Tyneria Cobbins-Stalking Through The Web

Stalking is generally a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Stalking behavior includes, but is not limited to: following or spying on a person, waiting at places in order to make unwanted contact with the victim or to monitor the victim, leaving unwanted items and gifts for the victim, and posting information or spreading rumors about the victim on the internet, in a public place, or by word of mouth. The Stalking Resource Center was created by the National Center for Victims and the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women in the year of 2000. The Stalking Resource Center mission is to enhance the ability of professionals, organizations, and systems to effectively respond to stalking. Over the  past few years, the incidence of stalking through the use of technology has sharply increased. The act is now referred to as 'cyberstalking,' which refers to the use of the email, internet, and any other electronic technologies to stalk or harass another person. Every jurisdiction in the U.S. has laws addressing electronic harassment, and federal law also criminalizes the use of stalking. Yet even though these laws are set in place just like many others, they get constantly broken.

technology to stalk

Examples of technology being used to stalk people:

*Online impersonation of the victim through a false identity or account to place online sex
ads or solicit sex

* Use of GPS to track the victim, including placing a GPS device on the victim’s car

*Email spoofing, whereby the perpetrator sends emails pretending to be the victim

*Text messaging and sexting (sending sexually explicit text messages and/or photo





Source: U.S. Department of Justice, National Crime Victimization Study (2005); Katrina Baum, Stalking Victimization in the United States, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (2009).

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