Cyber stalking
Hi there
With the coming of the electronic age and with more people getting onto the internet every day, so have the occurrences of cyber stalking.
Cyber stalking is the use of electronic means to stalk someone, stalking is usually harassing, intimidating or threatening behavior, in the real world its usually someone being followed or might be someone watching your house, constant phone calls or leaving messages on their answer phone.
Well most of these can be translated into online behavior, as people can be harassed in chat rooms or by email or via social networking sites such as myspace etc.
Cyber stalkers usually target people on chat rooms, bulletin boards or via social networking sites such as myspace etc, these kind of people are not easy to spot, so all the more reason to be careful who you talk to and give personal information out to on the net.
Victims of cyber stalking will in most cases not even realize they are being targeted, it’s usual for the stalker to become more intense and start sending repeated emails or instant messages, even emails with virus on.
It’s not unusual for cyber stalkers to post doctored defamatory pictures, or post defamatory information about their victims; these are designed to trigger a response from the victim.
Once they have got a reaction from someone, then it’s not unusual for this person to try to track their victim down, by trying to find their IP address or place or work or even where they live.
Cyber stalking can be a terrifying experience, as the victim has no idea why this is happening and has no relationship with the person doing the stalking. It can have psychological implications.
Cyber stalking Law Enforcement
The good news is that the police and other authorities are catching up fast on these offences, there is now a law in place in the UK, and under the Malicious Communications Act (1998) cyber stalking is now classed as a criminal offence.
Also some assistance can be found with your ISP or the website that the offence might have been committed.
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