Full interview: Samantha Markle speaks to Staci DaSilva

it's not just me it's happening all around the world to people and these people know that they can get away with it if they or they think they can if they go hide under a VPN hey they won't know my ISP if I if I do this through a VPN so it makes it harder for law enforcement to get them so one of the things that Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and others can do to help law enforcement and help keep their their participants safe biometrics you if you get on your computer to sign in you're using face recognition or your fingerprint or your or your ID is that a violation of freedom and privacy hell no because they're not out there out there violating other's freedom and privacy to the extent of criminal acts criminals are not guaranteed anonymity under any law and if they're gonna be out there they're breaking laws and and committing crime you're you're not entitled to privacy and protection under the law of your face and your ID and your know your I mean I think you have an onus as a mature responsible user of these social interfaces to be transparent you know yeah not out there committing criminal action and I'm gonna prove it by letting everybody know who I am you know by being transparent and that's just so when did you start getting harassed so I got I started getting harassed around the time as royal wedding and and the the moment that people knew I disagree with some things about my sisters such as you know not inviting both sides of the family and the possibility of my book coming out that was another controversial subject I started getting threats and people would send and tweet photographs of me being viewed through a high power and scope behind broken glass with my face and targets you know if that's not obvious symbolism I don't know what is but it was all with the intent to intimidate keep me in fear prevent me from releasing my book and you can't do that to people we have freedom of speech and just because someone might not like what I had to say or that I have a book coming out doesn't mean that they can engage in criminal activity coercion threats intimidation to prevent my exercising my freedom of speech was this on Facebook and Twitter mm-hmm and I don't have an Instagram account I started one several years ago and like I just I think I said hello I never used it but it's got thousands of followers and it gets daunting like I can't I can't go and get to every platform and say hey shut this down it's not me so there's so many fake accounts out there that are out there saying disparaging things and parody accounts those are also attempts at this you know defamation libel slander bullying how often do you hear from these trolls I mean on your social media accounts I shut it down so I don't see their mentions because it got to the point where they are always mentioning me trying to you know flag themselves and get attention and say horrible things and Photoshop and create things to villainize or criminalize me I just thought you know that's not real and for people out there who are bullied in cyberspace you know I wanna just specially young people I want to say you really can't give that legs you can't give it breath it's not real unless you allow it to consume you and you make it real so you know teenagers who go through this they don't have the resources to leave their high schools or move out of their communities and they're very trapped and it's overwhelming for them and some of these tools have such a large presence creating BOTS and multiple avatars that these teenagers feel like they're being attacked by hundreds of people when really they're not they're being attacked by few who make them stop themselves out to be bigger well that's what bullies do they puff their chest they want to feel big they want to feel like they've got a lot of power and for teenagers it's often inescapable and it results in suicidal ideation and even suicide so they need strong board systems their parents their friends they need counseling but more than that they need to remember that these people are only real and powerful if you let them be it's important to reach out and communicate and call them on what they're doing before they become a real problem you had to leave your home correct how many times have you had to move twice twice and from Florida to Virginia I moved from Florida to Virginia and then the same thing happened in Virginia they were sharing my address and asking me if it sounded familiar showing pictures of me behind a scope but it got worse than that they were sharing images of me being seen through our security cameras or me outside with my boyfriend helping me get into my vehicle that could have only been either planted in trees or seen through our own devices which let me know that I was very hacked and I was being watched they shared pictures of my boyfriend looking at himself on his own cellphone which let me know that they had hacked our devices and that had and their apps had camera access and they had they were mentioning conversations that we had in our living room about money or other things and they would say hey what about that thousand dollars so they were acquiescing to not only stalking but hacking for someone like me I'm a counselor I'm pretty intelligent I you know I think I can handle it and analyze it for what it is but for a teenager who's you know going through identity crisis and and you know has a self-esteem that's not totally evolved yet it can be terrifying when you know you're being watched and everything that you do is being twisted and used against you to give Fame you and to threaten so yeah cyber bullying is horrible and I think that the burden really needs to be on social media platforms Twitter Facebook Instagram all of them especially the new ones coming up to have strict identification measures in place for its users to prevent this so you move to Polk County about six months ago yeah did you want to say what town we're in right now or would you want to just keep it at Polk County yeah okay why did you choose Polk County it's gorgeous I love the lakes I love you know it's a it's a little bit more central where I was well I didn't like fire ants in Ocala it seemed to be one of those things that was just indigenous to the area so um but I really I wanted the happy medium being close to water as I was in Southern California and here I have it without the smog but I have family here and they love the people here so okay and it's about six months ago and then this summer you filed a complaint with the sheriff's office what why did you do that because I was being stalked and harassed my my boyfriend got a ticket for a taillight on a trailer being out and it was supposed to stay confidential but the address on that ticket was somehow released because trolls were able to comb through court house computer databases the problem with that is that you know yeah those might have some court records are private but it wasn't in the news and I was having my identity in my location protected by a real estate company under the circumstances can we just take that timecode down because she said the address and we did want to put this interview online so I don't think we want to put the address online correct sorry if you could just okay just so when we go back we can take that out for you okay I know I know sorry 1456 something okay okay sorry so so you know they were saying hey does this number does the street match does this sound familiar and you know in other words they were talking me with my address on my location letting me know that they were out there sharing it they were also sharing screen shot admissions of having my social security number and then they said they said oh but we guessed her social security number well out of all of the billions of possible combinations that could possible so you know they were telling on themselves and the bottom line here is that there's very private information that they were actively all day obsessed about and combing to get every little detail about me that acquiesce is to stalking because a you know someone who you don't know doesn't have a right to be looking to see if there's anything about you in court to see what's going on with your medical records to share your address to be direct messaging people and asking questions about you unless they're a reporter they have some valid reason for getting every piece of information they can about you and taunting you with it like hey what about this and what about that who are you to ask me what about this and what about that and to try and spin it to villainize or criminalize me so for I can see how for teenagers that's overwhelming you know yeah we'll talk you've talked about the teenagers but has the the Sheriff's Office been open to your complaint and been taking it seriously yeah since since we started this whole thing I you know I showed them everything and let them know what was going on and you know I I'm really lucky to live in a state that takes that seriously you know the cyber stalking and stand your ground laws I feel really safe and it's nice to know that law enforcement is proactive about that you know you can't do that to a person you can't taunt them put them in fear intimidate them harass them and encourage others on a wide scale to engage in targeted harassment it's nobody nobody deserves to live like that and certainly not for expressing freedom of speech because you're a journalist if you did a report and somebody didn't like something you had to say it you know it's really psychotic that anybody would go to that extreme to suppress what you have to say and to make every corner of your life public information twisting it in a negative way that to put you in fear or shame in your reaction to the news spreading across the world that you were the target of the investigation for things you've said about your sister versus what actually is happening well and and I think that's really important too because there is a problem with aggregate news I understand that journalists and bloggers get so busy and a lot of them you know there's often on one side of you know the coin there is paid PR that spins things but there's also aggregate news error that happens when they see fragments of information they don't have a lot of time to pop the stories out and they just copy them verbatim maybe with extra words and spin it a little bit more and suddenly the victim becomes the suspect because someone didn't understand what being at the center of investigation means well it doesn't mean I'm the suspect and they didn't ask they didn't bother to ask they just assumed and put it in print that I was a suspect not the victim shouldn't happen so there as you are you afraid for your life here in Polk County well yeah I have been and and you know if you can imagine seeing your face on a bull's eye behind broken glass or on a dartboard and pictures of someone like Matt Damon looking through a high-powered scope at a clip from a film or a gif and you can run but you can't hide Samantha those things are symbolic and they're put out there with the intent of putting you in fear intimidating you preventing you from publishing a book which happened to you know we're gonna if you put your book out we're gonna download it and share it for free so nobody buys it those are those are intimidation tactics that are against the law on many levels and so yeah it was scary for me I'm in a wheelchair I don't need to feel like I'm a slow-moving target going out of my own home nobody has the right to do that to me and they're subject to legal sanction yeah it's just that's not how a legal you know high-functioning society operates and those criminals need to be made examples of they need to experience specific deterrence under the law and they need to be made out to be you know examples of general deterrence so other would be cyber bullies now hey don't do the crime if you can't do the time and most local law enforcement and the local and federal law enforcement agencies will come getcha you know VPN or not there are ways to find these offenders what do you say to critics who say you spoke out you know you were vocal you wrote a book it tweet it but writing a book and speaking out you know my father had two heart attacks I didn't agree with my sister's treatment of the family that does not give some of these unhinged people license or the right to engage in criminal activity against me stalk harass incite violence against me it's like any of us who have fought for freedom of speech whether the issue is gender race political issues just because you say something doesn't give people who disagree with you the right to put you in fear and suppress your opinion by threatening you when you do and that you know I think that's what we really need to make as a precedent we're not tolerating this anymore we all have to agree to disagree under the law because if you take it beyond those legal boundaries and you engage in criminal activity intent you know intimidation and harassment with the intent to put someone in fear if they speak it's it's against the law do you have any regrets for anything that's happened since you said around the Royal Wedding the only regrets no I don't have regrets because I was being honest and I've always said you you shouldn't regret telling the truth and when you tell the truth you know yeah I don't think the whistleblower is the problem but if you do it from a heartfelt place and it's about family and it's about something you care about when you tell the truth the person on the receiving end or you're telling the truth about has the opportunity but I believe also runs the responsibility too say hey let me hear what you have to say let's communicate let's have a meeting of the minds and make things better let's do what's right here and the only way the right thing can happen is if people talk about it silence as the status quo accomplishes nothing so you know where people were afraid to speak because of this high prestige issue it's wrong because there's a real family issue there the public got involved they took it too far without saying hey they're family they can speak out if they want to it's not really our business but they had their own agendas so you can't suppress freedom of speech or none of us would be here and you wouldn't have a journalism job obviously I think there are similarities here between what you're saying and what your sister is saying in her husband about how they've been treated in the media with false reports and online harassment and trolling how do you feel do you have compassion for them in that way I do and I've also learned through this that you know in terms of aggregate news at one point they were seeing stories probably reacting to what they thought we said or what they thought we were doing we were was very reciprocal we were reacting but the bottom line is there was so much propaganda out there that none of us really knew where the truth was and similarly with the bullying you know the people that disagree with her have bullied her - threatening extremes they bullied Kate and William they bullied me but they have the differences they have the money and the social or the financial resources to protect themselves against that a normal person like me and my dad and you know our family we don't know we just got caught in the middle of it but but nonetheless we had the right to speak our feelings there are people I'm sure will get tweets Facebook posts whatever saying you even just doing this interview is you still trying to get publicity off your sister why are you speaking out today I'm speaking out today because there's been this really interesting phenomena of people have always demanded their freedom of speech they speak out against the president they speak out against every you know whatever the issue is or the celebrity and nobody says you just want attention they're just out there exercising their freedom of speech but because of this royal situation suddenly it's all about oh you must want attention well I worked in broadcasting for a long time I'm 54 I don't need attention it was a family issue it was heartfelt I was concerned with my father dying without closure and and in our communities because there was no invitation to the wedding it became public and the assumption was oh you must not be worthy since you weren't invited so it's not like it was a wedding in Ohio and and we wanted attention oh why didn't we get invited it's because all of our peers in the world were suddenly you know putting us under a microscope like why didn't you get invited and it was some sort of character indictment the implication that oh you must not be worthy and then aggregate news started spinning assumptions about the book about family members and it got out of control so do I want attention no what I really wanted out of all of this was my sister to realize hey I got caught up in a whirlwind what I did to my dad was wrong we're all bigger people let's evolve and do the right thing and it takes just as much time to do the right thing as it does to ignore it and I'd like to see him be able to communicate with her before he passes away that was going to my next question what do you hope for your relationship with Megan and your father's relationship with her for her to reach out at some point when she's ready but you know with me but with my father at some point maybe too late so you know our repeated efforts to extend an olive branch I would assume you know when interacting with a quote humanitarian would be met with a very humble acceptance and yeah let's look at this let's make this better and that's all I was trying to say and if that's bashing Wow then so sue me there were some bashing tweets but that's you know that bashing well I think a lot of the media labeled it as bashing like if I did the thing I said about Harry at the birthday while you're macking down on your birthday cake don't forget to wish to add a happy birthday is that bashing or is it witty the prob that you called him a West Point yeah I take your pants back be a man because the whole family was being ghosted and I felt like hey you know it you know you're a man - you're letting my father suffer and there was no real invitation so I felt like somebody has to step up and do the right thing and say something I worked in broadcasting I'm a counselor I believe in communication and nobody was saying anything and the problem with tweets though is that you can't hear tone of voice so while I thought I was saying something maybe cynical maybe witty people couldn't hear it they were interpreting it through their own life lenses maybe they were angry maybe maybe they've got a negative lens over everything in their lives and then they were reacting to it from their own personal perspectives which does not always coincide with the sender intent so I think that's something really important about social media - and because there can be those crossed wires and they can be emotionally heated Twitter and Facebook and Instagram have more of an obligation to not moderate that but to keep it safe when people's interpretations carry it to such heated levels that it crosses over into criminal activity they have people say things on social media they would never say to someone's face I mean right because the avatar is you know it's a shield it's a false source of empowerment you know in the animal kingdom they puff their chest to look bigger than they are well they can do that on social media behind an avenue big words and an avatar I've got a flower out there or a kitty cat but I'm gonna say big disgusting terrifying things you know it's how is your dad doing he's doing okay he's doing better he's feeling you know I think more empowered this has been a growth opportunity for all of us but I think more than anything it's really interesting that the Royals Megan Harry and you know this side of the fence the Marco's we're all kind of saying the same thing is that you can you can have especially with the family if there's an issue out there or a social issue you can disagree but you don't take it to the level of incredible terrorizing taunting intimidation threats that's where we cap it your father doesn't live in Polk County as well does he okay and I read some articles I think you had said that you raised Megan until she was 12 pretty much or seeing here's where I'm gonna I'm gonna fact-check that here's what I'm going to talk about aggregate news yeah even a journalist like you and a lot of other journalists and talk-show hostesses believe that I was sitting here I know where did you hear that mm-hmm because I had said in one interview I was integral in her life until about 12 I always lived about 10 minutes away she was born in our household my dad and Oriya divorced when she was about six still it was during the week weekends in her mingling you know when I wasn't working and life was very normal from you know families with big sisters and younger kids but some journalists took it upon themselves to say she said she raised her I never said I raised her I said I was integral in her life until about 12 and then even interacting all the way up through Northwestern and when she was in when Osiris and even when so to set the record straight the last time I saw her was 2008 the last time I spoke to her on the phone was 2015 December going on January 2016 the last week of December so no it's not like and then people said oh she hasn't spoken

Channel: WFLA News Channel 8

Views: 104,632

Keywords: wflatampa, wflanews, wflatampanews

Id: dLxnoeAyFjU

Length: 24min 14sec (1454 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 06 2019