Cyberstalking

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Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk someone. This term is used interchangeably with online harassment and online abuse.

A cyberstalker follows the victim's online activity to gather information, initiate contact, make threats, or engage in other forms of verbal intimidation. Cyberstalkers target victims using online forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, spyware, and spam. They may engage in live chat harassment or flaming (online verbal abuse and/or character defamation); leaving improper messages on message boards or in guest books; sending electronic viruses; sending unsolicited e-mail; tracing another person's computer and Internet activity, and electronic identity theft. [link]

Stalking does not consist of single incidents, but is a continuous process. Similar to stalking off-line (physical stalking), cyberstalking can be a terrifying experience for victims, placing them at risk of psychological trauma, and possible physical harm. As Rokkers writes, "Stalking is a form of mental assault, in which the perpetrator repeatedly, unwantedly, and disruptively breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom he has no relationship (or no longer has)....Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do taken together (cumulative effect)."[link]

Many cyberstalking situations do evolve into physical stalking, and a victim may experience abusive and excessive phone calls, vandalism, threatening or obscene mail, trespassing, and physical assault. [link] Moreover, many physical stalkers will use cyberstalking as another method of harassing their victims. [link]

The anonymity of online interaction reduces the chance of identification, and makes cyberstalking more common than physical stalking.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Cyberstalking is becoming a common tactic in racism, and other expressions of bigotry and hate.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Contents

1 Cyberstalking legislation
2 Cyberstalking law enforcement
3 False accusations
4 For Further Reading
5 See also
6 External links

Cyberstalking legislation

The first U.S. cyberstalking law went into effect in 1999 in California. Other states include prohibition against cyberstalking in their harassment or stalking legislation. In Florida, HB 479 was introduced in 2003 to ban cyberstalking. This was signed into law on October 2003. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

States in the U.S. have begun to address the use of computer equipment for stalking purposes:

Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire and New York have included prohibitions against harassing electronic, computer or e-mail communications in their harassment legislation.
Alaska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and California, have incorporated electronically communicated statements as conduct constituting stalking in their anti-stalking laws.
A few states have both stalking and harassment statutes that criminalize threatening and unwanted electronic communications.
Other states have laws other than harassment or anti-stalking statutes that prohibit misuse of computer communications and e-mail, while others have passed laws containing broad language that can be interpreted to include cyberstalking behaviors

Cyberstalking has also been addressed in recent U.S. federal law. For example, the Violence Against Women Act, passed in 2000, made cyberstalking a part of the federal interstate stalking statute. Still, there remains a lack of legislation at the federal level to specifically address cyberstalking, leaving the majority of legislative prohibitions against cyberstalking at the state level. [link]

Other countries have begun to include online abuse in their anti-stalking legislation. In Australia, the Criminal Code Stalking Amendment Act (1999) includes the use of any form of technology to harass a target as forms of "criminal stalking."[link] In the United Kingdom, the Malicious Communications Act (1998) classified cyberstalking as a criminal offense. [link]

Most stalking laws require that the perpetrator make a credible threat of violence against the victim; others include threats against the victim's immediate family; and still others require only that the alleged stalker's course of conduct constitute an implied threat.(1) While some conduct involving annoying or menacing behavior might fall short of illegal stalking, such behavior may be a prelude to stalking and violence and should be treated seriously. [link]

Cyberstalking law enforcement

Law enforcement has often not caught up with the times, and officials are in many cases simply telling the victims to avoid the websites where they are being harassed or having their privacy violated. Some assistance can be found by contacting the web host companies (if the material is on a website) or the ISP of the abuser. Many victims note that persistence is key. At times the seriousness of the impact of this type of violation is not comprehended and the third party facilitators of cyberstalkers tell the victim to work it out with their harasser. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

False accusations

Ironically, a cyberstalker may make a false charge of cyberstalking against a victim as another means of harassment and abuse. [link] Morevover, there is not a universally accepted definition of cyberstalking. Because of this, organizations are forced to come up with their own definitions which can lead to ambiguity and confusion. Consequently, classifications may be very broad (e.g. too frequently posting comments in a blog). One result is that it is hard to prove or disprove a charge of cyberstalking, and easy to make a "false allegation." ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

For Further Reading

Cyberstalking : Harassment in the Internet Age and How to Protect Your Family. Bocij, Paul. Praeger Publishers, 2004.
The Psychology of Stalking. Meloy, J. Reid. Academic Press, 2000.
Stalkers and Their Victims. Mullen,Paul E., Pathe, Michele, Purcell, Rosemary. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

External links