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Cyber
Stalking
Cyber
Stalking can be defined as the repeated acts
harassment or threatening behavior of the cyber
criminal towards the victim by using internet
services. Stalking in General terms can be referred
to as the repeated acts of harassment targeting the
victim such as following the victim, making
harassing phone calls, killing the victims pet,
vandalizing victims property, leaving written
messages or objects. Stalking may be followed by
serious violent acts such as physical harm to the
victim and the same has to be treated and viewed
seriously. It all depends on the course of conduct
of the stalker.
Both
kind of Stalkers – Online & Offline – have desire
to control the victims life. Majority of the
stalkers are the dejected lovers or ex-lovers, who
then want to harass the victim because they failed
to satisfy their secret desires. Most of the
stalkers are men and victim female.
How do they Operate
The stalker may post this information on any website
related to sex-services or dating services, posing
as if the victim is posting this information and
invite the people to call the victim on her
telephone numbers to have sexual services. Stalker
even uses very filthy and obscene language to invite
the interested persons.
People of all kind from nook and corner of the
World, who come across this information, start
calling the victim at her residence and/or work
place, asking for sexual services or relationships.
Some stalkers subscribe the e-mail account of the
victim to innumerable pornographic and sex sites,
because of which victim starts receiving such kind
of unsolicited e-mails.
Some stalkers keep on sending repeated e-mails
asking for various kinds of favors or threaten the
victim.
In online stalking the stalker can make third party
to harass the victim.
Follow their victim from board to board. They
“hangout” on the same BB’s as their victim, many
times posting notes to the victim, making sure the
victim is aware that he/she is being followed. Many
times they will “flame” their victim (becoming
argumentative, insulting) to get their attention.
Stalkers will almost always make contact with their
victims through email. The letters may be loving,
threatening, or sexually explicit. He will many
times use multiple names when contacting the victim.
Contact victim via telephone. If the stalker is able
to access the victims telephone, he will many times
make calls to the victim to threaten, harass, or
intimidate them.
Track the victim to his/her home.
Definition of Cyberstalking?
Although there is no universally accepted definition
of cyberstalking, the term is used in this report to
refer to the use of the Internet, e-mail, or other
electronic communications devices to stalk another
person. Stalking generally involves harassing or
threatening behavior that an individual engages in
repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at
a person’s home or place of business, making
harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or
objects, or vandalizing a person’s property. 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.
Nature and Extent of Cyberstalking
An
existing problem aggravated by new technology
Although online harassment and threats can take many
forms, cyberstalking shares important
characteristics with offline stalking. Many stalkers
– online or off – are motivated by a desire to exert
control over their victims and engage in similar
types of behavior to accomplish this end. As with
offline stalking, the available evidence (which is
largely anecdotal) suggests that the majority of
cyberstalkers are men and the majority of their
victims are women, although there have been reported
cases of women cyberstalking men and of same-sex
cyberstalking. In many cases, the cyberstalker and
the victim had a prior relationship, and the
cyberstalking begins when the victim attempts to
break off the relationship. However, there also have
been many instances of cyberstalking by strangers.
Given the enormous amount of personal information
available through the Internet, a cyberstalker can
easily locate private information about a potential
victim with a few mouse clicks or key strokes.
The
fact that cyberstalking does not involve physical
contact may create the misperception that it is more
benign than physical stalking. This is not
necessarily true. As the Internet becomes an ever
more integral part of our personal and professional
lives, stalkers can take advantage of the ease of
communications as well as increased access to
personal information. In addition, the ease of use
and non-confrontational, impersonal, and sometimes
anonymous nature of Internet communications may
remove disincentives to cyberstalking. Put another
way, whereas a potential stalker may be unwilling or
unable to confront a victim in person or on the
telephone, he or she may have little hesitation
sending harassing or threatening electronic
communications to a victim. Finally, as with
physical stalking, online harassment and threats may
be a prelude to more serious behavior, including
physical violence. |
