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Cyber Stalking |
Cyber stalking stories involve persistent threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at the victim through online communication on the web, without heeding warnings to stop. Cyber stalking survey reveals that cyber stalkers target their victims through e mails, discussion forums, chat rooms and message boards. Cyber stalking cases may manifest in various forms like false and malicious accusations, character assassination, shooting of threatening or obscene e mails, spamming the victim’s in-boxes with junk mails, tracking down the target’s internet activity by zeroing down on his IP address, spying on the victim in order to gather personal information regarding him and injecting computer virus into the network of the target.
Cyber stalkers post false allegations against the victim on websites, blogs, chat rooms, discussion forums and message boards in order to disrepute the target and incite others against him as well. Cyber stalkers are also known to set up fake blogs in the name of the victim impersonating him with pornographic or defamatory content.
In as much as cyber stalking may cause severe mental trauma and agony to the victim, there are ethical issues in cyber stalking.
In 1999 California was the first US state to put anti cyber stalking laws into effect for cyber stalking protection. Thereafter many other US states followed suit and passed laws to address the menace of cyber stalking.
The states of Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire and New York have banned harassment through electronic, computer or e-mail communications in their anti harassment legislations.
Further, the states of Alaska, Florida, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and California have specifically provided in their anti-stalking laws that online aggression also constitutes stalking.
Texas has passed Stalking by Electronic Communications Act, 2001.
A few other states or jurisdictions have both anti harassment and anti stalking laws in place that mandate prosecution of the aggressor by punishment for online intimidation.
Remaining states without such anti harassment or anti stalking laws in specific terms nevertheless have legislations in force to prevent misuse of computer communications, in order to take care of the issue of cyber stalking. Other states also have laws that are broadly worded enough to address the threat of cyber stalking.
(More http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/cip/stalk99.htm)
(More http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000223----000-.html)
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