This thread is about dealing with online stalkers.
It is about your security online and in RL.
Please post tips, links, articles and discuss your own experiences (please do not post specific names/user names or other info that will identify a specific individual) with this growing threat/crime.
It is difficult to prosecute these cases, but it can be done. The key is to file a report each time the perpetrator commits an infraction---------a harassing post, email, etc. It is extremely important to involve the police department as quickly as possible as it may take several reports on file to produce an arrest.
Steps to Take in Filing a Report:
1. If you know the perpetrator's location, contact the police department in their city or state directly.This is the most effective course of action and many states now have tough laws (re cyberstalking specifically) on the books.
2. If the location of the perpetrator is unknown, contact your local police department. Many now have specific units to deal with online crime.
3. Make sure you get a report # from the police. Additionally, request the name of the officer to whom you gave the report.
4. If the perp continues to harass you, file a report of each incident.
By the way, the police may or may not contact the perp until there is sufficient evidence for an arrest.
One state's definition of harassment:
Quote:
13-2921. Harassment; classification; definition
1. A person commits harassment if, with intent to harass or with knowledge that the person is harassing another person, the person:
1. Anonymously or otherwise communicates or causes a communication with another person by verbal, electronic, mechanical, telegraphic, telephonic or written means in a manner that harasses.
2. Continues to follow another person in or about a public place for no legitimate purpose after being asked to desist.
3. Repeatedly commits an act or acts that harass another person.
4. Surveils or causes another person to surveil a person for no legitimate purpose.
5. On more than one occasion makes a false report to a law enforcement, credit or social service agency.
6. Interferes with the delivery of any public or regulated utility to a person.
Edit: In the example cited above, online harassment is
at least a misdemeanor. If actual damages (to health/mental health, a business, etc.) can be shown, it becomes a felony.
All bolding in this post is mine.
A description of stalkers from abc news sources:
Quote:Marshall explained that stalkers have a very primitive way of thinking.
"Stalkers are very primitive. They're stuck in a two- or three-year-old's way of thinking. Adults understand that other people have their own needs and separate concerns. Stalkers, on the other hand, are profoundly immature," she said. "But unlike mentally ill people, like those who are bipolar, their actions are premeditated. They know exactly what they're doing and they choose to indulge it."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=2855808&page=2