June 5, 2007. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/06/08/updated_b3ta_hacks_the_bbc_with_olympic_goatse.html|title=B3ta hacks the BBC with Olympic goatse|last=Johnson|first=Robert 'Bobbie'|date=June 8, 2007|work=The Guardian|access-date=May 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619041238/http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/06/08/updated_b3ta_hacks_the_bbc_with_olympic_goatse.html|archive-date=19 June 2008|location=[[London]]|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Internet|Erotica and pornography}}
* ''[[2 Girls 1 Cup]]''
* ''[[2 Girls 1 Cup]]''
* [[4chan]]
* [[4chan]]

Revision as of 18:11, 9 March 2022

References

Further reading

  • Wilson, Jeremy (2013-09-20). "The vilest sites on the internet". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  • Chen, Adrian (2013-04-16). "Goatse and the Rise of the Web's Gross-Out Culture". Wired. 21 (5). Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  • Anderson, Lessley (2012-06-13). "Snuff: Murder and torture on the internet, and the people who watch it". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  • Schroeder, Audra (2014-10-26). "The Legacy of Rotten.com". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  • Dewey, Caitlin (2014-10-28). "When botched surgeries and suicides go viral: The revolting rise of 'medical gore'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  • Reynolds, Daniel (August 2009). "Esthetics of the Extreme in Shock Websites". Applied Semiotics (23). Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
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