To protect victims from stalkers, local law enforcement agencies should be notified, and victims should file complaints with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3. Fightcyberstalking.org is a useful resource that provides information on preparing for this process at: https://www.fightcyberstalking.org/report-cyberstalking-case/.
They provide free access to a Fight Cyberstalking Toolkit to help keep track of all the evidence that is needed for reporting stalking harassment.
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With the rise of technology, the lines for what stalking behavior consists of have become blurred. It is important to educate students on when they are being stalked or if they themselves are committing those actions for their safety.
Based off a study by Michele Ybarra MPH, Ph. D. of people between the ages of 14-21, more than 1/3 of youth have engaged in the following stalker-like behaviors she has defined: Hyper-intimacy: Trying to gain someone's attention by doing something excessive. Following: Following or spying on someone in secret without them knowing. Intrusive pursuit: Attempting to engage in conversation with someone even if they didn't seem interested. Aggression: Damaging or destroying things someone holds precious. Threats: Threatening to harm yourself or someone else if they didn't give you attention. Surveillance: Downloading a tracking program onto their cell phone in secret. As carrying out such activities is much more accessible to teens with the help of technology, educators and parents alike should inform and define what stalking is. If concerns are raised, additional help should be sought for as well. ~~*~~*~~ Reference: Ybarra MPH Ph.D., M. (2016, December 12). Teens & Stalking-Like Behaviors. Retrieved December 5, 2018, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/connected/201612/teens-stalking-behaviors Let's Talk Teens is space that seeks to help educate people, specifically adolescents and their parents, how to navigate social media safely while protecting students. It is located at: https://letstalkteens.com and founded by Bree Jensen. As a parent herself, she understands the overwhelming confusion there is in protecting ourselves and each other on the devices we are using constantly. She urges for parents and adolescents to accomplish this task together, and not in secret. Communication and trust should be transparent on both parties so children understand the limitations are not because their parents are strict, but how it protects their identities for the future as well. Here is a video by Bree Jensen on navigating privacy settings on electronic devices: Other than this video, the following websites are also useful in protecting oneselves online presence:
http://www.Mobicip.com http://www.uknowkids.com http://www.teensafe.com Retrieved from The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/08/cyberstalking-study-victims-men Author: Karen McVeigh Published 13.31 EDT Fri, 8 Apr 2011 Cyberstalking is now more common than physical harassment, according to new figures due to be released next week, with many victims finding themselves pursued by complete strangers online.
The first study of its kind to look at the extent and effect of cyberstalking, taking in social networking sites, email and mobile phones, has revealed the profile of perpetrators to be radically different from those who pursue victims face-to-face. Victims surveyed by Echo (Electronic Communication Harassment Observation), at Bedford University, reported that their harassers were more likely to be a complete stranger or a casual acquaintance than a former partner. Another major finding was that nearly 40% of cyberstalking victims are men. Past studies have identified women as much more at risk from face-to-face stalking. Most of the victims surveyed were aged 20 to 39, although ages ranged from 14 to 74, with teenagers reporting social networking sites as the environment in which they were most likely to be harassed. Dr Emma Short, psychologist and co-author of the study, launched last September with the backing of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the crime was not taken as seriously as it should be: "There is a lack of understanding of the impact of this behavior. One of the biggest questions was, 'Is there psychological harm?' Worryingly, a third experienced this. Not just stress, but a clinical record of psychological harm. "There have been threats to kill. They give the impression that they know where their victims live and can get at them physically. There is a lot of damage to or loss of reputation, people being compromised by false allegations. I spoke to a teacher who was followed through chat rooms and the net by someone claiming to have met him through a child porn site. He had a very supportive head but it went on for several years. He never found out who or what their intention was." Another victim was bombarded with vivid images of violent rape. It is often unclear what the stalker aims to get out of it, other than causing "misery and distress", she said. The pattern of harassment is different between male and female victims, she said, with men targeted by strangers more than women. Around 37% of men were stalked by a stranger, compared with 23% of women. Only 4% reported being stalked by a former partner, compared with victims of face-to-face stalking, where around half are former partners, according to Echo. The largest category of all victims where the perpetrator was a stranger did not know where they had come from, how they were targeted and never found their of those who pursued them, the survey founidentities. One in five said the offender targeted them via social networking sites and 16% via blogging forums. Only 4% came from online dating. Short, who surveyed 250 victims though a questionnaire, said while it is clear that a third of all victims reported clinically recognised symptoms of PTSD, men and women often reacted differently. "For women the fear is of physical violence to themselves and then to their families or children. For men, they are afraid of damage to their reputation. "The population who harass online are different to the population already understood as harassers by the police and the legislators, so the risks are unclear." Echo is launching a website at beds.ac.uk/echo which goes live on Monday. The British Crime Survey 2006 estimates up to 5 million people experience stalking each year, but there are no official statistics on the percentage cyberstalked. Last week MPs called for an overhaul in the laws governing such crimes, so that both stalking and cyberstalking is legally defined. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the law most used to deal with stalking, has not been updated since the explosion of social media, and does not include online stalking. At the launch of a parliamentary campaign on the issue, most victims reported that they were unable to get the police to take it seriously; that police found it extremely difficult to gather evidence or were met with a lack of understanding of how best to use the law. A report by the National Stalking Helpline, due out next week, National Stalking Awareness Week, is expected to reveal that more than half of all calls to the helpline are those who have been harassed online or by mobile phone. Harry Fletcher of Napo, the probation Union, said that areas such as stalking through social networking sites and the use of the internet to damage reputations were poorly understood by police and not properly defined in law. It is often difficult to get information from internet service providers and proving attribution can be difficult as stalkers have multiple untraceable means of accessing the internet. Fletcher called for a change in the law to "catch up with technology". He said: "There needs to be training for police and probation into the nature of stalking, the nature of stalking behavour and how to investigate, particularly internet crimes." 'It was terrifying' It started with a notice on an online bulletin board he knew Joanne would see: her name, her husband's name, their address, email and telephone number. Then, to show he was watching, small details about her family would appear – updates her children had posted on their Facebook sites, with comments such as "X doesn't seem to be very happy today". A series of false allegations followed. That Joanne and her husband were paedophiles who had sold their daughter to him for sex; that Joanne was a drug dealer and had been involved in criminal activities at work. The harassment consumed Joanne, 47, and her family, but police failed to take it seriously, she says. "It was in the hands of a community support officer. They just thought I was a hysterical woman. He put us though hell. It was terrifying. One Monday I got up and I couldn't do anything but cry. I thought he was going to kill me." They knew who he was, a casual acquaintance with a grudge, but it was only after attacks on their car began, causing £3,000 of damage, that he was arrested and charged with harassment, criminal damage and falsifying an alibi. The harassment charge was dropped in a plea bargain and he was sentenced to 200 hours' community service plus costs for criminal damage. Joanne wants a "more robust law" so that stalkers can be convicted and punished appropriately. "Otherwise people like him will continue to be allowed to make people's lives a misery." What to do if you have experienced harassment or stalking Advice from the Electronic Communication Harassment Observation (ECHO) is as follows: Report – as soon as you are concerned contact your local police and the stalking helpline on 0300 636 0300, or visit www.stalkinghelpline.org Support – seek support from groups such as Network for Surviving Stalking (www.nss.org.uk) Evidence – gather evidence including times and means of stalking. Save any texts, emails, Facebook messages, screenshots You should then assist police AND report to the network provider/ISP/Facebook. The service providers may not be able or willing to help, but you must log the complaint. ECHO, at the University of Bedford, is conducting research into stalking and is interested in hearing from victims. www.beds.ac.uk/echo |
AuthorSarah Du ArchivesCategories90% of adolescents use social media and post about their lives online. This use of the web leaves them susceptible to the dangers of being stalked by people they know personally, and unknown individuals online.
~~*~~*~~ Reference: Ryan, Allison M.; Urdan, Tim; Anderman, Eric M.. Adolescent Development for Educators (Page 175). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition. ~~*~~*~~ |