Cyberstalking And Online Harassment
Cyberstalking and Harassment
Cyberstalking and Online Harassment have become big buzz words due to advancements in technology moving faster than the protective measures which stop this type of behavior. The main differences between Cyberstalking, Online Harassment, and Cyberbullying are the degrees of intimidation and danger associated with each one.
The issue is that no matter what you call it, being harassed online, in person, or over the phone is a nuisance and could be quite scary for anyone. If you are being stalked, this usually refers to repetitive behavior of a nature that my range from intrusion to out right aggressive behavior. Victims of serious stalking could be in physical danger. Harassment is thought of more as verbal or communicative behavior intended to make a victim feel vulnerable.
Over the years, studies have been conducted in an attempt to measure just how widespread this type of behavior may or may not be, but the numbers are very misleading because of the emergence online social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Before the advent of such interpersonal technology it was likely that about 8% of women in the United States would endure some form of harassment in their lifetime and about 2% of men in the United States.
In shear numbers, this makes the problem very prevalent in our society especially for women. Now with different forms of social media developing on an almost daily basis the problems have come more widespread.
Making our MySpace and Facebook accounts private is a very important step in combating online bullying or cyberstalking but people are free to make their own websites with the intention of tormenting others so if you are faced with any type of online harassment you should keep records of it and report it to your local authorities. It may be difficult to identify the offenders in many cases but records of email addresses, IP addresses, and web content may be helpful to authorities down the road. Each state has laws of varying degrees regarding cyberstalking and your state’s website is a good place to do research.
If you are being harassed by phone there are things you can do to stop it. In general, once a person is identified and “called out” they will leave you alone. These type of people are aggressive salesmen, bill collectors, phishing scammers and fraudsters. Technically, this is cyberstalking because it occurs over a digital network so there are state and federal laws governing its abuse.
Many times, the use of Caller ID or *69 will put an end to intrusive phone calls but if the calls are originating from cell phones their information is not listed in 411 directories. In fact, even your cell phone provider is not at liberty to give you the full details of the person who is calling you. Information from all phone records is private and isn’t legal to exchange.
Evil minded people who intend to defraud your are well aware of the privacy protections afforded them and take full advantage of it. People who are in your personal life and wish to do you harm may or may not be aware of how to avoid detection but if they use a cell phone to threaten or bully you, chances are you will not be able to identify them easily.
However, just because cell phone information is not listed for free in the white pages does not mean it isn’t listed. In fact, public records regarding the owners of cell phones is readily available but it costs money. There are thousands of databases out there containing information regarding cell phone owners and a quality reverse look up service will have compiled the records in one convenient place and sell access to them at a minimal price. Reverse Lookups are legal and actually trace phone numbers and locate the people attached to them.
If you are being stalked, harassed, or threatened over the phone a search by phone number service is exactly what you need to identify the owner of the phone that has been calling you. Once you have this information you can “bust” them yourself or in more serious matters give the information to the police and press charges against that person.
