Cyberstalking
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Wikipedia-Article "Cyberstalking"
Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk someone. This term is used interchangeably with online harassment and online abuse.
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 becoming a common tactic in racism, and other expressions of bigotry and hate.
Cyberstalkers target and harass their victims via websites, chat rooms, discussion forums, open publishing websites (e.g. blogs and Indymedia) 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.
The first U.S. cyberstalking law went into effect in 1999 in California. Other states include prohibition against cyberstalking in their harassment or stalking legislation. In Florida, HB 479 was introduced in 2003 to ban cyberstalking. This was signed into law on October 2003. The crime of cyberstalking is defined in Florida Statutes 784.048(1)(d) which is one of most strict of such laws in the United States. 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 ISP 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.
The seriousness of the publishing of private persons participating in chatrooms on the Internet was brought to the forefront by the 2005 slaying of the entire family of Hossam Armanious of Jersey City, who was known for opposing certain Muslim beliefs with the suspicion that the murders were related to the publishing of private information about this family.
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