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CYBERSTALKING:
Don't Gamble Your Safety Online Cyberstalking is a term used to cover three distinctly different kinds of problems. The most frequent form is simple harassment, where you find yourself "flamed" (criticized or attacked) by people who take issue with what you said (or how you said it). A typical scenario is that you post something in a newsgroup that sparks others to post nasty messages in response, or they fill your e-mailbox with notes warning you not to sin again. Cyberstalking also refers to a situation where individuals -- often women or children -- receive unwanted advances or hate-filled threats in chat rooms, through instant messages, or in their email. Most dangerous of all, of course, is when the cyberstalker makes the leap to stalking the person in real life. |
| In all three situations, an ounce of prevention is far preferable to attempting to devise a cure, since nothing short of incarceration can stop a relentless and determined harasser or stalker. As Michael Banks, author of Web Psychos, Stalkers and Pranksters, writes: "It's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble." |  |
| Fortunately for Michiganders (or Michiganians, if you prefer), ours is one of only seven states that has passed legislation that specifically addresses harassment and stalking in electronic correspondence, and that can make prosecution easier. Unfortunately, Michigan needed new laws because of an internationally infamous case where University of Michigan student Jake Baker published an erotic fantasy online, detailing how he raped and tortured a female classmate -- using her real name.
Baker was originally charged with "transmitting threats across states lines," which was revised to making a "threat to injure another person." He was ultimately acquitted because the story was deemed "self-expression" and not as a real "threat." |
| Preventing the problem not only helps to ensure your safety, but it spares you from experiencing the fear and turmoil fear that stalking victims endure. And prosecuting these crimes is often complicated by the fact that your stalker could live in another state -- or another country.
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