Cyber Stalking And Cyber Harrasment
Cyber harassment and cyber stalking are often used synonymously to describe the actions of persons who relentlessly pursue others online with the intention of frightening or embarrassing the victim. Sometimes a harasser intends to teach the victim a lesson or solicit information from the victim, and stalkers generally want revenge or attention. Laws against cyber harassment vary depending on the country, and victims should report their case to local authorities. To prevent crimes from occurring, it is important for everyone to protect their identity while on the Internet.
There is no universal legal definition of cyber harassment, but it typically is defined as repeated, unsolicited, threatening behavior by a person or group using mobile or Internet technology with the intent to bother, terrify, intimidate, humiliate, threaten, harass or stalk someone else. The harassment can take place in any electronic environment where communication with others is possible, such as on social networking sites, on message boards, in chat rooms or through email. Posting a general opinion on a discussion board or in a forum is not considered cyber harassment.
A cyber harasser often will post comments to the victim that are intended to cause distress and will try to incite others to do the same. The harasser might break into the victim’s accounts and send numerous obscene or hurtful emails and instant messages to the victim’s significant other, family, friends, coworkers and boss. A harasser might even hack into the victim’s computer and take over his or her accounts, change passwords or sign up the victim for things such as pornographic websites and spam. The harasser might set up websites using digitally manipulated, sexual images of the victim or send those images to amateur pornographic websites.
Laws protecting citizens from cyber harassment can vary from place to place and country to country. Western European countries have explicit laws providing their citizens with protection from cyber harasser or stalkers, but as of 2010, some Asian countries had not yet enacted laws against this crime. In the United States, many states have laws that provide some protection from cyber harassment or stalking. There were no U.S. federal laws of this type as of 2010, but there are laws that protect children age 16 or younger from electronic sexual offenses.
Persons who feel they have been victimized should begin to document and collect all harassing messages, postings and other activities. If there is any indication that a perpetrator knows where the victim lives or works or how to find them offline, the victim should contact the local authorities immediately. In some instances, the authorities can track the harasser through an Internet Service Provider and issue a restraining order against the stalker. Victims who cannot file criminal charges against an offender might attempt to file a civil suit, have accounts revoked and have damaging websites shut down.
Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. It may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex, or gathering information in order to harass. The definition of "harassment" must meet the criterion that a reasonable person, in possession of the same information, would regard it as sufficient to cause another reasonable person distress.
Cyberstalking is different from spatial or offline stalking in that it occurs through the use of electronic communications technology such as the internet. However, it sometimes leads to it, or is accompanied by it.Both are criminal offenses. Cyberstalking shares important characteristics with offline stalking. Many stalkers - online or off - are motivated by a desire to control their victims.
A cyberstalker may be an online stranger or a person whom the target knows. A cyberstalker may be anonymous and may solicit involvement of other people online who do not even know the target.
Cyberstalking is a criminal offenses that comes into play under state anti-stalking laws, slander laws, and harassment laws. A cyberstalking conviction can result in a restraining order, probation, or even criminal penalties against the assailant, including jail.
Stalking is a continuous process, consisting of a series of actions, each of which may be entirely legal in itself. Technology ethics professor Lambèr Royakkers writes that:
"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), with motives that are directly or indirectly traceable to the affective sphere. Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do taken together (cumulative effect)."
CyberAngels has written about how to identify cyberstalking:
When identifying cyberstalking "in the field," and particularly when considering whether to report it to any kind of legal authority, the following features or combination of features can be considered to characterize a true stalking situation: malice, premeditation, repetition, distress, obsession, vendetta, no legitimate purpose, personally directed, disregarded warnings to stop, harassment, and threat
A number of key factors have been identified:
- False accusations. Many cyberstalkers try to damage the reputation of their victim and turn other people against them. They post false information about them on websites. They may set up their own websites, blogs or user pages for this purpose. They post allegations about the victim to newsgroups, chat rooms or other sites that allow public contributions, such as Wikipedia or Amazon.com.
- Attempts to gather information about the victim. Cyberstalkers may approach their victim's friends, family and work colleagues to obtain personal information. They may advertise for information on the Internet, or hire a private detective.
- Monitoring their target's online activities and attempting to trace their IP address in an effort to gather more information about their victims.
- Encouraging others to harass the victim. Many cyberstalkers try to involve third parties in the harassment. They may claim the victim has harmed the stalker or his/her family in some way, or may post the victim's name and telephone number in order to encourage others to join the pursuit.
- False victimization. The cyberstalker will claim that the victim is harassing him/her. Bocij writes that this phenomenon has been noted in a number of well-known cases.
- Attacks on data and equipment. They may try to damage the victim's computer by sending viruses.
- Ordering goods and services. They order items or subscribe to magazines in the victim's name. These often involve subscriptions to pornography or ordering sex toys then having them delivered to the victim's workplace.
- Arranging to meet. Young people face a particularly high risk of having cyberstalkers try to set up meetings between them.
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