Murder and rape? Really? You really want to go there? Yes! There are situations in which victims in those cases are to blame. Not always, but sometimes. If you let a sex offender babysit your child, you have played a part in any crime he or she commits. If you lay down in the middle of the road and someone runs over you in their car, it's certainly YOUR FAULT that you got run over.

I think, to an extent, the Just World Theory doesn't necessarily make something wrong. If you got run over, for example, and I was on the jury for the case against the guy that ran you over, I would want to know if you decided to lie in the road. Placing yourself in the roadway would be a reason for me to vote to acquit the driver. That is clearly YOUR FAULT and YOU ARE the victim. Sorry, it happens sometimes. Just because JWT can be used as a logical fallacy in some cases, doesn't mean the thought process involved is never valid.

In the case of the rape in the Just-World arcticle, I don't think the rapist should have been acquitted. He obviously raped the woman, there was evidence he raped her, and he should be held responsible for that. On the other hand, there were obviously things the woman could have done differently to give herself more protection. She could have gone to the bar with at least one friend. That's not just a woman thing; I'm a male and I go to bars and clubs with friends because there is safety in numbers. You never know what will happen, and it's a bad idea to go out to the sometimes dark parking lots alone late at night. She could have not dressed in the manner she did. Dressing in a manner designed to attract the more base desires of others did just that. She could have carried a device to protect herself like mace or a taser. She could have learned self-defense tactics. She could have had a little less to drink, as alcohol impairs your judgment and situational awareness that could otherwise allow you to avoid parking lot hobos. These factors DO NOT make the rapist innocent, but there are a number of things that the example woman could have done to make herself less vulnerable to the vagrant in the parking lot. It's an atrocious crime, he's definitely guilty and should have been held accountable for his actions, but at the same time she didn't really take actions to protect herself.

If your house gets burgled, the burglar is definitely responsible and should be held accountable for his actions. On the other hand, you could have had an extra lock. You could have had an accurate alarm system. You could have lived in a neighborhood with an active neighborhood watch. You could have closed the blinds in the window to the room with your $10,000 entertainment system and your wife's diamond jewelry displays. All of those things open you up to being a victim. You aren't to blame. The burglars are still guilty of their crimes. BUT you didn't protect yourself to the extent you should.

Now, let's apply this to the hacked accounts. Account thieves are responsible for what they do, it's wrong. Shame on them! This isn't rape, murder, or theft, though, and although it'd be nice to hold them responsible for their actions, they never will be. That sure sucks. They're anonymous and hard to track. In the face of this happening, we have to be alert. We know who is trying to compromise our accounts, now let's avoid it. Let's download a good virus scanner, firewall, and malware scanner. Let's make sure we use a browser that is more difficult to compromise (Firefox or Chrome). Let's get appropriate addons to prevent scripts from running. Oh, and while we're at it, let's get one more layer of security--it's called a Blizzard authenticator. Although that CAN be subverted, it's much less likely than just your account name and password.

Or, we can be a victim and we can analyze what went wrong after the fact. You could have had a better firewall/virus scanner/malware scanner. There are free ones that find keyloggers. You could have not followed those links on the forum. You could have changed your password after logging into your account from your friend's computer. You could have improved the security of your web browser. Oh, yeah, or you could've had that little $6 box called an authenticator. Although someone else is still guilty of messing with your account, there are many things YOU PERSONALLY can do to protect yourself. It may not be your fault, but it's much harder to be sympathetic to you. How can Blizzard/the police/Batman protect you when you can't take basic steps to protect yourself?

Situational awareness beforehand and simple protective measures are always better than crying to blizzard after the fact. Courts can't un-rape, un-murder, or un-burgle you. Blizzard can't completely un-compromise your account, even though they can restore your purple pixels. Many people with compromised accounts are re-compromised in the future unless they take more protective steps.

I think it's wrong to take the responsibility for crimes away from criminals, but it's also wrong not to expect people to have a small amount of personal responsibility for themselves. It's wrong not to expect people to have situational awareness and to take small, reasonable steps to protect themselves.