星岛日报/根据2名大多伦多地区的驾驶者的经历，现今轻微的撞车事故只需要仪表板上的摄影机，YouTube及所谓的群众智慧便可以演变成为名誉受损的灾难。
上周四，雅积士(Ajax)男居民Raguruban Yogarajah及密西沙加(Mississauga)学生岑许民(Herman Sham，译音)在401号公路发生轻微汽车碰撞。他们均不否认当在繁忙时间两车相隔1米停下来时，Yogarajah的黑色本田Acura流后，撞着岑许民的富士Legacy。
岑许民认为Yogarajah试图向他诈骗，而在130,000名YouTube的观众当中，大体上都同意。不过，Yogarajah表示，这是无心之失。自从恶意及通常带种族歧视的发表意见的人开始在网上披露他的个人资料之后，他担心家人的安全。
现年24岁的岑许民是摄影学生，用了在香港购买、价值40元的仪表板摄影机拍下了这次的撞车事故。他于第二天将拍下的片段在YouTube发布，标题是《你需要仪表板摄影机的理由：骗局受挫》(The reason why you need a dash camera (scam foiled)。
在该段录像中，他加入了插文，指称Yogarajah索取500元的损坏赔偿。岑许民在网上写道：请提防这些假意外。
有一人形容Yogarajah是“卑鄙的人”，并且披露他在雅积士的地址。另一人说：“我猜想不会有人对他是南亚人而感到奇怪？送他们返回斯里兰卡。”Yogarajah既愤怒又害怕。
现年26岁的Yogarajah平日在银行上班，周末任职电讯营业代表。他多次违反公路交通法的记录，在4年之内共有26宗，但大部分涉及车牌及超速，而他没有刑事记录。他认为，较常被警员截停，原因是警员对棕肤色年轻男子驾着好车感到怀疑。
该YouTube录像清楚显示出Yogarajah的车牌。自从这录像发表之后，一些网民不仅披露他的地址，也披露了他的1名姊妹的地址。他说，他的侄儿们感到害怕。
他表示，已经6次与多伦多警方及皇家骑警讨论有关网上的威胁，但他们全都说对YouTube没有管辖权。
岑许民表示，他并非正要试图损坏Yogarajah的声誉。他只想其他的驾驶者知道仪表板摄影机在保险用途方面有所帮助。
Yogarajah说，如果对方给予交谈的机会，问题应可以解决。
资料来源：星报
YouTube video of minor accident on 401 sparks onslaught of threats, racism
Kate Allen and Zoe McKnight
Staff Reporters
Once upon a time, angry fender-bender victims who wanted to allege the other guy was an idiot or a crook were limited to an audience of family and friends.
But as two GTA motorists are finding out, all it takes in 2012 to transform a minor car accident into a reputation-threatening debacle is a dashboard camera, YouTube and the so-called wisdom of crowds.
Last Thursday, Ajax resident Raguruban Yogarajah and Mississauga student Herman Sham were involved in a fender-bender on the 401. Neither dispute that while they were stopped in cramped rush-hour traffic, Yogarajah’s black Honda Acura rolled backwards and bumped Sham’s Subaru.
Sham believes Yogarajah was trying to scam him, and 130,000 YouTube viewers largely agree.
But Yogarajah says it was a genuine mistake. He’s worried for his family’s safety since venomous — and sometimes racist — commenters started posting his personal information online. “I work two jobs. I don’t need to go scamming for $500 to live my life,” says Yogarajah.
Sham, 24, a photography student, captured Thursday’s fender-bender on a $40 dashboard camera.
The next day, he uploaded the footage to YouTube with the title “The reason why you need a dash camera (scam foiled).” In the video, he added word bubbles alleging Yogarajah demanded $500 on the spot to pay for the damage.
“Please be aware of these fake accident(s),” Sham wrote online.
Viewers — more than 125,000 in the last 36 hours — have added a running commentary of vitriol, threats and racism.
One called Yogarajah a “scumbag” and posted his home address in Ajax. “Don’t underestimate technology and the power of the internet,” the commenter wrote.
Yogarajah is worried and scared.
He says the first thing he told Sham was, “Did you bump into me or did I bump into you?” His car is a manual, and he says it probably rolled backward when he distractedly took his foot off the brake.
The video doesn’t seem to show Yogarajah’s reverse lights come on. He points to this as proof he didn’t reverse, while YouTube commenters use it as proof he disconnected them and his tail lights in advance. In the sunlight’s glare, it’s impossible to tell if either was working.
Yogarajah doesn’t deny he is at fault for the collision. But he got frustrated at the scene because, he says, Sham insisted Yogarajah had reversed on purpose. So Yogarajah called police himself (a move Sham admits was “weird”).
Yogarajah, 26, works at a bank during the week and as a telecommunications sales rep on the weekends, helping support his extended family. He says he saved up for three years to buy his car and wouldn’t think of damaging it for $500.
He does, in fact, have a lengthy rap sheet of Highway Traffic Act offences — 26 in four years — but most are for licence plate issues and speeding, and he has no criminal history. He believes police stop him more frequently than others because they are suspicious of a young man of colour driving a nice car.
The YouTube video clearly shows Yogarajah’s licence plate. Since it was posted, web denizens have posted not only his address but his sister’s, where she lives with her three children.
He says he’s spoken to the Toronto police and the RCMP on six occasions about the online threats, but all have said they have no jurisdiction over YouTube and some were dismissive of his safety concerns.
Sham says he wasn’t trying to ruin Yogarajah’s reputation. He only wanted other drivers to be aware that dashboard cameras can be useful for insurance purposes.
He says he believes now that Yogarajah may have accidentally put the car in neutral, and not intentionally reversed, though he still maintains Yogarajah asked for money. “I really don’t want to screw him, or anything.”
Sham’s car damage is minor.
“It would have been solved if he just gave me a chance to talk to him,” says Yogarajah.
“It’s a minor scratch. All this trouble for no reason.”
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