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{{Short description|Use of the Internet as means of monitoring users' activities maliciously}}
'''Cyberstalking''' is the use of the ] or other electronic means to ] someone which may be a ] or ]. This term is used interchangeably with '''online harassment''' and '''online abuse'''.
{{redirect|Cyberstalker|the Lifetime TV film|Cyberstalker (film)}}
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'''Cyberstalking''' is the use of the ] or other electronic means to ] or ] an individual, group, or organization.<ref name="oxford">{{cite dictionary |title=Cyberstalking |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cyberstalking |dictionary=Oxford University Press |access-date=2013-12-10 |archive-date=2016-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614113108/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cyberstalking |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Reyns |first1=Bradford W. |last2=Henson |first2=Billy |last3=Fisher |first3=Bonnie S. |date=2011-09-21 |title=Being Pursued Online: Applying Cyberlifestyle–Routine Activities Theory to Cyberstalking Victimization |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0093854811421448 |journal=Criminal Justice and Behavior |language=en |volume=38 |issue=11 |pages=1149–1169 |doi=10.1177/0093854811421448 |s2cid=143775040 |issn=0093-8548}}</ref> It may include ], ], ] and ]. It may also include ], ], threats, ], solicitation for sex, ], or ].<ref name="oxford" /> These unwanted behaviors are perpetrated online and cause intrusion into an individual's digital life as well as negatively impact a victim's ] and emotional well-being, as well as their sense of safety and security online. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Chanelle |last2=Sheridan |first2=Lorraine |last3=Garratt-Reed |first3=David |date=2021 |title=What is Cyberstalking? A Review of Measurements |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260520985489 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |language=en |volume=37 |issue=11-12 |pages=NP9763–NP9783 |doi=10.1177/0886260520985489 |issn=0886-2605}}</ref>
A cyberstalker does not present a direct physical threat to a victim, but follows the victim's online activity to gather information and make threats or other forms of verbal intimidation. The anonymity of online interaction reduces the chance of identification and makes cyberstalking more common than physical stalking. Although cyberstalking might seem relatively harmless, it can cause victims psychological and emotional harm, and occasionally leads to actual stalking.


Cyberstalking is often accompanied by realtime or offline ].<ref name="gregorystalk">{{cite journal |last1=Spitzberg |first1=Brian H. |last2=Hoobler |first2=Gregory |title=Cyberstalking and the technologies of interpersonal terrorism |journal=New Media & Society |date=February 2002 |volume=4 |series=1 |pages=71–92 |url=http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~bsavatar/articles/Cyberstalking-NM&S02.pdf |access-date=14 June 2011 |doi=10.1177/14614440222226271 |s2cid=27102356 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114131647/http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~bsavatar/articles/Cyberstalking-NM%26S02.pdf |archive-date=14 January 2012 }}</ref> In many jurisdictions, such as ], both are criminal offenses.<ref name="digharass">{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Kevin|title=Tougher California laws protect victims of digital harassment|url=http://www.sgvtribune.com/technology/20160209/tougher-california-laws-protect-victims-of-digital-harassment|access-date=3 July 2017|publisher=San Gabriel Valley Tribune|date=2 September 2016}}</ref> Both are motivated by a desire to control, intimidate or influence a victim.<ref> Crime research</ref> A stalker may be an online stranger or a person whom the target knows. They may be anonymous and solicit involvement of other people online who do not even know the target.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-10-18|title=Cyberstalkers: Tools, Tactics and Threats|url=https://www.uscybersecurity.net/cyberstalkers/|access-date=2021-09-04|website=United States Cybersecurity Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref>
Cyberstalking is becoming a common tactic in ], and other expressions of ] and ].


Cyberstalking is a criminal offense under various state anti-stalking, ] and ] laws. A conviction can result in a restraining order, probation, or criminal penalties against the assailant, including jail.
Cyberstalkers target and harass their victims via websites, chat rooms, discussion forums, ] websites (e.g. ] and ]) and email. The availability of free email and website space, as well as the anonymity provided by these chatrooms and forums, have contributed to the increase of cyberstalking as a form of harassment. Also contributing is that cyberstalking is as easy as doing a google search for someone's alias, real name, or email address.


Cyberstalking is often defined as unwanted behavior.
The first U.S. cyberstalking law went into effect in ] in ]. Other states include prohibition against cyberstalking in their harassment or ] legislation. In ], HB 479 was introduced in ] to ban cyberstalking. This was signed into law on ]. The crime of cyberstalking is defined in Florida Statutes 784.048(1)(d) which is one of most strict of such laws in the ]. However, 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 ] 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.


== Definitions and description ==
The seriousness of the publishing of private persons participating in chatrooms on the Internet was brought to the forefront by the ] slaying of the entire family of ] of ], who was known for opposing certain ] beliefs with the suspicion that the murders were related to the publishing of private information about this family.
{{See also|Doxing|Cyberbullying}}
{{law-stub}}
There have been a number of attempts by experts and legislators to define cyberstalking. It is generally understood to be the use of the ] or other electronic means to ] or ] an individual, a group, or an organization.<ref name="oxford"/> Cyberstalking is a form of ]; the terms are often used interchangeably in the media. Both may include ], ], ] and ].<ref name="gregorystalk" />


Cyberstalking may also include monitoring, ], threats, vandalism, solicitation for sex, or gathering information that may be used to threaten or harass. Cyberstalking is often accompanied by real-time or offline stalking.<ref name="gregorystalk" /> Both forms of stalking may be criminal offenses.<ref name="digharass" />
==Gang Stalking, Privacy Laws, & Abuse of Web Resources==


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 defines cyberstalking as perpetrated by someone without a current relationship with the victim. About the abusive effects of cyberstalking, he writes that:
The designation '''gang stalking''' was officially recognzied by the to denote an emerging class of collective behavior (e.g. mobs, riots, crowds) in which corporate shills and industry stakeholders collaborate to harass or defame individuals whose unconventional wisdom or criticism ruffles pride or threatens material interests (see Eleanor White's for frequently asked questions).
<blockquote> 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).<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://boalt.org/CCLR/v3/v3royakkers.PDF|author=Lambèr Royakkers|title=The Dutch Approach to Stalking Laws|journal=California Criminal Law Review|volume=3|date=October 2000|access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107054658/http://boalt.org/CCLR/v3/v3royakkers.PDF|archive-date=7 November 2013}}</ref></blockquote>


=== Distinguishing cyberstalking from other acts ===
Since the enfranchisement of the term, gang stalking has been most frequently noted in reference to cooperative networking among anonymous and technically skilled individuals within unmoderated Usenet news groups.
There is a distinction between ] and cyber-stalking. Research has shown that actions that can be perceived to be harmless as a one-off can be considered to be trolling, whereas if it is part of a persistent campaign then it can be considered stalking.


{| class="wikitable sortable"
The keyword "gang stalking" now draws over 50,000 results in a Google Web search.
|-
! TM !! Motive !! Mode !! Gravity !! Description
|-
| 1 || Playtime || Cyber-bantering|| Cyber-trolling || In the moment and quickly regret
|-
| 2|| Tactical || Cyber-trickery || Cyber-trolling || In the moment but do not regret and continue
|-
| 3 || Strategic || Cyber-bullying || '''Cyber-stalking''' || Go out of way to cause problems, but without a sustained and planned long-term campaign
|-
| 4 || Domination || Cyber-hickery|| '''Cyber-stalking''' || Goes out of the way to create rich media to target one or more specific individuals
|}


Cyberstalking author Alexis Moore separates cyberstalking from identity theft, which is financially motivated.<ref name="alexismooreaboutcyber"/> Her definition, which was also used by the ] in their legal description, is as follows:<ref name="govphilippinescyberstalking"/>
==Usenet as Stalking Environment==
{{blockquote|Cyberstalking is a technologically-based "attack" on one person who has been targeted specifically for that attack for reasons of anger, revenge or control. Cyberstalking can take many forms, including:
#harassment, embarrassment and humiliation of the victim
#emptying bank accounts or other economic control such as ruining the victim's ]
#harassing family, friends and employers to isolate the victim
#scare tactics to instill fear and more<ref name = "alexismooreaboutcyber">{{cite news
| title = What is cyberstalking?
| first = Alexis A.
| last = Moore
| url = http://womensissues.about.com/od/violenceagainstwomen/f/Cyberstalking.htm
| publisher = ]
| access-date = 2014-01-12
| archive-date = 2016-05-05
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160505082905/http://womensissues.about.com/od/violenceagainstwomen/f/Cyberstalking.htm
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}


=== Identification and detection ===
According to Google, Usenet network of news groups is the world's largest and most decentralized collection of forums. Nearly every Internet Service Provider links to Usenet (some under their own branding); consequently, a message in these news groups bearing your name will not only rank prominently in the results of a Google/Yahoo search of your name, but also rank more highly than authoritative Web sites containing references to your name.
] has written about how to identify cyberstalking:<ref name=Bocij9>{{cite book |author=Paul Bocij |title=Cyberstalking: Harassment in the Internet Age and How to Protect Your Family |publisher=Praeger |year=2004 |pages=9–10}}</ref>


<blockquote>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: ], premeditation, repetition, ], ], ], no legitimate purpose, personally directed, disregarded warnings to stop, ] and ].</blockquote>
For this reason, Usenet is an environment attractive to individuals who want to manage how an adversary is seen through the eyes of a search engine. The most notable case of search engine vandalism is the case of Brad Jesness. The Google Web Search on his name () reveals 12,200 results, over 80 percent of which are anti-Jesness dossiers, messages, and even domains registered to bear his own name for optimal search engine placement.


A number of key factors have been identified in cyberstalking:
Usenet also supports anonymity in ways other Web-based forums do not. Not only do more than 95 percent of contributors to Usenet use aliases, but 95 percent of contributors use tools (i.e. anonymous remailers and public posting services) that conceal data identifying the location of their personal computer. This fact alone means that contributors to Usenet are not only anonymous, but also untraceable.
{{expand list|date=June 2014}}
* ]: 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 Misplaced Pages or ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jahitchcock.com/cyberstalked/skippress.htm |title=Fighting Cyberstalking |publisher=ComputerEdge Online |author=Skip Press |access-date=2013-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028014650/http://www.jahitchcock.com/cyberstalked/skippress.htm |archive-date=October 28, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Violence & Domestic Abuse - Stalking |url=http://www.thewomenscenter.org/content.asp?contentid=555 |publisher=The Women's Center |access-date=2013-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213210301/http://www.thewomenscenter.org/content.asp?contentid=555 |archive-date=2013-12-13 }}</ref>
* Monitoring their target's online activities and attempting to trace their ] in an effort to gather more information about their victims.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1076 |title=An exploration of predatory behavior in cyberspace: Towards a typology of cyberstalkers |journal=First Monday |author1=Leroy McFarlane |author2=Paul Bocij |volume=8 |issue=9 |date=2003-09-01 |access-date=2013-11-29 |doi=10.5210/fm.v8i9.1076 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
* 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.
* ]: The cyberstalker will claim that the victim is harassing him or her. Bocij writes that this phenomenon has been noted in a number of well-known cases.<ref name="Bocij2004">{{cite book|last=Bocij|first=Paul|title=Cyberstalking: Harassment in the Internet Age and how to Protect Your Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8NZLBE0sm0C&pg=PA12|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-98118-1|pages=12–13}}</ref>
* Attacks on data and equipment: They may try to damage the victim's computer by sending ].
* Ordering goods and services: They order items or subscribe to magazines in the victim's name. These often involve subscriptions to ] 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.<ref name="Bocij2004"/>
* The posting of defamatory or derogatory statements: Using web pages and message boards to incite some response or reaction from their victim.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n20iKDP88kQC&q=A+number+of+key+factors+have+been+identified+in+cyberstalking:&pg=PA46|title=Bash the Stock Bashers!|first=John E.|last=Lux|date=25 July 2010|publisher=Eagle Point Publishing|access-date=1 May 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9781450728218}}</ref>


== Prevalence and impact ==
===Sci.Psychology.Psychotherapy News Group as Illustrative Case===
According to ''Law Enforcement Technology'', cyberstalking has increased with the growth of new technology and new ways to stalk victims. "Disgruntled employees pose as their bosses to post explicit messages on social network sites; spouses use GPS to track their mates' every move. Even police and prosecutors find themselves at risk, as gang members and other organized criminals find out where they live — often to intimidate them into dropping a case."<ref name="letechmagazinecyberstalking">{{cite news
| title = High-Tech Stalking
| first = Christa
| last = Miller
| url = http://www.officer.com/article/10233633/high-tech-stalking
| newspaper = Law Enforcement Technology
| publisher = Officer.com
| date = April 30, 2009
| access-date = 12 January 2014
}}</ref>


In January 2009, the ] in the United States released the study "Stalking Victimization in the United States," which was sponsored by the ]. The report, based on supplemental data from the ], showed that one in four stalking victims had been cyberstalked as well, with the perpetrators using internet-based services such as email, instant messaging, GPS, or spyware. The final report stated that approximately 1.2 million victims had stalkers who used technology to find them.<ref name="letechmagazinecyberstalking"/> The ] (RAINN), in ] has released statistics that there are 3.4 million stalking victims each year in the United States. Of those, one in four reported experiencing cyberstalking.<ref name="timestracking">{{cite news
The unmoderated Usenet news group had been chartered for use by mental health delivery professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage/family counselors, social workers, etc.) as well as students of therapy and therapy clientele for discussion of psychological disorders (e.g., depression, eating disorder), broad approaches to treatment (e.g., psychodynamic, Rogerian), and specific interventions recognized by the academic or professional community. It is discussed here as an illustrative case, but in no way is the phenomenon of cyberstalking, a pervasive and enduring trait of Usenet, confined to this one news group. An empirical survey of its contents revealed that over 90 percent of messages in this news group not only fail to address psychotherapy or science, but that no less than 90 percent of the messages submitted over any temporal unit of analysis (i.e. month, year, 8-year period) are ] designed to incite anger in another. It is discussed here as an illustrative case because while one would expect cyberstalking to originate in news groups created to serve as flame communities (e.g. alt.flame, alt.fucknozzle, and alt.brad.jesness.die.die.die), one would not expect that perhaps the single most remarkable hotbed of cyberstalking is a psychotherapy news group to which many psychology department web sites blindly link. One would also not expect academics and practitioners to participate in the cyberstalking.
| title = Criminals use technology to track victims
| first = Tom
| last = Smith
| url = http://www.timesdaily.com/archives/article_4ff0ea3e-4f84-5888-bdc7-b41c03ac9434.html
| newspaper = ]
| date = February 28, 2010
| access-date = 2014-01-12
}}</ref>


According to Robin M. Kowalski, a social psychologist at ], cyberbullying has been shown to cause higher levels of anxiety and depression for victims than normal bullying. Kowalksi states that much of this stems from the anonymity of the perpetrators, which is a common feature of cyberstalking as well. According to a study by Kowalksi, of 3,700 bullied middle-school students, a quarter had been subjected to a form of online harassment.<ref name="huffposthorro"/>
Sci.psychology.psychotherapy quickly evolved into a living laboratory of social phenomenon ranging from witless zinging to libel to severe-to-profound cyberstalking.


== Types ==
The forum galvanized considerable interest in collective behavior, Internet crime, and ] with special attention paid to the magnitude and variety of mischievous acts that are achieved when a gang of anonymous digerati use Internet services to assume control of specific individuals, from what these individuals do on the Web to how they are perceived through the eyes of a search engine.
=== Stalking by strangers ===
According to Joey Rushing, a District Attorney of ], there is no single definition of a cyberstalker - they can be either strangers to the victim or have a former/present relationship. " come in all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds. They patrol Web sites looking for an opportunity to take advantage of people."<ref name="timestracking"/>


=== Gender-based stalking ===
The stalking often off-roads into the material life of the targets, disrupting business affairs, soliciting aggression against targets at disseminated residential address, and dragging associates and family into the defamation as a means of intimidating the target and estranging him or her from sources of support.
Harassment and stalking because of gender online, also known as ], is common, and can include rape threats<ref>K.K. Cole (2015). "It's Like She's Eager to be Verbally Abused": Twitter, Trolls, and (En) Gendering Disciplinary Rhetoric. Feminist Media Studies, 15(2), 356-358.</ref> and other threats of violence, as well as the posting of the victim's personal information.<ref>R.S. Mathews, S. Aghili, D. Lindskog (2013) .</ref> It is blamed for limiting victims' activities online or driving them offline entirely, thereby impeding their participation in online life and undermining their autonomy, dignity, identity, and opportunities.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Citron |first=Danielle Keats |title=Law's Expressive Value in Combating Cyber Gender Harassment |journal=Michigan Law Review |date=October 2009 |volume=108 |page=373 |ssrn=1352442 }}</ref>


=== Of intimate partners ===
==Relationship to Gang Activity==
Cyberstalking of intimate partners is the online harassment of a current or former romantic partner. It is a form of ], and experts say its purpose is to control the victim in order to encourage social isolation and create dependency. Harassers may send repeated insulting or threatening e-mails to their victims, monitor or disrupt their victims' e-mail use, and use the victim's account to send e-mails to others posing as the victim or to purchase goods or services the victim does not want. They may also use the Internet to research and compile personal information about the victim, to use in order to harass him or her.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Southworth |first1=Cynthia |last2=Finn |first2=Jerry |last3=Dawson |first3=Shawndell |last4=Fraser |first4=Cynthia |last5=Tucker |first5=Sarah |s2cid=21299375 |title=Intimate Partner Violence, Technology, and Stalking |year=2007 |volume=13 |series=8 |issue=8 |pages=842–856 |doi=10.1177/1077801207302045 |journal=Violence Against Women |pmid=17699114}}</ref>


=== Of celebrities and public persons ===
While the concept of gangs traditionally refers to low socioeconomic and minority youth, the leadership of cyberstalking gangs in Usenet may include academics, practitioners, digerati (e.g. hackers, network administrators), and corporate shills, who facilitate and inform the labor of non-degree holding supplicants and belligerents with criminal and/or psychiatric histories. For example, gang members in sci.psychology.psychotherapy include a doctoral candidate in cognitive psychology, a 61-year-old forensic psychologist who once served a term of office on his state's board of psychology examiners, an academic who resigned his position, the author of a chapter for a bestselling book about Google hacking, the director of a mental health day treatment center, and the owner of a now defunct spam blocking company.
Profiling of stalkers shows that almost always they stalk someone they know or, via ], think they know, as is the case with stalkers of ] or public persons in which the stalkers feel they know the celebrity even though the celebrity does not know them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.baddteddy.com/stalkers/stalker.htm |title=How to Put Stalkers in Jail |work=Baddteddy.com |author=<!-- Staff editor(s);no by-line --> |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719063043/http://www.baddteddy.com/stalkers/stalker.htm |archive-date=19 July 2013 }}</ref> As part of the risk they take for being in the public eye, celebrities and public figures are often targets of lies or made-up stories in tabloids as well as by stalkers, some even seeming to be fans.


In one noted case in 2011, actress ] quit ] after alleged cyberstalking. In her last post, Arquette explained that her security warned her Facebook friends to never accept friend requests from people they do not actually know. Arquette stressed that just because people seemed to be fans did not mean they were safe. The media issued a statement that Arquette planned to communicate with fans exclusively through her ] account in the future.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a344419/patricia-arquette-quits-facebook-after-alleged-cyberstalking.html |title=Patricia Arquette quits Facebook after alleged cyberstalking |author=Justin Harp |publisher=Digital Spy |date=7 October 2012 |access-date=10 December 2013}}</ref>
Like traditional gangs, Usenet-based gangs are engaged in wars for the purpose of controlling turf, with "turf" in this context denoting the public reputation of a community / organization. Since Usenet is the ultimate environment for free speech (i.e. public and unmoderated with no ownership or oversight), the gang serves as a mechanism of mob rule, harassing and defaming what it cannot control through conventional moderation and censorship.


=== By anonymous online mobs ===
The gang in sci.psychology.psychotherapy (SPP) assumed control of SPP and often demands certain people cease contributing to the news group. The targets are usually individuals who express either (a) unconventional wisdom, (b) criticism of an institution or community in which the gangmembers claim membership (e.g. Psychology), or (c) views based on original research or single-source reflection and presented with a passionate or idiosyncratic style that appears to put the messenger at the center. Therefore, most attacks cite as justification for stalking campaigns the messenger's individuality, arrogance, or narcissism.
{{See also|Networked harassment}}


] technologies have enabled online groups of anonymous people to self-organize to target individuals with online defamation, threats of violence and technology-based attacks. These include publishing lies and doctored photographs, threats of rape and other violence, posting sensitive personal information about victims, e-mailing damaging statements about victims to their employers, and manipulating search engines to make damaging material about the victim more prominent.<ref name="Lipika">{{cite web | url=https://www.znetlive.com/blog/web-2-0/ | title=What is a Web 2.0 technology? |date=13 May 2016 |access-date=17 December 2018 | author= Lipika}}</ref> Victims frequently respond by adopting pseudonyms or going offline entirely.<ref name="citron61">{{cite journal |last=Citron |first=Danielle Keats |title=Cyber Civil Rights |journal=Boston University Law Review |date=February 2009 |volume=89 |series=61 |pages=61–125 |url=http://128.197.26.3/law/central/jd/organizations/journals/bulr/volume89n1/documents/CITRON.pdf |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101180456/http://128.197.26.3/law/central/jd/organizations/journals/bulr/volume89n1/documents/CITRON.pdf |archive-date=1 November 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
The gangs coordinate their abuse of search engines, domain registrars, and other organized bodies of knowledge (e.g. Amazon.com customer book review / Misplaced Pages) to assume control of the way the target is viewed on the Internet. Gang members divide labor to satisfy a full range of objectives, with some members portraying a victim in a '''comically false and unflattering light'''. The mythology of frivolous failure is invoked, with references to a victim ranging from friend-less hamburger flippers to unemployed pedophiles. By contrast, other gang members (or the same gang member on another day) portray the same victim in a '''controversial light''', as a material threat or risk to the public interest (for the purpose of mobilizing stakeholders and service providers to harass and sanction the victim).


Experts attribute the destructive nature of anonymous online mobs to ], saying that groups with homogeneous views tend to become more extreme. As members reinforce each others' beliefs, they fail to see themselves as individuals and lose a sense of personal responsibility for their destructive acts. In doing so they dehumanize their victims, becoming more aggressive when they believe they are supported by authority figures. Internet service providers and website owners are sometimes blamed for not speaking out against this type of harassment.<ref name="citron61" />
The image the gang in sci.psychology.psychotherapy manages for its victims and for the Usenet populace is in part reflected by the menacing nature of their aliases: (Indian Death Goddess), Reaper, (AKA Taylor Jimenez), Hooded Man, , (AKA Profiler, Body Snatcher), Ghoul, , , Fyre & Sulphur, and Satan.


A notable example of online mob harassment was the experience of American ] and blogger ]. In 2007 a group of anonymous individuals attacked Sierra, threatening her with rape and strangulation, publishing her home address and ] number, and posting doctored photographs of her. Frightened, Sierra cancelled her speaking engagements and shut down her blog, writing "I will never feel the same. I will never be the same."<ref name="citron61" />
Many of these aliases were adopted by mental health practitioners or academics who had been accustomed at one time to posting under their given names, some of whom have been omitted from the list above for transient activity, including a consultant to California school districts (who abandoned the gang 7 years ago), a British psychologist, and a therapist convicted for unlawful sexual contact with his patient's 9-year-old son.


=== Corporate cyberstalking ===
A competency model for cyberstalkers as well as a character analysis of individual stalkers and a discussion of strategic partnerships and divisions of labor are presented in reports titled and .
Corporate cyberstalking is when a company harasses an individual online, or an individual or group of individuals harasses an organization.<ref name="Paul 2002">{{cite journal |title=Corporate Cyberstalking |journal=First Monday |url=http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1002/923 |volume=7 |issue=11 |date=4 November 2002 |author=Paul Bocij |doi=10.5210/fm.v7i11.1002 |issn=1396-0466 |access-date=10 December 2013 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Motives for corporate cyberstalking are ideological, or include a desire for financial gain or revenge.<ref name="Paul 2002" />


== Perpetrators ==
==Gang Stalking Tools & Tactics==
=== Motives and profile ===
Mental profiling of digital criminals has identified psychological and social factors that motivate stalkers as: ]; pathological obsession (professional or sexual); unemployment or failure with own job or life; intention to intimidate and cause others to feel inferior; the stalker is ] and believes they "know" the target; the stalker wants to instill fear in a person to justify his/her status; belief they can get away with it (anonymity); intimidation for financial advantage or business competition; revenge over perceived or imagined rejection.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/cyberstalking/3.html |title=Cyber-Stalking: Obsessional Pursuit and the Digital Criminal |author=Wayne Petherick |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209045152/http://trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/cyberstalking/3.html |archive-date=9 February 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://quitstalkingme.com/2011/07/28/ten-reasons-why-someone-is-stalking-you-online/ |title=Ten Reasons Why Someone is Stalking You Online |work=Quitstalkingme.com |author=Quit Stalking Me<!-- that's their username, apparently --> |date=28 July 2011 |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212185517/http://quitstalkingme.com/2011/07/28/ten-reasons-why-someone-is-stalking-you-online/ |archive-date=12 December 2013 }}</ref>


;Four types of cyberstalkers
===Data Democratization and the Personal Information Search Engines===
Preliminary work by Leroy McFarlane and Paul Bocij has identified four types of cyberstalkers: the vindictive cyberstalkers noted for the ferocity of their attacks; the composed cyberstalker whose motive is to annoy; the intimate cyberstalker who attempts to form a relationship with the victim but turns on them if rebuffed; and collective cyberstalkers, groups with a motive.<ref name=Types>
{{cite journal |author=Leroy McFarlane, Paul Bocij |title=An exploration of predatory behaviour in cyberspace: Towards a typology of cyberstalkers |journal=First Monday |date=1 September 2003 |volume=8 |issue=9 |url=http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1076/996 |quote=A typology of cyberstalkers was developed. |doi=10.5210/fm.v8i9.1076 |issn=1396-0466 |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404163913/http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1076/996 |archive-date=4 April 2012 |df=dmy-all |doi-access=free }}
</ref> According to Antonio Chacón Medina, author of ''Una nueva cara de Internet, El acoso'' ("A new face of the Internet: stalking"), the general profile of the harasser is cold, with little or no respect for others. The stalker is a predator who can wait patiently until vulnerable victims appear, such as women or children, or may enjoy pursuing a particular person, whether personally familiar to them or unknown. The harasser enjoys and demonstrates their power to pursue and psychologically damage the victim.<ref name="Una nueva cara de Internet, El acoso, Antonio Chacón Medina, UGR">{{cite web |url=http://www.acosomoral.org/pdf/Art_NUEVA_CARA_INTERNET_ACOSO_ETIC@NET_2003.pdf |title=Una nueva cara de Internet |year=2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122095139/http://www.acosomoral.org/pdf/Art_NUEVA_CARA_INTERNET_ACOSO_ETIC%40NET_2003.pdf |archive-date=November 22, 2007 |language=es |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 29, 2010 }}</ref>


=== Behaviors ===
Companies referring to themselves as personal information search engines began making your personal information available over the Internet near the turn of the millenium. They are empowered by federal law and accorded the status of an industry. Senator Warner (R-VA) disclosed that the U.S. government allows the industry to "regulate itself" (personal communication, 2002), prompting arguments by privacy rights advocates that cyberstalking must also be considered an industry. And now with a few clicks of the button, you can dredge anyone's current address, address history, criminal background, magazine subscriptions, and the identities of anyone with whom they ever shared a domicile (e.g. family).
Cyberstalkers find their victims by using ]s, online forums, bulletin and discussion boards, ]s, and more recently, through ] sites,<ref>{{cite web|last=Pikul |first=Corrie |url=http://www.elle.com/Life-Love/Sex-Relationships/Confessions-of-a-Facebook-Stalker |title=Confessions of a Facebook Stalker |publisher=Elle.com |date=19 August 2010 |access-date=2011-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623065605/http://www.elle.com/Life-Love/Sex-Relationships/Confessions-of-a-Facebook-Stalker |archive-date=23 June 2011 }}</ref> such as ], ], ], ], ], and ], a media outlet known for self-publishing. They may engage in live chat harassment or ] or they may send electronic viruses and unsolicited e-mails.<ref name="cyber_1">{{cite web|year=2003|title=Cyberstalking|url=http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32458|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040617175754/http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32458|archive-date=17 June 2004|publisher=The National Center For Victims of Crime}}</ref> Cyberstalkers may research individuals to feed their obsessions and curiosity. Conversely, the acts of cyberstalkers may become more intense, such as repeatedly instant messaging their targets.<ref name="Stalking by IM">{{cite journal|last=Howes|first=Oliver D.|date=September 2006|title=Compulsions in Depression: Stalking by Text Message|url=http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=97035|url-status=live|journal=The American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=163|issue=9|page=1642|doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.163.9.1642|pmid=16946195|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113034833/http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=97035|archive-date=2013-01-13}}</ref> More commonly they will post defamatory or derogatory statements about their stalking target on web pages, message boards, and in guest books designed to get a reaction or response from their victim, thereby initiating contact.<ref name="cyber_1" /> In some cases, they have been known to create ]s in the name of the victim containing defamatory or pornographic content.


When prosecuted, many stalkers have unsuccessfully attempted to justify their behavior based on their use of public forums, as opposed to direct contact. Once they get a reaction from the victim, they will typically attempt to track or follow the victim's internet activity. Classic cyberstalking behavior includes the tracing of the victim's ] in an attempt to verify their home or place of employment.<ref name="cyber_1" /> Some 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.<ref name="cyber_1" /> Moreover, many physical stalkers will use cyberstalking as another method of harassing their victims.<ref>{{cite web|title=Types of Stalkers and Stalking Patterns|url=http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/TypesofStalkers.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20060409174009/http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/TypesofStalkers.html|archive-date=2006-04-09|access-date=2013-12-10|work=Sexualharrassmentsupport.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/cyberstalking/2.html |title=Cyber-Stalking: Obsessional Pursuit and the Digital Criminal |work=CrimeLibrary.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831232627/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/cyberstalking/2.html |archive-date=2006-08-31 }}</ref>
All at a click of a button. All in the name of data democratization. The growth of this industry resulted in greater awareness, accessibility, and affordability of these cyberdredging tools, as these businesses promote themselves in ads and lower prices to compete for your profits.


A 2007 study led by Paige Padgett from the ] Health Science Center found that there was a false degree of safety assumed by women looking for love online.<ref>{{cite news|author=Bonnie Zylbergold|title=Look Who's Googling: New acquaintances and secret admirers may already know all about you|work=National Sexuality Resource Center|publisher=American Sexuality Magazine|url=http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/MagArticle.cfm?Article=748|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070618093344/http://www.nsrc.sfsu.edu/MagArticle.cfm?Article=748|archive-date=June 18, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal <!--oldurl=http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/srsp.2007.4.2.27-->|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1525%2Fsrsp.2007.4.2.27 |title=Personal Safety and Sexual Safety for Women Using Online Personal Ads |author=Paige M. Padgett |journal=Sexuality Research and Social Policy: National Sexuality Resource Center |date=June 2007 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=27–37 |doi=10.1525/srsp.2007.4.2.27}} {{link note|note=Abstract only; full text requires subscription}}</ref>
The price tag is further mollified when distributed among gang members. A very abridged list of companies representing this industry includes US SEARCH.com Inc., Intelius, Zaba Search, Maverick Internet Ventures, Inc., and Confi-chek, Inc.


== Cyberstalking legislation ==
====No Simple Way to Restore Privacy====
{{Main|Cyberstalking legislation}}
Having your telephone number unlisted does not mean your telephone number is not available to the public. This is the single biggest misconception people have about having an unlisted number. Un-listing your telephone number simply keeps it out of directory assistance and white pages.
Legislation on cyberstalking varies from country to country. Cyberstalking and cyberbullying are relatively new phenomena, but that does not mean that crimes committed through the network are not punishable under legislation drafted for that purpose. Although there are often existing laws that prohibit stalking or harassment in a general sense, legislators sometimes believe that such laws are inadequate or do not go far enough, and thus bring forward new legislation to address this perceived shortcoming. The point overlooked is that enforcing these laws can be a challenge in these virtual communities. The reason being, these issues are very unique to law enforcement agencies who have never faced cases related to cyberstalking.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=King|first=Ruby|date=2017-05-01|title=Digital Domestic Violence: Are Victims of Intimate Partner Cyber Harassment|journal=Victoria University of Wellington Law Review|volume=48|issue=1|pages=29–54|doi=10.26686/vuwlr.v48i1.4770|issn=1171-042X|doi-access=free}}</ref> In the ], for example, nearly every state has laws that address cyberstalking, cyberbullying, or both.<ref>{{cite web|last=Legislatures|first=National Conference of State|title=Legislative News, Studies and Analysis - National Conference of State Legislatures|url=http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13495|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613030037/http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13495|archive-date=June 13, 2009|access-date=27 March 2018|website=www.ncsl.org}}</ref>


In countries such as the US, in practice, there is little legislative difference between the concepts of "cyberbullying" and "cyberstalking." The primary distinction is one of age; if adults are involved, the act is usually termed ''],'' while among children it is usually referred to as ''].'' However, as there have not been any formal definitions of the terms, this distinction is one of semantics and many laws treat ''bullying'' and ''stalking'' as much the same issue.<ref>H. A. Hosani, M. Yousef, S. A. Shouq, F. Iqbal and D. Mouheb, "A Comparative Analysis of Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking Laws in the UAE, US, UK and Canada," ''2019 IEEE/ACS 16th International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA)'', Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2019, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/AICCSA47632.2019.9035368.</ref>
Many personal information search engines contain useful information on their Web sites, but faxing or mailing the proof of identity required to opt of out of all these services is like trying to use ten fingers to plug fifty holes (and counting) in a dam. The search engine staffers caution that the only effective means to keep yourself out of these databases is to submit a change of address form at your local post office to forward all personal correspondence and bills to a post office box.


=== Australia ===
A survey of personal information search engines revealed that only 70 percent provided, without significant arm twisting, information to people requesting procedures for opting out of the database.
In ], the Stalking Amendment Act (1999) includes the use of any form of technology to harass a target as forms of "criminal stalking."


=== Canada ===
====A Treasure Trove of Personal Data====
In 2012, there was a high-profile investigation into the death of ], a young Canadian student who had been blackmailed and stalked online before committing suicide. The ] were criticized in the media for not naming one of her alleged stalkers as a person of interest.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hoffberger |first=Chase |url=http://www.dailydot.com/news/daily-capper-amanda-todd-kody-viper/ |title="The Daily Capper" exposes alleged culprit in Amanda Todd suicide |publisher=The Daily Dot |date=13 November 2012 |access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref>
Moreover, information considered public (and therefore fair game for personal information search engines) includes telephone numbers, household demographics, street addresses, church and school alumni directory information, birth notices, death notices, marriage notices, social security numbers, and maiden name of maternal parent. Only medical records, employment records, tax returns, and personal financial records are protected by law.


=== Philippines ===
===Google, Yahoo, and The Search Engines===
In the Fifteenth Congress of the ], a cyberstalking bill was introduced by Senator ]. The result was to "urge the Senate Committees on Science and Technology, and Public Information and Mass Media to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the increasing occurrence of cyber stalking cases and the modus operandi adopted in the internet to perpetuate crimes with the end in view of formulating legislation and policy measures geared towards curbing cyber stalking and other cyber crimes and protect online users in the country."<ref name="govphilippinescyberstalking">{{cite news
| title = Cyberstalking Bill: Introduced by Senator Villar
| url = http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/95988070!.pdf
| publisher = Fifteenth Congress of the Republic of the Philippines
| access-date = 2014-01-12
}}</ref>


=== United States ===
Privacy rights advocate Tim Johnsey recently posed an interesting question: "Have we lost our right to fuss about wiretapping and the Patriot Act if we support search engines like Google that represent a more proven and pervasive threat to the privacy of our citizenry?" Search engines like Google offer average citizens a way of spying on their neighbors by allowing not only a search of a person's name, but more importantly, of a person's e-mail addresses and computer source address (i.e. IP address).
==== History, current legislation ====
Cyberstalking is a ] under American anti-stalking, ], and ] laws.


A conviction can result in a ], ], or criminal penalties against the assailant, including jail.<ref>{{Cite web|title=18 U.S. Code § 2261(b)|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2261|url-status=live|website=Legal Information Institute|language=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221235019/http://www.law.cornell.edu:80/uscode/text/18/2261 |archive-date=2012-02-21 }}</ref> Cyberstalking specifically has been addressed in recent U.S. federal law. For example, the ], passed in 2000, made cyberstalking a part of the federal interstate stalking statute.<ref name="cyber_1" /> The current US Federal Anti-Cyber-Stalking law is found at {{UnitedStatesCode|47|223}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/47usc223.htm |title=Cybertelecom :: 47 USC 233 |publisher=Cybertelecom |access-date=2013-12-10}}</ref>
The most effective demonstration of the damage that can be inflicted on a victim through Googling is presented in this report by a social psychologist.


Still, there remains a lack of federal legislation to specifically address cyberstalking, leaving the majority of legislative at the state level.<ref name="cyber_1" /> A few states have both stalking and harassment statutes that criminalize threatening and unwanted electronic communications.<ref>{{cite web|title=Working to Halt Online Abuse|url=http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws|website=Working to Halt Online Abuse}}</ref> The first anti-stalking law was enacted in California in 1990, and while all fifty states soon passed anti-stalking laws, by 2009 only 14 of them had laws specifically addressing "high-tech stalking."<ref name="letechmagazinecyberstalking"/> The first U.S. cyberstalking law went into effect in 1999 in ].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Miller|first1=Greg|last2=Maharaj|first2=Davan|date=Jan 22, 1999|title=N. Hollywood Man Charged in 1st Cyber-Stalking Case|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-22-mn-523-story.html}}</ref> 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, such as in their harassment or stalking legislation.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}
And the most damaging aspect of these search engines could not have been more effectively summarized than by a cyberstalker in the unmoderated Usenet news group sci.psychology.psychotherapy: "He who controls Google, controls the world." Cyberstalkers seek to control how their targets are viewed by the world through the eyes of a search engine. A few simple procedures ensures a complete monopoly over the image of an enemy ...


Sentences can range from 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine for a fourth-degree charge to ten years in prison and a $150,000 fine for a second-degree charge.<ref>{{cite web|title=Doxing What to look for. How to prevent it|first=Stuart |last=Blessman |year=2016 |publisher=Officer.com|url=http://www.officer.com/article/12219040/doxing-and-law-enforcement-what-to-look-for-and-prevent}}</ref>
===Register a Domain Bearing Name of Victim===
Members of the cyberstalking gangs are fond of registering domains in the name of victims. If the victim's name is Joe Farrell, they may register joefarrell.com. This web site is guaranteed to rank highly in a Google or Yahoo search of the name "Joe Farrell."


; States with cyberstalking legislation
===Use the Double Level Protection of Go Daddy===
* ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] have included prohibitions against harassing electronic, computer or e-mail communications in their harassment legislation.
* ], ], ], ], and ], have incorporated electronically communicated statements as conduct constituting stalking in their anti-stalking laws.
* ] enacted the ''Stalking by Electronic Communications Act'', 2001.
* ] revised its state harassment statutes to include stalking and harassment by telephone and electronic communications (as well as ]) after the ]. In one of the few cases where a cyberstalking conviction was obtained the cyberstalker was a woman, which is also much rarer that male cyberstalkers.<ref name="stltoday-cyber-bullying">{{cite news |url=http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/article_5bdf7463-45d7-500c-9e00-5420bcde5418.html |title=Blunt signs cyberbullying bill |last=Perry |first=Elizabeth |date=2 July 2008 |work=] |publisher=Stltoday.com |access-date=2011-06-18}}</ref> The conviction was overturned in on appeal in 2009 however.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/lori-drew-appeal/|title=Prosecutors Drop Plans to Appeal Lori Drew Case|last=Zetter|first=Kim|date=November 20, 2009|work=]}}</ref>
* In ], HB 479 was introduced in 2003 to ban cyberstalking. This was signed into law in October 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Fc3/cyberstalking.html |title=Florida Statute 784.048 |publisher=Florida Computer Crime Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205233057/http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Fc3/cyberstalking.html |archive-date=2007-02-05 }}</ref>


==== Age, legal limitations ====
Privacy advocates and stalking researchers are noticing an alarming spike in the number of abusive domains registered through domain registrar Go Daddy Software Inc. and protected through the privacy services of Go Daddy subsidiary Domains by Proxy. Domains by Proxy subsititutes its own corporate name, contact, and address information for the name, contact, and address information of the domain's true owner. Certified mail to the General Manager's Office of Domains by Proxy will trigger an arbitration, and Domains by Proxy will rescind its privacy services if the owner of the abusive domain does not comply with instructions to contact the complainant by a deadline. However, the rescinding of the proxy data will almost always reveal fraudulent data underneath.
While some laws only address online harassment of children, there are laws that protect adult cyberstalking victims. While some sites specialize in laws that protect victims age 18 and under, current and pending cyberstalking-related United States federal and state laws offer help to victims of all ages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/index.shtml |title=Current and pending cyberstalking-related United States federal and state laws |work=Working to Halt Online Abuse |access-date=2013-12-10 |archive-date=2018-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912164944/http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/index.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>


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 the alleged stalker's course of conduct constitute an implied threat. 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.<ref>{{cite web|date=August 1999|title=Cyberstalking: A New Challenge for Law Enforcement and Industry|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstalking.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100225045406/http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstalking.htm|archive-date=February 25, 2010|access-date=2013-11-29|work=Justice.gov|publisher=The United States Department of Justice}}</ref>
Extensive research revealed that Go Daddy Software Inc, which remains the registrar of the domain and curator of the fraudulent domain data, does not reply to complaints delievered through abuse@godaddy.com. Go Daddy customer service representatives verified that there are no telephone menu items for abuse or general correspondence (only for new sales and existing customers), and abuse@godaddy.com remains the only company-recognized mechanism for addressing issues of abuse.


Online identity stealth blurs the line on infringement of the rights of would-be victims to identify their perpetrators. There is a longstanding debate on how internet use can be traced to ensure safety without infringing on protected civil liberties.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Desai |first=Neil |last2= |date=July 19, 2017 |title=Balancing privacy and security in the digital age |url=https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2017/balancing-privacy-and-security-in-the-digital-age/ |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Levinson-Waldman |first=Rachel |last2=Panduranga |first2=Harsha |last3=Patel |first3=Faiza |date=January 7, 2022 |title=Social Media Surveillance by the U.S. Government |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/social-media-surveillance-us-government |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 13, 2014 |title=Internet users' privacy upheld by Canada's top court |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/internet-users-privacy-upheld-by-canada-s-top-court-1.2673823 |access-date=June 17, 2024 |work=]}}</ref>
Extensive research by private contractors revealed that the name of the individual listed as the owner of the domains is an alias and that, shortly after a complaint, the address listed in the domain data changed from a post office box in Tampa Florida to a post office box in Grover Beach, California.


==== Specific cases ====
Privacy advocates admonish against phoning the number in the abusive domain data to verify accuracy. The defamed complainant in this case did just that. The cyberstalker's caller ID captured the source of the incoming call, and reality was turned on its head when the cyberstalker passed off evidence of the phone call as "cyberstalking" in messages spamming multiple news groups.
There have been a number of high-profile legal cases in the United States related to cyberstalking, many of which have involved the suicides of young students.<ref name="huffposthorro">{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/alexis-pilkington-faceboo_n_512482.html |title=Alexis Pilkington Facebook Horror: Cyber Bullies Harass Teen Even After Suicide |date=25 May 2011 |access-date=2013-08-15|newspaper=Huffington Post }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20022556-504083.html |title=Samantha Kelly Bullied to Death: Mich. 14-Year-Old's Suicide Followed Harassment After Rape Claim - Crimesider |work=CBS News |date=11 November 2010 |author=Carlin Miller |access-date=2013-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725193942/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20022556-504083.html |archive-date=July 25, 2013 }}</ref> In thousands of other cases, charges either were not brought for the cyber harassment or were unsuccessful in obtaining convictions.<ref>{{cite web|author=Julia Dahl|date=12 April 2013|title=Audrie Pott, Rehtaeh Parsons suicides show sexual cyber-bullying is "pervasive" and "getting worse," expert says - Crimesider|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57579366-504083/audrie-pott-rehtaeh-parsons-suicides-show-sexual-cyber-bulling-is-pervasive-and-getting-worse-expert-says/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413031233/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57579366-504083/audrie-pott-rehtaeh-parsons-suicides-show-sexual-cyber-bulling-is-pervasive-and-getting-worse-expert-says/|archive-date=April 13, 2013|access-date=2013-12-10|work=CBS News}}</ref> As in all legal instances, much depends on public sympathy towards the victim, the quality of legal representation and other factors that can greatly influence the outcome of the crime – even if it will be considered a crime.<ref>{{cite web|author=Neil Katz|date=12 November 2010|title=Samantha Kelly, 14, Cyberbullied Even After Suicide - HealthPop|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20022676-10391704.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114040341/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20022676-10391704.html|archive-date=November 14, 2010|access-date=2013-08-15|work=CBS News}}</ref>


In the case of a fourteen-year-old student in Michigan, for instance, she pressed charges against her alleged rapist, which resulted in her being cyberstalked and cyberbullied by fellow students. After her suicide in 2010 all charges were dropped against the man who allegedly raped her, on the basis that the only witness was dead. This is the despite the fact that statutory rape charges could have been pressed.<ref>{{cite news |author=Mary M. Chapman |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/11/13/samantha-kelly-suicide-sex-miconduct-charges-dropped-as-an-alleged-assailant-walks-free.html |title=Samantha Kelly Suicide: Rape Charges Dropped, Mother Speaks Up |newspaper=The Daily Beast |date=13 November 2010 |access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref>
Researchers also characterized ICANN as a straw authority, reporting statements from representatives of ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) that ICANN has no power to enforce accurate domain data despite advertising a form through which complainants can report fraudulent domain data.


In another case of cyberstalking, college student ] secretly filmed his roommate's sexual liaison with another man, then posted it online. After the victim committed suicide,<ref>{{cite news|author=Frank Bruni|date=23 May 2012|title=More Thoughts on the Ravi/Clementi Case|work=The New York Times|url=http://bruni.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/more-thoughts-on-the-raviclementi-case/}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2013}} Ravi was convicted in of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in '']''. In 2012 he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, more than $11,000 in restitution and three years of probation. The judge ruled that he believes Ravi acted out of "colossal insensitivity, not hatred."<ref name=sentence>{{cite news|url=http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/dharun_ravi_sentenced_for_bias.html |title=Live blog: Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30 days in jail |publisher=NJ.com |date=2012-05-21 |access-date=2013-12-05}}</ref>
===Register & Cross-Link Multiple Domains===


=== Europe ===
If you are stalking someone named Joe Farrell and wish to follow procedures popularized by stalking Usenetters, you may want to add joefarrell.net, joefarrell.info, and other Joe Farrell extensions to your list of purchases. These domains can act as clones of the original .COM web site, and through hyperlinking can further ensure control of the first page of results of a Google search on "Joe Farrell." In addition, you would be depriving Joe Farrell of a means by which to compete for space on Google's "Joe Farrell billboard."
* ] – Stalking, including cyberstalking, was made a criminal offence under the Polish Criminal Code on 6 June 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.rp.pl/prawoipodatki/2011/06/14/stalking-w-polskim-prawie-karnym/ |title='Stalking' w polskim prawie karnym |trans-title='Stalking' in Polish criminal law |author=Piotr Wołkowicki |work=Blogi prawne i podatkowe |date=14 June 2011 |access-date=22 November 2013 |language=pl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501073500/http://blog.rp.pl/prawoipodatki/2011/06/14/stalking-w-polskim-prawie-karnym/ |archive-date=1 May 2015 }}</ref>
* ] – In Spain, it is possible to provide information about cyber-crime in an anonymous way to four safety bodies: Grupo de Delitos Telemáticos<ref>{{cite web|title=GDT - Grupo de Delitos Telemáticos|url=https://www.gdt.guardiacivil.es/webgdt/home_alerta.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129054040/https://www.gdt.guardiacivil.es/webgdt/home_alerta.php|archive-date=29 January 2011|access-date=1 May 2017|website=www.gdt.GuardiaCivil.es|language=es}}</ref> of the ] {{in lang|es}}, Brigada de Investigación Tecnológica<ref>{{cite web|title=Brigada de Investigación Tecnológica|url=http://www.policia.es/bit/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224025007/http://www.policia.es/bit/|archive-date=24 February 2008|access-date=1 May 2017|website=Policia.es|language=es}}</ref> of the ] {{in lang|es}}, ] in ], and ] in ]. It is also possible to provide information to a ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.protegeles.com/eng_index.asp |title=Protegeles |publisher=Protegeles |date=26 August 1997 |access-date=29 November 2013 |language=es}}</ref>
* ] – In the ], the ] contains an offence of stalking covering cyber-stalking, which was introduced into the act through the ].


== See also ==
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== References ==
===Disseminate Links to Domains in Messages to Usenet===
{{reflist|2}}


== Further reading ==
Since the Usenet news groups are available through most ISPs, Usenet messages rank highly in a Google search of any keyword found in the message's subject field. In addition, hundreds of news readers (Web sites designed to provide access to Usenet) each assign unique URLs to any given message in a Usenet news group, resulting in a multiplicative redundancy of any single message in a search engine database. A single defamatory message in a Usenet news group may appear 3, 5, or even 15 times in the results of a Google search on your name.
* Bocij, Paul (2004). ''Cyberstalking: Harassment in the Internet Age and how to Protect Your Family''. Greenwood Publishing Group. {{ISBN|0-275-98118-5}}
* Ellison, Louise; Akdeniz, Yaman. ''Criminal Law Review''. December 1998 Special Edition: Crime, Criminal Justice and the Internet. pp.&nbsp;29–48.
* Meloy, J. (2000). ''The Psychology of Stalking.'' Reid. Academic Press. {{ISBN|0-12-490561-7}}
* Mullen, Paul E.; Pathé, Michele; Purcell, Rosemary (2000). ''Stalkers and Their Victims''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-66950-2}}
* Hitchcock, J.A. (2006). ''Net Crimes & Misdemeanors: Outmaneuvering the Spammers, Swindlers, and Stalkers Who Are Targeting You Online''. CyberAge Books. {{ISBN|0-910965-72-2}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.uclan.ac.uk/host/cru/docs/NewCyberStalking.pdf |title=PDF article on Cyberstalking in the United Kingdom |access-date=August 7, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315153746/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/host/cru/docs/NewCyberStalking.pdf |archive-date=March 15, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminology/cyberstalking |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203175021/https://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminology/cyberstalking |archive-date=February 3, 2019 |title=Crime Library: Cyberstalking |access-date=January 4, 2017}}
* by Craig Lee and Patrick Lynch


== External links ==
{{commons category}}
*
; Academic and government studies
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308070331/https://ul451.gsu.edu/lawand/papers/fa01/hunter/ |date=2021-03-08 }} (2001)
* {{Cite web|url=http://cybertelecom.org/security/stalking.htm|title=Cybertelecom :: Cyberstalking Federal Internet Law & Regulation|access-date=December 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121080950/http://cybertelecom.org/security/stalking.htm|archive-date=November 21, 2010|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.mincava.umn.edu/documents/ilj_stalk/iljfinalrpt.html#id2377142 |date=* |title=Stalking Laws and Implementation Practices: A National Review for Policymakers and Practitioners (Full Report) }}, Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (2002)
* {{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstalking.htm|title=Cyberstalking: A New Challenge for Law Enforcement and Industry. A Report from the Attorney General to the Vice President|access-date=November 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301225843/http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstalking.htm|archive-date=March 1, 2010|df=mdy-all}} ''United States Department of Justice'' (August 1999).
* by ''Cyber Crime Journal''


; Blogs, stories
===Search Engines===
* : '''' An ongoing blog by several victims of a single stalker documenting his activities
The search engines would be a single point of contact for redressing problematic messages, but search engines lack the customer service staff necessary to manage the size of their product. So they also cite federal commuications law that effectively treats them as conduits (i.e. public utilities) rather than commercial businesses, and responsibility is deflected on the authors of the messages (who remain untraceably anonymous in Usenet) and the owners of the news readers (who are often anonymized through Go Daddy and Domains by Proxy).
* , ] (2013)


{{Privacy}}
The following report on search engine Google provides a graphic illustration of how search engines can be used to monitor targets and manage their public image.


]
===Division of Labor===
]

]
While the principal active agent in cyberstalking is technological anonymity, gang members can improve on this catalyst with a social form of anonymity similar to division of labor. When each member of the gang assumes responsibility for a different tool or phase in a criminal act or defamation campaign, this division of labor complicates efforts by law enforcement to isolate / parse the individual source of an adverse event. The workload involved in bringing misdemeanor harassment charges against gang members can prove daunting and prohibitive, prompting law enforcement to adopt a policy in which it advises victims to hire attorneys and private investigators and settle disputes in civil court.

This division of labor is mirrored at the institutional level, with labor "divided", so to speak, among the various services offering tools abused by cyberstalkers. Google, Go Daddy, a news reader administrator, and an open source (e.g. Amazon.com) may all, for example, factor into and facilitate cyberstalkers. Moreover, some domain registrars owe their profitability to a policy and reputation of protecting abusive domains from complaints / information requests. Thus any investigation into an adverse event may require a flood of warrants, subpoenas, and certified letters.

===Off-Roading===

The stalking frequently encroaches into the material life of the target, as revealed through the following tactics.

====Hacking====
A cyberstalking gang would not be complete without at least one member with the skills to hack into your e-mail account and other databases for the purposes of procuring that non-public information discussed in the previous section pertaining to Personal Information Search Engines. One Report follows a case in which a target's credit card number was illicitly procured for the purposes of "authenticating" a spurious negative review of another target's book in the customer review section of Amazon.com. The incident reminded me of a demonstration a high school peer put on for a few of his friends in which he hacked into the credit bureau database to collect information about our principal. It did not pose much of a challenge for this 17-year-old.

All it takes is one demonstration of access to your e-mail account (e.g. by dropping a message in your Yahoo contacts list and rigging the functionality so the Contacts List opens upon login) to make all future declarations like "we're monitoring your backchannel communications" that much more credible and menacing.

====Open Source Databases====
Even Misplaced Pages has been abused for purposes of defamation, as famously illustrated by the implication of a prominent journalist in the Kennedy assassinations. Despite the journalist's best efforts, the article remained public for 132 days. Similarly, a number of individuals have voiced displeasure over having been identified as kooks in an article about an intolerance-preaching hate group Alt.usenet.kooks.

====False Reports of Abuse====
Gang members like to leverage their numbers and their credentials to appeal to providers of Internet access and news group posting to sanction the target. In many cases, a service staffer will rescind services to a target without an investigation just to get some peace and because the staffer assumes that the reports of abuse are (a) factual and (b) independent. In actuality, the reports of abuse represent ] and ] among strategic partners, stakeholders, and sources of pathological sensitivity.

====Threats====
Many targets of Usenet stalking report receiving phone calls at home, and report dismay over how a stalker could have obtained a number that is both unpublished and excluded from personal information search engines (e.g. Zabasearch.com). Family members have also been dragged into the fray, as evidenced in the case of Brad Jesness, whose wife became the subject of the stalkers' investigation and the subject over 600 vulgar and libelous messages in Usenet (all of which become available to Google searches).

==Historical Influence of Alt.Usenet.Kooks==
Since its inception in 1993, members of the news group alt.usenet.kooks have under the monikers "net kops", "kook hunters," and "kook-ologists" trolled Usenet recruiting Usenetters willing to serve as a news group's local liaison to alt.usenet.kooks. Such liasions deliver kook-related news to and from alt.usenet.kooks, delivering calls for nominations, voting forms, election results, and anti-kook dossiers to their own news group while referring the names of individuals as potential kooks to alt.usenet.kooks for further study and possible harassment. The effect of alt.usenet.kooks on the quality and relevance of most news groups can be devestating, with the center of dialogical gravity in sci.psychology.psychotherapy shifting irreversibly from science and/or psychotherapy to recreational zinging, character assassination, and menacing cybersleuthing. The alleged kook is then subject to a lot of unwanted attention from strangers in alt.usenet.kooks, and alliances are formed both within sci.psychology.psychotherapy (local group) and with members of alt.usenet.kooks and kookhunters from other news groups for the purpose of collaborating on the design, search optimization, and dissemination of anti-kook messages, dossiers, and even Web domains. A historical study of sci.psychology.psychotherapy reveals that some targets have been attacked for 7 years while attacks on other targets persisted for as long as 2 years in the absence of contributions from the target.

===Maintaining Factors in Gang Stalking===
History is replete with precedents to collective behavior like the kind observed in sci.psychology.psychotherapy (e.g. Salem Witch Trials, McCarthy Hearings, Inquisition, Abu Ghraib, Auchwitz). These groups require the deindividuation of individual gang members, and the dehumanization of the individuals who will be targeted for adverse effects. The group collaborates to manage a faceless image of the victims until their lives or livelihoods are cheapened in a way. The gang's polarization of participants into kooks and kook hunters is reminiscent of the purely nominal designation of guards and prisoners in an experiment by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo (i.e. the guards and prisoners lost themselves in the role and the guards mistreated the prisoners to an extent compelling a premature termination of the research).

The gang members in sci.psychology.psychotherapy avoid discussion of any one kook's point of views. When a third party requests an explanation for the opposition to a particular kook, the SPP gang member, who in some cases lacks the interest and / or education to evaluate the ideas, simply responds with the blanket assertion that the individual is a "kook." To manage a large number of kooks, the SPP gang members attempt to portray the ideas of the different kooks as non-independent, meaning that the SPP gang members depict the kooks as perverted friends or collaborators (i.e. similar to State propaganda of subversive collaboration among persons of the Jewish faith).

The deindividuation of the individual kook hunter is accomplished both technologically through anonymity and interpersonally through social facilitation. Once the individual's identity and morality is dissolved in the cult consciousness, he or she is susceptible to manipulation and begins to exhibit a level of ideology, meddling officiousness, and irrationality paradoxically attributed to kooks. The kook hunter is now ready to be recruited by other kook hunters with whom he or she has no prior acquaintance for the purpose of harassing and defaming a kook whose ideas are unknown and of no interest to him or her. The kook hunter trades lists of kooks with other kook hunters and will even attack the families of the kook. The spam advertising of dossiers and the practice of tracking kooks across news groups and on the Web is more meddlesome than any cross-posting the alleged kooks engage in, all in the name of an ideology (i.e. kookology) that is just as karaoke, if not as kooky, as their adopted enemies.

At the end of the day, the kook hunter feels he or she has provided a public service by discouraging others from promoting points of view they believe to be arrogant or irrational. Strangely enough, seldom do the kook hunters express a point of view of their own, and yet, even more strangely, their abuse of the news groups as measured by sheer number of posts (summed across aliases) significantly outweighs the number of messages posted by the allegedly "abusive" kooks.

==See also==
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==External links==
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* US based
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]

Latest revision as of 14:46, 5 November 2024

Use of the Internet as means of monitoring users' activities maliciously "Cyberstalker" redirects here. For the Lifetime TV film, see Cyberstalker (film).

Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, group, or organization. It may include false accusations, defamation, slander and libel. It may also include monitoring, identity theft, threats, vandalism, solicitation for sex, doxing, or blackmail. These unwanted behaviors are perpetrated online and cause intrusion into an individual's digital life as well as negatively impact a victim's mental and emotional well-being, as well as their sense of safety and security online.

Cyberstalking is often accompanied by realtime or offline stalking. In many jurisdictions, such as California, both are criminal offenses. Both are motivated by a desire to control, intimidate or influence a victim. A stalker may be an online stranger or a person whom the target knows. They may be anonymous and solicit involvement of other people online who do not even know the target.

Cyberstalking is a criminal offense under various state anti-stalking, slander and harassment laws. A conviction can result in a restraining order, probation, or criminal penalties against the assailant, including jail.

Cyberstalking is often defined as unwanted behavior.

Definitions and description

See also: Doxing and Cyberbullying

There have been a number of attempts by experts and legislators to define cyberstalking. It is generally understood to be the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group, or an organization. Cyberstalking is a form of cyberbullying; the terms are often used interchangeably in the media. Both may include false accusations, defamation, slander and libel.

Cyberstalking may also include monitoring, identity theft, threats, vandalism, solicitation for sex, or gathering information that may be used to threaten or harass. Cyberstalking is often accompanied by real-time or offline stalking. Both forms of stalking may be criminal offenses.

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 defines cyberstalking as perpetrated by someone without a current relationship with the victim. About the abusive effects of cyberstalking, he writes that:

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).

Distinguishing cyberstalking from other acts

There is a distinction between cyber-trolling and cyber-stalking. Research has shown that actions that can be perceived to be harmless as a one-off can be considered to be trolling, whereas if it is part of a persistent campaign then it can be considered stalking.

TM Motive Mode Gravity Description
1 Playtime Cyber-bantering Cyber-trolling In the moment and quickly regret
2 Tactical Cyber-trickery Cyber-trolling In the moment but do not regret and continue
3 Strategic Cyber-bullying Cyber-stalking Go out of way to cause problems, but without a sustained and planned long-term campaign
4 Domination Cyber-hickery Cyber-stalking Goes out of the way to create rich media to target one or more specific individuals

Cyberstalking author Alexis Moore separates cyberstalking from identity theft, which is financially motivated. Her definition, which was also used by the Republic of the Philippines in their legal description, is as follows:

Cyberstalking is a technologically-based "attack" on one person who has been targeted specifically for that attack for reasons of anger, revenge or control. Cyberstalking can take many forms, including:

  1. harassment, embarrassment and humiliation of the victim
  2. emptying bank accounts or other economic control such as ruining the victim's credit score
  3. harassing family, friends and employers to isolate the victim
  4. scare tactics to instill fear and more

Identification and detection

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 threats.

A number of key factors have been identified in cyberstalking:

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2014)
  • 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 Misplaced Pages 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 or 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.
  • The posting of defamatory or derogatory statements: Using web pages and message boards to incite some response or reaction from their victim.

Prevalence and impact

According to Law Enforcement Technology, cyberstalking has increased with the growth of new technology and new ways to stalk victims. "Disgruntled employees pose as their bosses to post explicit messages on social network sites; spouses use GPS to track their mates' every move. Even police and prosecutors find themselves at risk, as gang members and other organized criminals find out where they live — often to intimidate them into dropping a case."

In January 2009, the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the United States released the study "Stalking Victimization in the United States," which was sponsored by the Office on Violence Against Women. The report, based on supplemental data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, showed that one in four stalking victims had been cyberstalked as well, with the perpetrators using internet-based services such as email, instant messaging, GPS, or spyware. The final report stated that approximately 1.2 million victims had stalkers who used technology to find them. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), in Washington D.C. has released statistics that there are 3.4 million stalking victims each year in the United States. Of those, one in four reported experiencing cyberstalking.

According to Robin M. Kowalski, a social psychologist at Clemson University, cyberbullying has been shown to cause higher levels of anxiety and depression for victims than normal bullying. Kowalksi states that much of this stems from the anonymity of the perpetrators, which is a common feature of cyberstalking as well. According to a study by Kowalksi, of 3,700 bullied middle-school students, a quarter had been subjected to a form of online harassment.

Types

Stalking by strangers

According to Joey Rushing, a District Attorney of Franklin County, Alabama, there is no single definition of a cyberstalker - they can be either strangers to the victim or have a former/present relationship. " come in all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds. They patrol Web sites looking for an opportunity to take advantage of people."

Gender-based stalking

Harassment and stalking because of gender online, also known as online gender-based violence, is common, and can include rape threats and other threats of violence, as well as the posting of the victim's personal information. It is blamed for limiting victims' activities online or driving them offline entirely, thereby impeding their participation in online life and undermining their autonomy, dignity, identity, and opportunities.

Of intimate partners

Cyberstalking of intimate partners is the online harassment of a current or former romantic partner. It is a form of domestic violence, and experts say its purpose is to control the victim in order to encourage social isolation and create dependency. Harassers may send repeated insulting or threatening e-mails to their victims, monitor or disrupt their victims' e-mail use, and use the victim's account to send e-mails to others posing as the victim or to purchase goods or services the victim does not want. They may also use the Internet to research and compile personal information about the victim, to use in order to harass him or her.

Of celebrities and public persons

Profiling of stalkers shows that almost always they stalk someone they know or, via delusion, think they know, as is the case with stalkers of celebrities or public persons in which the stalkers feel they know the celebrity even though the celebrity does not know them. As part of the risk they take for being in the public eye, celebrities and public figures are often targets of lies or made-up stories in tabloids as well as by stalkers, some even seeming to be fans.

In one noted case in 2011, actress Patricia Arquette quit Facebook after alleged cyberstalking. In her last post, Arquette explained that her security warned her Facebook friends to never accept friend requests from people they do not actually know. Arquette stressed that just because people seemed to be fans did not mean they were safe. The media issued a statement that Arquette planned to communicate with fans exclusively through her Twitter account in the future.

By anonymous online mobs

See also: Networked harassment

Web 2.0 technologies have enabled online groups of anonymous people to self-organize to target individuals with online defamation, threats of violence and technology-based attacks. These include publishing lies and doctored photographs, threats of rape and other violence, posting sensitive personal information about victims, e-mailing damaging statements about victims to their employers, and manipulating search engines to make damaging material about the victim more prominent. Victims frequently respond by adopting pseudonyms or going offline entirely.

Experts attribute the destructive nature of anonymous online mobs to group dynamics, saying that groups with homogeneous views tend to become more extreme. As members reinforce each others' beliefs, they fail to see themselves as individuals and lose a sense of personal responsibility for their destructive acts. In doing so they dehumanize their victims, becoming more aggressive when they believe they are supported by authority figures. Internet service providers and website owners are sometimes blamed for not speaking out against this type of harassment.

A notable example of online mob harassment was the experience of American software developer and blogger Kathy Sierra. In 2007 a group of anonymous individuals attacked Sierra, threatening her with rape and strangulation, publishing her home address and Social Security number, and posting doctored photographs of her. Frightened, Sierra cancelled her speaking engagements and shut down her blog, writing "I will never feel the same. I will never be the same."

Corporate cyberstalking

Corporate cyberstalking is when a company harasses an individual online, or an individual or group of individuals harasses an organization. Motives for corporate cyberstalking are ideological, or include a desire for financial gain or revenge.

Perpetrators

Motives and profile

Mental profiling of digital criminals has identified psychological and social factors that motivate stalkers as: envy; pathological obsession (professional or sexual); unemployment or failure with own job or life; intention to intimidate and cause others to feel inferior; the stalker is delusional and believes they "know" the target; the stalker wants to instill fear in a person to justify his/her status; belief they can get away with it (anonymity); intimidation for financial advantage or business competition; revenge over perceived or imagined rejection.

Four types of cyberstalkers

Preliminary work by Leroy McFarlane and Paul Bocij has identified four types of cyberstalkers: the vindictive cyberstalkers noted for the ferocity of their attacks; the composed cyberstalker whose motive is to annoy; the intimate cyberstalker who attempts to form a relationship with the victim but turns on them if rebuffed; and collective cyberstalkers, groups with a motive. According to Antonio Chacón Medina, author of Una nueva cara de Internet, El acoso ("A new face of the Internet: stalking"), the general profile of the harasser is cold, with little or no respect for others. The stalker is a predator who can wait patiently until vulnerable victims appear, such as women or children, or may enjoy pursuing a particular person, whether personally familiar to them or unknown. The harasser enjoys and demonstrates their power to pursue and psychologically damage the victim.

Behaviors

Cyberstalkers find their victims by using search engines, online forums, bulletin and discussion boards, chat rooms, and more recently, through social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, Twitter, and Indymedia, a media outlet known for self-publishing. They may engage in live chat harassment or flaming or they may send electronic viruses and unsolicited e-mails. Cyberstalkers may research individuals to feed their obsessions and curiosity. Conversely, the acts of cyberstalkers may become more intense, such as repeatedly instant messaging their targets. More commonly they will post defamatory or derogatory statements about their stalking target on web pages, message boards, and in guest books designed to get a reaction or response from their victim, thereby initiating contact. In some cases, they have been known to create fake blogs in the name of the victim containing defamatory or pornographic content.

When prosecuted, many stalkers have unsuccessfully attempted to justify their behavior based on their use of public forums, as opposed to direct contact. Once they get a reaction from the victim, they will typically attempt to track or follow the victim's internet activity. Classic cyberstalking behavior includes the tracing of the victim's IP address in an attempt to verify their home or place of employment. Some 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. Moreover, many physical stalkers will use cyberstalking as another method of harassing their victims.

A 2007 study led by Paige Padgett from the University of Texas Health Science Center found that there was a false degree of safety assumed by women looking for love online.

Cyberstalking legislation

Main article: Cyberstalking legislation

Legislation on cyberstalking varies from country to country. Cyberstalking and cyberbullying are relatively new phenomena, but that does not mean that crimes committed through the network are not punishable under legislation drafted for that purpose. Although there are often existing laws that prohibit stalking or harassment in a general sense, legislators sometimes believe that such laws are inadequate or do not go far enough, and thus bring forward new legislation to address this perceived shortcoming. The point overlooked is that enforcing these laws can be a challenge in these virtual communities. The reason being, these issues are very unique to law enforcement agencies who have never faced cases related to cyberstalking. In the United States, for example, nearly every state has laws that address cyberstalking, cyberbullying, or both.

In countries such as the US, in practice, there is little legislative difference between the concepts of "cyberbullying" and "cyberstalking." The primary distinction is one of age; if adults are involved, the act is usually termed cyberstalking, while among children it is usually referred to as cyberbullying. However, as there have not been any formal definitions of the terms, this distinction is one of semantics and many laws treat bullying and stalking as much the same issue.

Australia

In Australia, the Stalking Amendment Act (1999) includes the use of any form of technology to harass a target as forms of "criminal stalking."

Canada

In 2012, there was a high-profile investigation into the death of Amanda Todd, a young Canadian student who had been blackmailed and stalked online before committing suicide. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were criticized in the media for not naming one of her alleged stalkers as a person of interest.

Philippines

In the Fifteenth Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, a cyberstalking bill was introduced by Senator Manny Villar. The result was to "urge the Senate Committees on Science and Technology, and Public Information and Mass Media to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the increasing occurrence of cyber stalking cases and the modus operandi adopted in the internet to perpetuate crimes with the end in view of formulating legislation and policy measures geared towards curbing cyber stalking and other cyber crimes and protect online users in the country."

United States

History, current legislation

Cyberstalking is a criminal offense under American anti-stalking, slander, and harassment laws.

A conviction can result in a restraining order, probation, or criminal penalties against the assailant, including jail. Cyberstalking specifically has 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. The current US Federal Anti-Cyber-Stalking law is found at 47 U.S.C. § 223.

Still, there remains a lack of federal legislation to specifically address cyberstalking, leaving the majority of legislative at the state level. A few states have both stalking and harassment statutes that criminalize threatening and unwanted electronic communications. The first anti-stalking law was enacted in California in 1990, and while all fifty states soon passed anti-stalking laws, by 2009 only 14 of them had laws specifically addressing "high-tech stalking." The first U.S. cyberstalking law went into effect in 1999 in California. 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, such as in their harassment or stalking legislation.

Sentences can range from 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine for a fourth-degree charge to ten years in prison and a $150,000 fine for a second-degree charge.

States with cyberstalking legislation
  • 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, Florida, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and California, have incorporated electronically communicated statements as conduct constituting stalking in their anti-stalking laws.
  • Texas enacted the Stalking by Electronic Communications Act, 2001.
  • Missouri revised its state harassment statutes to include stalking and harassment by telephone and electronic communications (as well as cyber-bullying) after the Megan Meier suicide case of 2006. In one of the few cases where a cyberstalking conviction was obtained the cyberstalker was a woman, which is also much rarer that male cyberstalkers. The conviction was overturned in on appeal in 2009 however.
  • In Florida, HB 479 was introduced in 2003 to ban cyberstalking. This was signed into law in October 2003.

Age, legal limitations

While some laws only address online harassment of children, there are laws that protect adult cyberstalking victims. While some sites specialize in laws that protect victims age 18 and under, current and pending cyberstalking-related United States federal and state laws offer help to victims of all ages.

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 the alleged stalker's course of conduct constitute an implied threat. 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.

Online identity stealth blurs the line on infringement of the rights of would-be victims to identify their perpetrators. There is a longstanding debate on how internet use can be traced to ensure safety without infringing on protected civil liberties.

Specific cases

There have been a number of high-profile legal cases in the United States related to cyberstalking, many of which have involved the suicides of young students. In thousands of other cases, charges either were not brought for the cyber harassment or were unsuccessful in obtaining convictions. As in all legal instances, much depends on public sympathy towards the victim, the quality of legal representation and other factors that can greatly influence the outcome of the crime – even if it will be considered a crime.

In the case of a fourteen-year-old student in Michigan, for instance, she pressed charges against her alleged rapist, which resulted in her being cyberstalked and cyberbullied by fellow students. After her suicide in 2010 all charges were dropped against the man who allegedly raped her, on the basis that the only witness was dead. This is the despite the fact that statutory rape charges could have been pressed.

In another case of cyberstalking, college student Dharun Ravi secretly filmed his roommate's sexual liaison with another man, then posted it online. After the victim committed suicide, Ravi was convicted in of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in New Jersey v. Dharun Ravi. In 2012 he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, more than $11,000 in restitution and three years of probation. The judge ruled that he believes Ravi acted out of "colossal insensitivity, not hatred."

Europe

See also

References

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