Reading the news online can be extremely depressing, especially when it's story after story about horrible crimes committed against others and the sick people behind those acts.
There is no better example than the amount of mass shootings we hear about, which seems to happen too regularly these days. We then see countless articles appear about who the insane gunman behind the act is or was, giving them more than the 15 minutes of fame they deserve — and this might be exactly what they were out for, anyway.
Now, you can block killers who are responsible for mass shootings from popping up all over the Internet with this Chrome extension.
Called Zero Minutes of Fame, this plug-in for Chrome removes both the name and photo of the killer from appearing anywhere online.
Instead of focusing on the killer's identity, this extension doesn't give him or her the satisfaction of gaining media attention, so that only the victims get attention.
This Chrome extension was created by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, an organization that aims to reduce the amount of gun deaths and injuries.
The goal of this extension is to prevent the media from making monsters into celebrities.
"Thirty percent of mass killings, and 22 percent of school shootings, are inspired by previous gun related events," the plug-in description reads. "These events are always covered by the media, who plasters the killer's name, image and motives all over their broadcast channels."
If we would download extensions that would block spoilers from our favorite shows, or remove Donald Trump from have a major presence in our online lives, why not download something that will make a real statement to the media?
After downloading the Zero Minutes of Fame extension for free, any time the user searches for or sees a story related to a mass or school shooting, they will not see the murderer's name. In its place, the user will see the text "name withheld out of respect for the victims."
However, this plug-in isn't free of flaws. When searching for a specific incident, such as the Sandy Hook shooting, in Google, the gunman's name will not appear, but his photos will show up in the Images section. However, click on a specific story, and most of the time, both the name and image of the killer will not be displayed. This is especially true in Wikipedia, but not always the case for every website.
There are also times when the extension misses a reference or two to the killer.
It's also important to note that, while this Chrome extension does a pretty decent job of blocking the identities of these people from popping up everywhere online, it only works specifically with mass or school-related crimes.
Not every serial killer or murderer to date will be blocked from Zero Minutes of Fame. For example, John Wilkes Booth, H.H Holmes, David Berkowitz and Ted Bundy will all still appear.
However, those responsible for the Aurora, Colo. movie theater massacre, the Umpqua College shooting and Columbine High School killings will be blocked.
Those who are interested in the case can visit the Brady Campaign's website to sign petitions and learn more about the initiative to reduce gun violence.
Source: CNN Money
