cyberstalking and harassment

Cyberstalking and harassment or “cyber bullying” involve the use of online communications and facilities (such as instant messaging, chat rooms, e-mail, or Web sites) to stalk, harass, or otherwise abuse a person or group. These activities may be carried on entirely online or in connection with physical stalking or harassment.

Stalking and threatening a person has been a crime in the physical world for some time, and similar principles apply to online stalking. Generally, to be guilty of stalking, a person must repeatedly harass or threaten the victim, often following him or her and intruding or violating privacy.

Cyberstalkers take advantage of the fact that there is a great deal of information about many people online. (Indeed, the popularity of sites such as MySpace means that many users can unwittingly provide that information in well-organized, easy-to-access form—see social net-working.) The stalker can also use search engines to find e-mail or even physical addresses and phone numbers, or can join chat rooms used by the prospective victim,

Motives for stalking can range from sexual obsession to anger at some real or imagined slight, to more idiosyncratic reasons. As with physical stalking in an earlier generation, law enforcement agencies were often slow to acknowledge the potential seriousness of the crime or to develop effec-tive ways to deal with it.

This began to change with the tragic and highly pub-licized case of Amy Boyer, who had been found online through a data broker, stalked, harassed, and ultimately murdered. In 1999 California became the first state to pass a law against cyberstalking, and in 2000 cyberstalking was made part of the federal Violence against Women Act.

Cyberbullying

Like traditional bullying in schools or other settings, cyber-bullying involves harassment, sometimes organized, of people considered to be weak or different in some way. However, the ability to hide or disguise one’s identity online (see anonymity and the Internet) facilitates cyberbully-ing by making it harder for victims to identify and confront or report their tormentors. Media for cyberbullying include text and instant messaging, photos or videos, blogs, and increasingly, pages on social networking sites. Contents can include threats, racial or other slurs, and unwelcome sexual solicitations.

In March 2007 a number of organizations joined with the U.S. Department of Justice in a public service advertis-ing campaign to educate young people about cyberbullying and what they can do to prevent it. Some schools are adopt-ing anti-cyberbullying policies and programs.

Besides potentially serious psychological trauma to vic-tims, cyberbullying can sometimes lead victims to lash out, and in extreme cases, cyberbullying may play a role in cam-pus shootings.